Toddler bed makeover- less than $14

I have finally got That Guy on board with moving Audrey from her crib to a toddler bed. Knowing she is our last baby makes it a little harder to let go of that stage of "babydom".  I know Audrey is ready for the transition though, so we must find a way to embrace it.

Weeks ago I was given a free toddler bed from  frugal mommy.  The description simply said "white toddler bed" and that was exactly what I had been looking for. So on his way home from work one day, That Guy stopped and picked up the bed.
I admit, gentle readers, I was the tiniest bit crestfallen when I saw it. It was, indeed, a white toddler bed. But it had a very industrial feeling metal frame. It had clearly spent some time outside before we picked it up and was a little rusty and pretty banged up.

Bed outside begging for some love

Close up of some of the scratches

But beggars cannot be choosers and I had literally been the one to ask for the bed. So I had to make this bed work.

First we picked up a can of  Rustolem spray paint in white ($7) and I took the bed to the backyard and gave it a few decent coats of spray paint. It was still a very industrial looking metal frame, but the new paint brought the life back into it.

Spray painted and happier

Once the bed frame was dry I wanted to add some "girly" features to it to help detract from the hard appearance of a metal frame. So I picked up two meters of white tulle from the bolt at Fabricland ($5 for both meters). Tulle by the bolt is very cost effective and very pretty and when you have a membership card at the fabric store for 50% off, its even better. :) I wrapped the tulle around the headboard and attempted to tie it into a big lovely bow.  Gentle readers, there are some things I am good at, and some things I am simply no good at all at.  Making a decent bow is something I have never been able to do.  I have even looked up tutorials online about bow making.
Anyways, I don't know why I thought this time would be different and I'd be able to produce a lovely girly bow, but it wasn't different at all. I *may* have even shouted at the "bow", begging it to co-operate. It refused.
So I gave up and just knotted the tulle and cut the strands short. Then I knotted again at a different angle, and then a third time. The result wasn't too bad.

My "not a bow" 

I secured the tulle to the posts of the headboard with some super glue I had on hand from a previous project.

I felt pretty happy with my transformation already, but I wasn't done.  I had picked up a large white silk flower from the dollar store ($1.25) and I positioned it right in the center of the bow with more glue. My heart begged me to add a pretty faux jewel to the center of the flower but my head stepped in and reminded me that Audrey would pick at it and if it ever came loose it would be a serious choking hazard, so I refrained.

With the flower

I put the bed together with the bedding she already had from her crib. (Well, I did quickly whip up a pillow last night from the bumper pad of the crib)

All done in Audrey's room

You can still tell that this is a metal framed toddler bed. But the idea wasn't to hide that fact. Just remake it so that the metal headboard did not look so cold and industrial (or so banged up). In that regard, I think I completed this project successfully.