Bear with my long-winded story and you’ll see the pictures…
It all started with Katelynn growing up and outgrowing
her toddler bed. Little by little she’s been getting
taller and it was becoming more apparent we needed to find
alternative sleeping arrangements for her. We knew in
future homes we might not have the square footage we have now, so
we decided on a double bed with a trundle pullout to be used as a
guest bed in the event we don’t have a guest
bedroom. Additionally, we were looking for additional storage
under the bed to make up for a lost space. So we started shopping
around for natural pine-colored beds to match the rest of her furniture,
but ran into a few issues. First, natural pine doesn’t seem to
be a very popular color for kids’ furniture any more. And
secondly, manufacturers don’t seem to understand there’s a lot of lost
“real estate” under a double bed with a trundle. We could find
beds with a single level of storage drawers (two levels made the bed too
tall for Katelynn) and we could find beds with trundles, but none
with single level storage drawers and a
trundle. Yeah, OK…. so we were a little specific in our search.
When we struck out with all the area furniture stores, we
decided to check our favorite unfinished wood furniture store when we were
in Dallas coming back from our camping
trip. The people there are wonderful and very helpful. In
fact, we've found a number of great pieces there in the past. However,
when they didn’t have what we were looking for, they offered to build us a
custom bed to our exact specifications… for $1600!!! After picking
up my jaw of the ground, I started looking online for alternatives and
found ana-white.com. This woman decided to build her
entire house and then all the furniture in
it. She has numerous plans on her website for beds, and after
looking them all over, I decided I could probably modify various
plans on the website and make something that worked for our needs.
Now, back when I was a teenager in high school, I spent
3 years breaking various child labor laws by working for a contractor
building houses, so I’m not completely an amateur when it comes to
carpentry (although I wasn’t really ever good at it). And
I did take Woodshop in the 8th grade, so I’m qualified to undertake
an advanced woodworking project after over a decade, right? Well,
after doing the math and factoring in the cost of the tools I’d need to
buy, I was still going to come out ahead if I built
it myself. So I took the plans off the Internet and
started running the numbers, modifying them to meet my needs, and working
out the measurements again and again. After weeks of planning, I
finally found an opening in my schedule and took advantage of the long
Columbus Day weekend. So off to Lowe's and Home Depot I went,
spending 3.5 hours going up and down the aisles purchasing several hundred
dollars in lumber, tools, and other supplies. I
measured the wood the weekend before the long weekend, and left for a
weeklong work trip. When I came home from the trip,
it all began… it was game time!!!!
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Katelynn hanging out in the messy garage with
all the lumber I purchased at Lowe's and Home Depot |
Both kids came out to the garage to help a little bit
each day. There were ups and downs throughout the project,
especially when dealing with the drawers (what was I
thinking?). At one point, a drawer got so stuck that I had to
force it out… but when it finally gave, it slammed right into my
rib bruising it and knocking the wind out of me. And of
course, each day required a new trip to Lowe's or Home Depot to pick up
something I had forgotten. But each day also saw a little more
progress:
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| DAY 1 - Building the shelf unit and drawers |
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| DAY 2 - Building the trundle |
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| DAY 2 - Getting a little help with the wheels |
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| DAY 3 - Building the headboard, footboard, and bed rails |
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| DAY 3 - Assembly coming along |
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| DAY 4 - Polyurethane (with some "expert" help) |
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| DAY 4 - Second coat of Polyurethane |
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| DAY 5 - All sanded |
Today, after coming home from another work trip, we moved
it upstairs into Katelynn’s room and set it up. To say that
Katelynn is excited about her bed is an understatement.
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| The final product... Ta-Da!!!! |
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| Three drawers on the side |
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| A pull-out trundle identical to the drawers on the other side |
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| Loving her big-girl bed |
And while it’s exciting to know I built my
daughter something that will last her a lifetime, I don’t see myself
quitting my day job. I’m a much better cop than I am
a carpenter. Most people I’ve talked to can’t believe I
attempted such a difficult project (with drawers nonetheless), but those
that know me well know when I get an idea in my head… there’s very little
stopping me from achieving my goal.
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