Welcome back to week three of our One Room Challenge, where we are making over a shared boys bedroom for our two sons. Today I’m going to show you how I prime and paint the custom builtin beds to make them look bright, clean, and seamless.

Week 1: The Plan | Week 2: Building Cabinets

Last week

This is what I left you off with from last week. Tony and I built the cabinets for the custom builtin beds out of 5/8″ mdf.

Install shoe mold

The first thing I did after the cabinets were built was add some shoe mold around the base of the bed. This covered up the small gap that was below the bed, plus made it look seamless with the rest of the trim in the room.

Fill nail holes

Next I filled in all the nail holes and cracks with drywall mud. I also did a layer on all the cut ends of the mdf. Remember that mistake I made with the biscuit joiner? After this week you won’t even be able to tell that it was even there.

Sand all surfaces

I let the drywall mud dry for about a day, then I used some 220 grit sandpaper to made it all smooth. I also lightly broke all the edges and lightly sanded all surfaces of the cabinets.

And here’s a pic of one of my little helpers. He was way too quiet at one point, and when I found him he was busy hammering and sanding his bed.

Prime

I used a high quality primer that I got from Home Depot to cover every square inch of the beds. Mdf really soaks up paint so I did two quick coats using a paintbrush and a small roller.

Painting custom builtins

I decided to use white paint for the beds because I wanted it to look like a complete builtin and totally seamless with the trim in the room. I decided to color match to Benjamin Moore Chantilly lace, which is the same color of trim I have in the rest of the house.

The paint I chose to use was Behr alkyd satin enamel. This paint is a latex paint but dries very hard. It is meant to use on cabinets and furniture, but I also used it on all the trim and doors in this room. It has a beautiful satin finish, but you can also get it in semi-gloss.

I applied the paint by cutting in around the edges with an angled brush, and used a small foam roller to apply the rest of the paint. In my experience, alkyd paint tends to be drippy and it’s better to do several thin coats to avoid drips. However, of all the types I’ve used I think the Behr alkyd paint is the least drippy. It also takes a few days to completely cure, but once it does it’s rock hard. I’m hoping this paint will withstand two boys climbing all over these beds!

Other updates

I know it may not look like much was accomplished, but this room is really starting to come together! In other news I found a dresser that I have to makeover…

I also ordered a navy blue rug from Ikea, and it’s on it’s way. Next I hope to paint the room, get the drawers installed, and hopefully install the desk top. Here’s a little sneak peak of the desk top, because I’m so excited with how it turned out. Do you see how shiny that is?!

Still to do

• Mud and sand all the joints in the cabinets, prime and paint the bed
• Paint trim and doors
• Move the electrical outlet and install a wall sconce
• Touch up the walls with drywall mud
• Repaint the room
• Build drawer boxes
• Install drawer slides and drawer boxes
• Find cabinet hardware for the bed
• Finish the desk top
• Install desk
• Make a platform for the loft bed.
• Make railings for the bed
• Refinish a dresser
• Find a window treatment
• Make matching bedding