Finished maple bed

Comment

Comment by Daris R. on November 4, 2012 at 11:22pm

Really nice bed.  This looks great...!

Comment by Tila Clarke on October 27, 2012 at 12:04am

what a great project, It turned out beautiful!

Good work!

Comment by Joe V Bolin on October 12, 2012 at 7:18pm

Great job, Jim, and your back story is one of the most heartwarming I've ever heard.  Thank you so much for sharing it with us.

Comment by Ken Darga on October 10, 2012 at 9:21pm

Jim,

Thanks for sharing your detailed reply.

Comment by jim.zakany on October 10, 2012 at 7:18pm

I should probably share the back story of this bed. A normal parent would simply buy their kid a bed and toss it when they left the house. But, you see, my son is disabled and will end up in a group home as an adult. The homes we saw had resident-supplied twin beds. Since my son will spend his life with a twin bed, I wanted to make him one that would last his lifetime. Something for him to be able to use long after I am gone.

That's why I decided to make him a maple storage bed.

The design is masculine. Not particularly childish (like many twin beds tend to be). It has local storage. The shelves are pocket-holed into place so they cannot be weaponized. Several clear top coats and a lack of adornment make it easy to clean after biological accidents. It's color and style are neutral so it will fit in most homes.

I, also, found the brown wormy maple to be very inexpensive while also having a unique and interesting look. Cheaper than poplar, but durable like, well, maple.

Comment by jim.zakany on October 10, 2012 at 7:11pm

If you can't tell what I did for legs, I took two 4-in wide boards with a 2-in board sandwiched between. The outer edge is flush, leaving an inboard channel. The head and foot board plywood fields fit into this slot and are glued'n'screwed.

Comment by jim.zakany on October 10, 2012 at 7:07pm

All thicknesses can be 3/4, but I used 1/4 for the box backs and 13/16 for the boards (except where they had to match the plywood thickness of 3/4). Dimensions actual, not nominal.

Boxes:

(4) 11-3/4 x 75 (box tops and bottoms)

(8) 11-3/4 x 13-1/2 (box ends and dividers)

(2) 11 x 24-1/4 (shelves)

(2) 74-15/16 x 14-15/16 (box backs)

Face Frames for Boxes:

(2) 2-3/4 x 71-1/4 (top rail)

(2) 2 x 71-1/4 (bottom rail)

(4) 2 x 17-1/4 (end stiles)

(4) 1-1/2 x 12-1/2 (mid stiles)

Head and Foot Boards:

(2) 37-1/2 x 29 (field)

(2) 4 x 43-1/2 (tops)

(5) 4 x 33-1/2 (board frame tops & bottoms, incl. top inside foot board)

(2) 2 x 21-3/16 (middle board divider)

Legs:

(4) 4 x 32 (foot leg, inner and outer)

(2) 2 x 32 (foot leg, middle piece)

(4) 4 x 46 (head leg, inner and outer)

(2) 2 x 46 (head leg, middle piece)

Toe Kick Frame:

Constructed of 2x4 studs, painted flat black with acrylic top coat, with middle brace and corner braces, sized for 4-inch inset from bed perimeter. This keeps things from rolling underneath the bed, and aids in attaching the boxes to the legs.

Threaded inserts match drilled to through holes in box ends. Use 1/4 20 x 1-1/2 with washer and lock washer to attach boxes to legs (8 total).

Furring strip added to box backs, 3/4 below tops. 3/4 furring strip pieces for slats.

Since this is a twin bed, the width (top rail to top rail) is 39 inches, length is 75 inches.

Took three sheets (one was 1/4 thick) and I dunno how much brown, wormy maple board. Playing around on the weekends, this took me a month to complete at a cost of about $400.

Comment by leo on October 9, 2012 at 7:36am

very nice. If you don't mined would you add the measurement for the bed design? thank

Comment by jim.zakany on October 8, 2012 at 9:03pm

Well, I used pre-finished maple plywood with a UV cured coating so I tried to match that with the wormy maple. Polyurethane gave it a bit too much color after three coats, so I ended up using a bit of honey maple gel stain and top coated with waterborne acrylic. I wanted a hard, scrubbable finish.

Comment by uglyfatjoe on October 7, 2012 at 7:54am

Nice. What type of finish did you use?

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