Oops...

Ok I am not the best carpenter in the world, and maybe next time I shouldn't be rushing around making secret beds before my husband gets home from work. My pretty bed started to get a little not so pretty after two nights of sleeping on it. My flush joints started to become un-flush as the weight of our super heavy tempurpedic and boxes pushed the bottoms of the 2x6s out of the soft pine legs. Woops.

But never fear, I have a new plan! I learned some things while putting this bed together. Things like, I need a very long drill bit for drilling pilot holes through the pocket holes. And that I might need a new phillips drill bit, that is also longer because my current one keeps stripping all my screws. Or maybe it's just me. 

Anyway, I came across a blogpost yesterday where someone else built a super cute bed, and said they would be posting a very detailed how-to the next day (today). What a coincidence! It must be fate, I tell you because I love this bed frame and it looks so nice and simple! So here is my new plan. It looks much more sturdy than my original plan. I am so mad at the guy from Lowes who talked me into getting only 5 1x4s for the slats. Those things are so weak! I had gone in asking for 7 2x4s, and he was all "oh no, that's overkill, just use these, and you probably only need like four." I will definitely be getting 2x4s, and lots more of them this time around.

I don't know when I will get started yet, but sometime this week I'm sure. Patrick's work is really going to slow down starting today so I am hoping to get my friend Lindsey's curtains finished then get to work on this bed frame! 

A Bed Tutorial

I should probably say this is less like a tutorial, and more like a "here's what I did, copy at your own risk" sort of thing.

I knew I wanted something very simple with clean lines. I'm picturing 1x6 sides, flush with the top of 14" square or tapered square legs. I buy my stuff, and even spring for the spendy oak furniture grade 1x6 because they were so pretty! I had everything cut to size at Lowes. Here is what I got:

2 1x6x77" oak boards
2 1x6x81" oak boards
5 1x4x77" pine boards (for slates across the bed)
2 1x2x77" pine boards to run along the sides and hold up the planks
2 2x2x28in oak table legs

First I busted out the Kreg Jig to test drive it. Then I drove two holes into each side of the 1x6 boards. I didn't take a picture, but the holes turn out to look something like this:

(photo from centsational girl)

Next I tried to screw the boards into the side of the legs. Note the use of the word "tried." It didn't work so well, even when I drilled pilot holes. So I devise a genius plan to use the pine 1x2's as legs because they are softer. Works like a charm, screws go right in. Here is a photo of my laundry hamper supporting one side so it doesn't fall over while I was working on something else:

The joints are strong enough, but not as strong as I was hoping for. They would be stonger it I had been able to use the more substantial oak legs I think, but I just could not get the screws to go in all the way. This is kind of a theme in my life. Whenever I try to build something, or work with power tools in any way, something inevitably goes wrong, even if it is just a simple, straightforward project. I run into stupid road blocks, like not being able to screw the screws in all the way and stripping out the screw head in the process. Sigh. Nothing can ever be easy!

After lots of craziness, balancing acts, and careful maneuvering, I ended up with this:

The hardest part was screwing the legs to the boards without my upright boards falling over! Hence the laundry hamper support above. Anyway, you can see in this picture the small 1x2s running along the side. Because I improvised the legs, it added a little width to the bed, making my 77in slats too short to be supported by the 1x2. Womp womp. I had some remnants of the 1x4s so I decided to cut 3/4in pieces and screw them into the ends of each slat to elongate them. Worked ok, but will not be a permanent solution! Then I screwed 2x4 pieces to each slat, perpendicular to the floor to support the middle of our bed. The man at Lowes said the 1x4s would be fine and 2x4s would be overkill. I think he was wrong. Our bed is HEAVY. And my husband sleeps like he is being stung by a bunch of bees, flopping all over the place. A solid 230lb man throwing his weight around in his sleep is serious business for a bed frame to handle. 

So that set up will be temporary. I have plans for a platform made out of 2x4s and plywood to just set inside this frame, and be covered with a bed skirt. I also have some sanding to do where my joints didn't stay exactly flush. :-( But overall, I am happy with it. It is much more my style, and the room already feels bigger without our big giant bed. I can't wait to get the headboard up!!

A New Bed!

Patrick built our bed a few months ago, right before T Patrick was born. It was a good first attempt, but it was a little sloppy, albiet the sturdiest bed you have ever seen! It was all 2x4s and 2x6s screwed together with huge screws and 3in bolts...heavy stuff. We had made panels to go around three sides, with big plans to make hinges on the top so they could be lifted for storage under the bed. They might be visible in the pictures in the "House Tour" page. Anyway, they were just leaning up against the bed for the last 6 months, pretending to be attached. And they were magnets for stubbing toes, knocking them over, exposing the particle board on the other side, just kind of a pain in general. One we hadn't been able to come up with a solution for. Also the sides of the headboard were unfinished, and our plan for finishing them wasn't making much progress and I didn't really have a lot of confidence that it would do the trick. So after six months, I decided we needed a change. Something lighter, sleeker, less of a big deal.

Here is what I ended up with after a few hours last night:

I love how it looks, even though it's still raw wood. I couldn't decide on a finish so I just made it and I can do something to it later. It definitely needs some more support too. But for now it's ok. And at least it's pretty! Up next is a headboard in this fabric:

I saw this on younghouselove and fell in LOVE with it. It is SO pretty! And incorporates both of the colors I have going on in my bedroom so nicely! I can't wait til it gets here! 

Abigail is waking up so this is going to be a quick post. I did take some photos of the bed-making process and will post more later!