Antique Headboard Kitchen Hood: How We Repurposed a 100-Year-Old Bed
When we renovated our kitchen a few years ago, I never imagined I’d eventually be adding a 100-year-old antique bed to it.
If you’ve followed along with our renovation journey, you know how much I love this space. It’s bright, functional, full of character and truly the heart of our home. If you’re new here, you can browse our Kitchen Renovation Sources guide, see the inspiration behind the design in our Kitchen Remodel Inspiration post and learn how we installed our floating shelves with brass railing that flank the hood.
As grateful as I am for this kitchen renovation, there has always been one thing that bugged me.
Because our ceiling is vaulted, we weren’t able to take the cabinets all the way to the ceiling. While it made sense structurally, the gap above the cabinets has always made the kitchen feel a little unfinished to me.
For the past four years, I’ve been trying to figure out a way to visually bring the cabinetry higher without spending a lot of additional money. My carpenter has come a few times and we’ve sketched out different ideas together but at the end of the day, we decided to work with what we already had.
How We Turned a 100-Year-Old Antique Bed Into a Custom Kitchen Hood
We added a simple 2½-inch crown molding to the tops of the upper cabinets, which helped tie everything together visually. Around the same time, I added floral block wallpaper above the cabinets, which brought in the cottage charm I was craving and helped draw the eye upward.
Those changes definitely helped.
But then came the project that completely transformed the space.
Giving a 100-Year-Old Bed New Life
When we found this beautiful antique bed, I immediately fell in love with the craftsmanship. The carved details and aged wood had so much character that I couldn’t bear the thought of it sitting unused somewhere.
Instead, we decided to turn it into a custom kitchen hood.
Our carpenter started with the bottom of our existing hood structure and built upward from there. The first thing he removed was a section from the footboard—which ultimately became the star of the entire project.
He carefully cut apart the center section of the footboard and used it as an overlay across the lower portion of the hood. From there, he began mixing pieces from both the headboard and footboard, essentially playing Tetris until every carved detail found its perfect place.
What emerged was a completely one-of-a-kind range hood that looks like it has always belonged in this kitchen.
The only new material added to the project was the crown molding at the very top. Even better, it was leftover trim from a previous project of my carpenter’s, making this transformation feel even more special.
To secure everything, he simply used a brad nailer and wood glue where necessary. Since all of the antique pieces were attached directly to the existing hood structure, the hood remains just as sturdy and secure as it was before.
The Perfect Companion to Our Floating Shelves
One of my favorite details in our kitchen has always been the floating shelves with brass railing that are nestled next to the cabinets. Here’s the before:
I added wallpaper and crown molding to the upper shaker cabinets to make them look more custom.
The antique wood tones tie beautifully into those shelves and help create the collected-over-time look I’ve always loved.
Between the wallpaper, brass accents, antique wood, and cottage-inspired details, the kitchen finally feels complete.It’s amazing how one unique piece can completely change the feel of a room.
FAQs
After sharing this project, we noticed the same three questions appearing in the comments.
More of Our Kitchen
This antique hood may be the newest addition to our kitchen but it’s part of a renovation that’s evolved over several years.
Kelli’s Kitchen Series
Click on the posts to see the how far this kitchen has come.
It’s been fun watching this room warm up over time and this antique hood feels like the perfect finishing touch.
A Kitchen That Finally Feels Finished
Sometimes the best projects aren’t the ones that start with a plan.
This one began with a gap above our cabinets that had bothered me for years and ended with a custom feature that feels completely unique to our home.
I loved our kitchen renovation in the early stages but this antique hood finally gave the space the character and visual height it was missing. What was once a beautiful kitchen now feels layered, collected and finished.
Although this isn’t a true DIY tutorial—since every antique piece is different and no two projects would ever turn out exactly alike—I hope it inspires you to look at old furniture differently.
Whether it’s a thrift store find, a Facebook Marketplace treasure or a family heirloom tucked away in storage, there may be an opportunity to transform it into something beautiful and functional for your home.
This 100-year-old bed already had a long life before we found it. Now it gets to spend the next hundred years as the centerpiece of our kitchen and I can’t think of a better second act.
