Rustic Bed Complete

[DerbyDad03]

Let me start by saying thanks to everyone that offered advice for my Rustic Bed project. I received advice ranging from what to pay for the reclaimed Douglas Fir all the way to how to stain the end grain properly. Love this group!

I delivered the bed to my daughter last night. It's a 5 hour round trip, but I got a nice dinner out of it. ;-) With our conflicting schedules, a weekend trip was at least a month out so I bit the bullet and made the drive after work.

Here are some pics...

The Raw Material

The Naked Bed

The Dressed Up Bed

The Edge Of The Headboard

The headboard weighs a bit over 70 pounds, the whole bed is around 110. It should hold up for a couple of years. ;-)

Thanks again to all!

[G. Ross]

I would hesitate to call it rustic. Very nice piece of furniture. I'm sure it will be treasured even after you and I are gone.

[Leon]

Would that have hauled better if you had loaded it 90 degrees to what the picture shows? :)

Looks Great!

Aw... Now you cant see the beauty of the wood. LOL

Came out great.

Heavy stuff, I have to get away from that. But yes yours should hold up a couple of generations!

;~)

[Leon]

I think rustic is what the new generation calls well thought out and not cluttered. A young neighbor described the walnut entertainment center that I built as modern rustic. That was the furthest thing from my mind. ;~)

[dadiOH]

Looks great, DD03!! I'm sure your daughter will get decades of use from it. And it will be very special to her because, "Daddy made it".

[DerbyDad03]

Thanks!

The "rustic" refers to the knots, splits, a few holes and dark spots from the nails that were removed when the wood was reclaimed.

e.g If you zoom in on the left upright of the headboard, you see a black spot. That's an old nail hole, stained black from (I assume) the iron in the nails. On the bottom of the foot-board rail, there's a curved imperfection caused by a knot that fell out long ago.

Those are some of the features that I refer to as "rustic".

[Sonny]

[Sonny]

Let's try this again.

Looks great. Good job. Now, others will, no doubt, be asking for custom furniture from you.

Sonny

[DerbyDad03]

I'm pretty sure I was over the legal limit for "overhang based on trailer length" for my state, but I made it home.

The end grain sections are a tad uneven, but I'll live with it. As set up in that alcove of her room, they won't even be seen.

We'll see. I told my daughter that it's just wood. I told her that if she tires of the style or if she and a future significant other want to get something of their own, she shouldn't hesitate to move on. I would hate to burden her with something she doesn't want just because I built it.

[-MIKE-]

That turned out great!

[DerbyDad03]

Thanks!

[DerbyDad03]

Thanks!

I'm going to visit my son in Vegas next week. I sent him a picture of the bed and he wants me to built him a King size version while I'm there. 4 days.

I told him he must be dreaming and that he'll be dreaming in his current bed for quite a while. ;-)

[DerbyDad03]

Thanks!

I told her she can use it until she's done with it and to not be concerned if her tastes or needs change. It's just wood.

[Leon]

In this throw away society that we live in young people have no idea of the time that is invested in producing some thing that will last generations.

[DerbyDad03]

For the most part, I agree, but in this case he was kidding. He's the son that got the most out of the time spent building Soap Box Derby cars and ran with it.

I knew that it had clicked when we bought him a cart to tow behind his riding mower back when he was 14. He mowed lawns in the neighborhood and started with a beat up riding mower, then made enough to buy a new one. He looked at the big knobby wheels on his old mower, then at the puny ones on the cart and said "Hey, Dad...I think if we modify the fenders we can get those big wheels to fit on the cart. It'll look much better than those little ones."

He was right! A little work with the reciprocating saw, a few bolts here and there and we beefed up the cart, just for fun. He's still the same today. He recently bought a house in Vegas and has been working on making it his own. I'd love to be working with him again, but for now I have to settle for offering advice.

[Swingman]

I'd be willing to take bets on that never happening.

[hubops]

:-)

[Swingman]

Might fine job, well done!

Nice even tone throughout, and sets off the DF to advantage ... just like you indicated you wanted to do in your first few posts.

[DerbyDad03]

Thanks!

Now maybe I can get back to those cabinets doors I started a couple of years ago. :-)

[Ed Pawlowski]

You have the right attitude, but your grandkids may enjoy it. Of curse, they will have to hire a crew of riggers to move the 70# headboard.