Jenny Lind beds are making a comeback–a two hundred year revival in the making, but not too much of a surprise considering their history of style at an affordable price point. More commonly, the genre is considered spool-turned or spindle furniture and became one of the first mass produced types of furniture available at the turn of the 19th century. Commonly referred to as “Jenny Lind” this furniture was popularized by the Swedish opera singer Johanna Maria Lind who is claimed to have slept in one of these beds during her American tour with the P.T. Barnum Circus. Don’t be like me and think Jenny Lind was a furniture designer like the Stickley Brothers of the Arts and Crafts Era.
Personally, I love the spindle furniture style and have been fortunate to find some pieces to add to our home. I was given a beautiful Jenny Lind full bed from my mother-in-law that was Ben’s when he was younger that I refreshed and painted when Lily graduated from a toddler bed to a real bed. The curved spindles give the perfect feminine touch for a little girl’s room.
When we decided to move and buy a new house, I knew I wanted the guest room to have twin beds. Luckily, I found two matching twin beds on Facebook marketplace in varying conditions. One bed had normal scuffs and scratches that I knew could be easily covered with paint and the other had been kept in a barn and sustained significant damage that threatened the structural integrity of the bed. Of course like any purchase sight unseen, I did not realize the true condition of the bed until it was time to pick it up. Thankfully, I only paid $40 for the bed in rough condition which is good because it needed more work than most of our normal projects.
Step 1: Structural Repair
For the bed that was damaged, we used a combination of wood glue, tie plates, and corner braces to ensure that the headboard and footboards were structurally secure (think toddlers jumping on the bed as the litmus test here) prior to priming. My joke with Ben was that this bed has more hardware than the tin man! Thankfully, between the location of the hardware and the paint, it does not impact the aesthetic of the bed–you can’t tell between the two which one required the significant amount of work.
Step 2: Sanding and Paint Preparation
After sanding for what felt like hours—lots of hand sanding on those spindles with all the tiny curves and crevices. I opted to use a combination of heavy grit (80) sand paper to knock off the flaking old paint and fine grit 220 sanding blocks to finish to make sure the wood surface was smooth and ready to be painted. The bed that was in relatively good shape needed to be sanded in a similar fashion to knock off a varnish and “rough up” the surface enough for paint to adhere well. I cleaned all the residue and dust from sanding off prior to painting with primer. Although we do have a paint sprayer and that would have expedited the process significantly, I chose to hand paint these two beds (the paint sprayer is still packed somewhere in the garage).
Step 3: Paint
Once the sanding was complete and the gaps in the wood were filled and smoothed down, we primed the beds with Kilz All-Purpose Interior White Primer. I learned from my first experience spray painting a Jenny Lind bed that I needed to use a primer beforehand and a heavier duty paint to withstand the rough and tumble nature of the crew of toddlers that live in our house. Lily’s bed has numerous chips of paint missing and will be going through a re-painting process soon. I chose to use Door and Trim paint in high gloss white for its durable and wipeable finish. Even with the primer it took several coats of paint to cover the wood and hardware. We’re normally a Valspar family or Sherwin Williams paint buyers–not Glidden, but I bought the materials for this project when the COVID-19 pandemic began so I limited myself to what was available at the local Walmart where I also happened to be buying my groceries. This is a latex paint–I would have preferred an oil-based paint. They tend to be thicker, better at filling small imperfections, and naturally more resistant to wear and tear than water-based products like latex. However, this latex paint was quick to use (short drying time), emitted low fumes, and should still remain chip resistant for the long run.
Step 4: Enjoy
Once you’ve got your head and footboards sanded, painted, and dried, they are ready to use hook on bed rails and we cut DIY bed slats from 1×4 lumber. These pieces can be bought in 8′ to 16′ pieces at Lowes (the longer, the cheaper per linear foot) and you can cut to size. Throw your mattress and bedding on and you’re ready to take a well deserved nap!
