Well, the bed is DONE.
There is something a little frustrating about this bed. I designed it with a specific mattress in mind, one that wasn't so overwhelmingly large that an infant would just get totally lost in it, but one that was big enough that he could use the bed for a while. So we went for a longer crib mattress, it's like..... 1.5 feet longer than your typical crib. It comes from Ikea, aaaaannnnnd the size is weird enough that we can't buy sheets anywhere.
In hindsight, I'd probably research sizes more and go with something more standard sized so we had more sheet options. Meanwhile, my mom gets to make sheets for us haha!
Ok so the making of this bed. I had plans drawn out, and the plans worked. That wasn't something I anticipated. I don't have the plans with me here but we purchased:
2 - 2x6 @ 8 ft
6 - 2x4 @ 8 ft
5 - 1x3 @ 8 ft
Aaaaand we bought a jigsaw, a miter saw, a sander, a thing of stain, a thing of polyurithane coating, a pair of protective goggles, a pack of safety leather gloves, some ear covers, and 2 packs of screws, one at 2.5'' and one at 1.5''.
So, by the time we got to this point, the bed was amounting up to be pretty expensive. However! These are tools we'll use for years and years and years, so it is a worthy investment.
We got to work, got the wood cut out in about 15 minutes. The cuts are
2 - 2x6 @ 63''
2 - 2x6 @ 30.5''
3 - 2x4 @ 63''
15 - 1x3 @ 27.5''
After 15 minutes of cutting we were pretty sure this was going to be a quick job. We pulled out our little hand held power drill aaaaannd.... the drill was too weak to get the job done. The screws weren't even going into the heavy wood.
We made a trip to the store, picked up the mattress and a new drill (this time with a cord!) and came back home.
This drill was POWERFUL we were certain this was gonna be just the quickest, easiest job ever. Unfortunately, the drill was too powerful. Joe stripped about 5 screws before we changed tactics. We drilled the hole for the screw first, and then put the screws in, very slowly. No more stripping! HOWEVER. The screws were still too weak, they were snapping inside the wood. I don't even get that. What's the point of a screw that snaps? Off to Home Depot for more screws. And then finally.
We'd been working for about 6 hours at this point. Learn from me: Drill the hole first. Make sure your drill is strong enough. Make sure the screws are strong enough for the drill.
Thankfully it was a nice, cloudy/cool day. It was humid, but it wasn't 115, so we're grateful for that.
We got to work sanding it down, and that moved pretty quick. We accidentally put the scratchy/ugly side of one of the side boards on the outside. But we sanded it down, and it was fine.
Coated it in stain, let it sit 10 minutes, wiped it down, and coated it in 3 coats of polyurithane. The polyurithane turned the stain a bit darker, and made it more even, and it was gorgeous.
We finished at about 11pm.
We were able to take breaks while the coats of paint stuff dried, and we had a ton of oatmeal for dinner, because we deserved it. It was exhausting.
The headboard was easy. Just a bunch of 2x4s all put together. We attached it to the wall with a 200lb dry wall load bearer we got at Home Depot. It's kinda like 2 of those things you use to blend carpet into hard flooring, those metal things, slipped together.
And now the bed is done! Next step is getting the Ikea Tarva and performing a makeover on that. I'm really excited for that, but we won't get started on it for a few more weeks. That's alright though. We've got time. I'm excited to show you our progress as we go!
1 comment:
Sheets are super easy to make, lucky for your momma! If you didn't have a great seamstress handy I'd totally offer, cause I want to make baby things, but I don't have a baby to make them for.
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