Friday is finally here! Let's CelEbRAte!

 I'd like to celebrate by joining the Show & Tell party over at Cindy's My Romantic Home!

I love Show & Tell Fridays – I’ve been viewing them for months, but just recently got around to completing my blog set up…so I’m still new to SHARING for Show & Tell! Believe me, I have LOTS to show and tell about!
 
This week my items of choice are tailgates! Remember – I’m the one married to the redneck, genius from the country. Trucks, tailgates, it’s all good. As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, we have a little vacation cabin up in the MouNtAiNS and I chose to decorate it in a shabby, country, Americana, red, white and blue theme, style, crazy eclectic mix of CHARMing.
 
What’s more American than a big honkin’ FORD or DODGE truck? Go big or go home as they like to say.
Right – where was I? Tailgates. Yes – they’re not just for trucks anymore! They’re for decorating! Stop looking at my post that way – just because Jeff Foxworthy bolted them to the walls of his infamous BBQ joint up the road in not-so-beautiful Kissimmee, FL for bench seating doesn’t mean they can’t be a GOOD thing. Hmmm that gives me another idea… I’ll save it for another blog post. Back to the tailgates I already have.
 
Think of it as the beloved super cool race car bed for big boys.
 
I can’t take full credit for the idea, but I will say that “mine is better”. I’ll refrain from sticking my tongue out. Once upon a time I ran across a headboard made from a tailgate – it was on Etsy. It’s long gone and evidently I didn’t favorite the seller. It was the only item s/he had listed so…anywho – whomever you are, thanks for the idea!
 
I had mentioned it to my mom – she helps me with projects sometimes. So I was set on getting a tailgate and making a headboard for the cabin, I had looked at the local junk yard that has their inventory online – nothing. As luck would have it, I just had to walk down the street. Well, not really. I left that part to my husband. Tailgates are heavy. I had just left the house to go to a “very important appointment” (yeah, I needed to get a cut and color down at the Ulta salon). As I rolled to a stop at the end of the block – what do I see? A yard sale of course – that’s a given. At THIS yard sale there happened to be TWO TAILGATES leaning up against a palm tree. Are you serious? God is good. First I called my husband – while I was still sitting at the stop sign – please walk over there and see if those are what I think they are and BUY THEM if they aren’t over priced. Then I continue on to my very important appointment and called my mom. On my way home from said very important appointment, I called my husband for a status update. Yep, he says, two tailgates. One blue Ford, one white Dodge. Not only are they the right colors, they are also off AMERICAN trucks. Perfect. How much? $75 for both. Rock on! Turns out the guy at the end of our street (who is a first class jerk) is related to these folks across the road and these were in his shed and he took them over to the yard sale. He didn’t recognize my husband. Probably a good thing or I might not have my headboards now.
 
After we got more or less settled at the cabin, we hauled the two tailgates up there and made a plan. The plan involved the husband building  frames for these tailgates. His plans are always grander and more expensive than my plans. I would have used wood pulled out of my neighbor’s trash pile reclaimed lumber, called it character and been on my way to the next project. His plan involved 3 trips to Lowe’s, mitered corners, sanding and paint. He may be the redneck, but he doesn’t “get” rustic. I choose my battles. I let him win this one. That and divorce is too expensive (KIDDING...my husband is the bomb-diggity as my friend Lynda would say - he's a keeper, no divorce to see here, keep it moving).
 
Of course I was doing other things and there aren’t many photos of the before / during. So 
sorry…I’ll do better in the future.
 

Here is the before when they were just hanging out in between a couple of the Mustangs for umm a few months –

 


Here’s a “test fit” 

and the AFTERS! 

– we ended up having to put latches on the white one because of the baseboard . These things weigh a TON and since the legs didn’t touch the floor on this one it wasn’t super stable secured just to the bed frame. The slightest movement on the bed caused it to bang against the wall. Not going to work. Latches it is (trip #3 to Lowe's)…we may end up mounting that one directly to the wall because it’s in the big bedroom downstairs where we can put the extra beds when we have lots of company…so it has to be able to move (the bed, not the headboard).
 

So there you go – vintage truck tailgates turned kitschy Americana headboards.