Chunky Bed Frame

I wanted a proper bed frame for our California king bed. It had been on a metal frame that was getting old, and was starting to dip on the sides where we sleep. So, while my husband was overseas for a few days for a wedding, I surprised him by building us a new bed frame. I almost replaced it with a new metal frame, but then I realized that I could build a nicer wooden one for about the same price in lumber, plus a little building work,which I enjoy anyway!

I found this frame design online, thanks to Ana White and Big Box Detox at www.ana-white.com: 

Isn't it beautiful?  So pretty and inspiring. I already had my recycled headboard, but I used the plans to build the rest of the bed frame, with a few modifications.

I used 2"x 6" pine to make the rectangle. The size is for a California king mattress, which is 72" x 85". It is 4 inches narrower, and 5 inches longer, than a king size bed--this comes in very handy for tall people (like my 6'3" husband!) I planned on having the box spring rest inside the frame for extra support and height, and having the mattress rest on top of the box springs. The dimensions of the frame are 74" wide by 88" long, to give a little extra room for the box spring, batting and fabric that I'd add later. 

I checked that the corners were square by measuring diagonally from corner to corner, and connected the pieces together with 3 screws at each corner, with 3" Spax brand screws.

 The Spax screws are amazing for wood working!  Let me tell you, I do not have a powerful drill, but the screws go right into the wood without splitting it, and I don't have to drill pilot holes anymore! They have a square and phillip's combo head, so you can use a phillip's drill bit or a square bit, which strip less and I also love working with. They're amazing! Here's a photo of the cases they come in:

(Scroll to the bottom of the post for a link to Spax screws on Amazon.)

After making the rectangle, it was time to put triangular braces into the 4 corners.  I used two 2" x 4" x 5" squares, cut in half. I screwed the triangles into the 4 corners, using two 2" Spax screws on each side (four per triangular brace), screwing from the outside of the frame in.  They are about 2" down from the top of the frame, so the box spring can rest down in the frame a bit.

Next, it was time to attach the legs. I decided to use 4" x 4" posts, because they're less expensive than 6 x 6 posts, and I wanted them extra tall, to give more storage space under the bed and a more regal appearance with the extra height. Plus, you can always cut it shorter! It's better to start taller and cut more off if necessary.  The legs here are 15" tall. I used my miter saw to cut them to the right length, then I cut off a corner diagonally because I liked the shape.  You could leave them square if you like. Then I flipped the frame over carefully and attached the legs to the bottom of the triangular bases.  I used small metal L-shaped brackets to attach them to the sides, as shown below, and after I flipped the frame right side up, I screwed down through the braces with a single 3" screw.

After the legs were attached, I worked on adding 2"x 2"support rails.  Below, you can see the 5"piece I added to the middle and bottom edge of each end of the bed, head and foot. I attached them with 2"screws.

On top of the supports, I screwed down a 2"x 4"x 88"of lumber.  On a narrower bed like a twin or full, this extra support wouldn't be necessary.

Then I added a brace of 2x2 lumber all around the perimeter of the frame, to support the mattress.

Spax screws are the best!  They are self-drilling, so no pilot holes needed!

Here's the frame!

Another close-up of the legs.

For added support along the center brace, I added another chunky leg.

A little spray paint on the legs.

I stapled batting around the frame...

...and cut up an old brown curtain that I was glad I had saved, into 4 strips. I used masking tape to help me cut it straight.

Finally, I stapled the curtain strips down onto the batting/frames.

It doesn't have to look pretty on the inside!

Tada!  Chunky, solid wood bed frame.  For about the same price in lumber as an ugly metal frame!  I think I spent about $75-$100 total.  Let me know what you think, or if you've tried this project!

Bedroom Bookshelf/Entertainment Unit-Part III

After building the first cabinet unit, I followed similar same steps to build a longer version of the first cabinet.  The only difference really is that is a longer length, and there are 3 main openings: one on the left (shown above in the highlighted area with one door covering the left side), the middle opening, designed to hold an electric fireplace, and the right opening, for another 2-cabinet door space.  See Ana White's blog here for building materials and instructions for the cabinet.
Next, I put the "cabinets" in my bedroom against the wall where I wanted them, and measured to find out what size countertops I would need.  I used two rectangular pieces of the same sanded plywood to make the countertop.  The one sitting on the cabinet on the left side sits on the cabinet, and extends past it to the back wall.  To give it more support in the back corner against the wall, I attached a sturdy 2x4 into the wall studs. Then I glued and screwed the countertops down onto the cabinet boxes.  So that they wouldn't show later, I screwed them down in areas where I knew that the bookshelf units that would be covering the countertops.

After that, it was time to build the bookshelves on top of the cabinets.  I started with the one on the left side, above the smaller cabinet unit.  Again, I followed the basic design of the cabinet for constructing, except it was much taller, with a hollow middle to add 3 shelves later with shelf pins.

It took some thinking to figure out how to make the shelving meet in the corner. If I simply added another vertical piece to each end,  and connected them, it would have been simpler, but I would have sacrificed the whole corner of storage space.  So I decided to add a plywood piece to the corner of the back wall, and give the shelves some support that way so that the corners could remain open, shown below.

The next step was to add a level of bookshelves on top of the longer cabinet against the back wall.  This one had an opening for a shelf on the left and the right, and an opening in the middle for a tv.  To secure it to the wall, I screwed the furring strip on the back of the unit into studs in the wall.  

On top of that unit, I added another rectangular unit on top of that, again with 3 openings, and screwed through the furring strips into studs in the wall.  Then, I installed shelving throughout the bookshelf units.

I added trim frames to the faces of all the cabinets with 1x2 pine trim strips, and 1x3 inch trim around the top to connect it to the ceiling, all with finishing nails and glue.  I also added trim to the edge of the countertops, and moulding all the way around the bottom of the unit to the carpet. Finally, I used caulking all around the unit in any spaces where there were gaps, and painted the entire unit the same color eggshell paint as the wall, and installed the cabinet doors and hardware.  

The last steps were to install puck lights above the space where the artwork would be displayed, and to install a power strip inside one of the cabinets for easy access for electrical cords.

Above and at left, you can see the cords for the puck lights, tucked behind the cabinet frame and secured with cable ties to the cabinet.  The light switch is at the bottom right of the photo.

At right, you can see where I drilled a hole through the inside of the cabinet so that there was a way to run a power cord through to the other side.  Behind the fireplace, I screwed a power strip onto the side of the cabinet. Shown above, there is another hole drilled down through the countertop, from the space for the tv, to the power strip behind the fireplace.

Voila!  We are very happy with our new bookshelves and entertainment unit, and it's exactly what I had envisioned for this space.

Bedroom Bookshelf/Entertainment Unit, Part II-The First Cabinet

I couldn't find an exact building plan for the bookshelves I wanted to build online, so I had to design a custom unit.  I measured the walls carefully, drew up a plan on paper, and broke the project down into roughly 4 sections.  The first section to build was the bottom left cabinet, highlighted above left.  

I have never built a cabinet before, but I found a plan for kitchen cabinets on one of my favorite blogs, www.ana-white.com, here (thanks, Ana!).  I modified the plans slightly to fit my space, removed the upper horizontal panel and made the cabinet doors taller for more storage space.

Here was my first take on the cabinets:

You can see that I started with melamine panels for the sides and bottom, but while it is nice and white, the edges can show wear, and it is not paintable.  Melamine is also fairly heavy.  I decided to switch to plywood panels instead, so that I could paint them the same color as our bedroom walls, which is a slightly off-white color, to give it a more professional built-in look.  


Here is the wood version, after I added the doors.  I used a good-quality sanded plywood sheet, cut into pieces for the sides and bottom (I added the top later).  The doors are made from laminate pine wood (pieces of wood basically glued together into a panel), with pine moulding as their frame.  I later painted it, but it would also look very nice stained.

This might not look like much, but it was an important step for me in learning how to build the rest of the unit.  It was the building block that the remaining project was modeled after.

Bedroom Wall Bookshelf/Entertainment Unit, Part I

 

My husband is very fond of books.  He loves to read and study theology and history in particular.  We also have 3 kids and a dog, and live in a 3 bedroom house with no office or library.  We are packed pretty full, so most of the books reside in our bedroom, in 2 mismatched bookshelves on either side of the bed.  Functional, but not very relaxing or peaceful to look at.  

       Both of us have, over the years, admired home libraries and said that we would eventually like to have one.  So, we decided that we could turn a wall of our bedroom into a sort of reading area/library....If we're going to have the books there, at least they can be housed elegantly.

  

 This area of our bedroom used to be the "gym."  I used a treadmill and exercise ball to work out while I watched TV and the kids got their schoolwork done downstairs.  It was great, but now we were ready to remake the area.  Here's what it looked like after we got rid of the treadmill.

  

Then, for Christmas last year, I asked for and received a miter saw (thanks, honey!) And for my birthday, a couple of weeks later, my gift was the go-ahead to start on the bookshelf project (Yesss!), along with a stylish pink tool belt from my brother and sister.  

  

I started with the usual online and book research, searching for inspiration on colors, design, and building plans.  Here are some of the ideas I found online that I liked:

These were all great starting points.  As you can see, I liked the idea of having white bookshelves on a colored wall.  So what color to choose?  Experts say to look in your closet to help you find colors that you are drawn to, and also that green and blue are the most soothing colors for bedrooms.  

We had also purchased a vintage canvas art piece of Waikiki Beach to display in the bookshelf, which had some vibrant colors in it. My husband and I looked at color samples and decided on a blue-green paint color by Behr (available at The Home Depot) called Tropical Waters.  With my growing up and our getting married in Hawaii, I knew it was perfect for us. 



  




Taped off and ready to paint!





 





Wow, what a contrast!

 


Tada!  The color was a little shocking at first, but I loved the way it coordinated with our inspiration piece, the canvas of Waikiki.  And I knew that much of the color would be covered and tempered by the white shelving units that would be on it.  I loved it!

 


I purchased new bedding to replace our old set.  The new colors really brightened up the room and coordinated with the wall color and art piece.  Next, it was time to begin building the wall unit.

Recycled Crib Headboard

Some neighbors down the street put out a crib on the curb a few months ago as trash.  The crib side rails were damaged and probably unsafe to use as a crib, but the headboard portion was in great condition.  I brought it home, removed the old hardware, sanded it, primed it, and painted it with some leftover paint from the wall rails I had installed on my son's bedroom walls.  I attached some heavy duty picture hangers on the wall behind his queen bed, and some metal loops on the back of the freshly painted headboard, and voila, a new headboard, where before there had been a blank wall. Since I used a recycled headboard and paint I had on hand, all it cost me was about $15 for the spray primer and hardware.  Not bad for a new headboard, and less waste going to the landfill!