Summer Project No. 3 - Finally Built A Bed!

So I've been wanting to build a new Queen sized bed (or buy an old one) for a few years now. Pretty much since I bought the new mattress in 2012 (http://my1923foursquare.blogspot.ca/2012/05/new-mattress-last-weeks-work-on-porch.html). The bed I built (which you can see above) is not really what I originally wanted to build, but it's a pretty decent bed for now. My original plan was to build a 4 poster bed (and I still kind of want to... eventually). I was getting to the point where I was really sick and tired of sleeping on the floor, though. My second option was to build a panel bed (which are pretty simple to build). Panel beds are even easier to build if you're using recycled doors.

Here are some beds that are made using antique doors. There seems to be a pretty wide variety of looks and finishes when it comes to beds made from recycled doors. From really simple, to giant and clunky, to really rustic. There's pretty much a style for everyone.

Here's a simple headboard with a large crown (painted):



This one is a bit awkward and "lazy" with no added trim, no cutting, or any modifications. Just 2 old doors and bed hardware in between. Not my favourite look, but it could work well depending on your decor. I do like the light grey:



Another headboard with crown, this one with the door inset slightly within a frame:



This one is neat, but it also kind of drives me crazy because it's completely asymmetrical and mismatched. It also seems like they used rather wide doors, which makes the foot board rather tall:



This one is quite nice, but I'm not a huge fan of the shabby chic look. It would look awesome in a "French" styled room:



I kind of love this because of how it's styled, but it doesn't seem the most practical, since the doors look like they are just loose/leaned. Old doors could easily be mounted to the wall, though, so if you like this look, it's very easy to pull off:



This one is nice, but the columns seem a bit too big. I assume it was to be painted, but I didn't find another photo of it. It also looks like a King size:



This one is really nice and simple. Also just a headboard. It was made by friends over at Old Town Home:
Tutorial here:
https://oldtownhome.com/2011/5/18/Opportunity-Knocks-Transforming-an-Old-Door-into-a-Headboard/



My primary inspiration for the bed I built was this particular one from one of my books:



It also closely resembles this Eastlake one:



Obviously since I was using some salvaged doors, the bed couldn't be an exact copy. I also didn't make it quite as detailed with all the small mouldings, pillars, and plinths. I went for almost the same shape, but slightly simplified.

These were the two doors I decided to use for the bed. These are doors that had originally been closet doors in the house. I'm really not sure what kind of door handles they had, because they aren't drilled for normal mortise locks. The doors were in TERRIBLE shape, and they also didn't perfectly match the style of the other larger main doors (these have rounded panel corners, where the main doors had squared panel corners). These had also been chopped and hacked around the edges, and one of them was falling apart.



Lots of paint, damaged bits...



Butchered edges:



The other two sides:





These had to be stripped (obviously), so I tried my normal method (using chemical stripper) but it was working terribly, and slowly. A heat gun turned out to work INFINITELY better, and I was able to take 99% of the paint off with the gun, then scrub and clean the rest off with the chemical stripper and a rinse.





One of the two doors had to be taken apart to reglue it, so I stripped that one in pieces. This second one I only stripped the portion I would be using. One panel would get sawn off.





I was able to find a few sections of nice clear old 2x4s and scrap wood for the posts (I think it was half thick pine, and half a nice 2x4).



Two 6" boards of 1" thick rough pine for the bed rails (before planing and sanding).



Here are the doors after trimming the 4 edges, and with the 4 posts installed. You can see how all the posts have nicer boards on the fronts, and lighter (spruce) boards on the backs. The panels were fixed to the posts with four 3 inch screws drilled into 3/8" holes, which then had wooden plugs glued in them and sanded flush.



Top boards and mouldings applied. The tops were glued in place, and nailed down with old square nails (just because I have them, and they make the bed look old). You can also see how the doors are made of mis-matched woods. The foot board panels on the left are fir, but the others are all pine. I believe the door rails are fir as well.



Blurry detail shot. These are fairly standard router bit profiles. A Roman ogee, and regular ogee.



Top crest. The crest was all made from similar scrap pieces (new and old wood), and matching profiles. The majority of the crest was assembled with pocket screws. It is held to the bed top with 3 screws, so that it can easily be removed (because the headboard is both huge and heavy). The wide pine board at the base was also attached with pocket screws. This is only meant as a stopper for the mattress. I used a fairly crappy board with lots of knots and a crack (it won't be visible).



This shows the rear construction. The two blocks that stick out prevent the crest from rocking backwards.



Preview of the bed before finishing. You can see the rails, which I didn't really photograph. They are about 6" x 80", and they have a beefy 1 1/4" square section of blocks glued and screwed along the base.



Because this bed has multiple different wood species, as well as old, really dry wood, alongside brand new pine, I wanted to make sure that the stain I was using would work well and match with everything. This is really obvious in the above photo. I decided to use a water based aniline dye on this. Aniline dye is pretty tricky to use (I would not recommend it to beginners) but one of the advantages is that if you apply a second layer you can darken sections and make everything blend/match.

This sample shows:
1 - Brand new pine
2 - Antique pine
3 - Old fir door rails



Blurry, but this shows the foot board after staining. You can see that the two left panels (the fir ones) don't quite match. I ended up giving the 3 lighter panels (but nothing else) a second coat of stain. Otherwise everything ended up matching pretty well!



Another note on using aniline dye (should you ever try any). Once it dries, it WILL look awful. It will not look the right colour, and you might be disappointed and sad, but it's only an illusion. Once the varnish it applied, it will once again look like when it was freshly applied (wet).



Finishing on this was a pain. The polyurethane I used was a bit thin and runny, and I could only do one thin coat at a time. It was also taking a very long time to dry (maybe the can was a bit old?) I also ended up with a few runs, so then I did one SIDE at a time, leaving the sections lying down. It took THREE coats (over a week). Usually 2 coats is plenty, but it was still looking rather blotchy with 2 coats.





Another small hiccup that happened is that the hardware I had bought for the bed (over 5 years ago) was packaged incorrectly and it had all right side hooks! This system has the hooks screwed flush onto the rails, with the actual hooks offset (bent outwards slightly), so they aren't reversible. There are usually two #1 hooks (left) and two #2 hooks (right). I contacted the company and they sent me a new set, but I had to wait a few days for them to arrive.



The rack system I ended up using were a number of scrap 2x4s that were notched to fit the height I wanted. These sit on the rails, and I added some plywood spacers between them (to make sure they stay vertical). This system can be changed to suit a box spring application instead (my setup is a mattress only - no box spring). Because the 2x4s are all different widths/sizes, I numbered them with a punch set. On top of the 2x4s are two sheets of thin plywood lined up so that the seams fall on one of the 2x4s.





You can also see how the bed hooks work (kinda). They're designed as top-mount, so they could be raised or lowered if I ever end up with a different mattress in here. It would leave screw holes behind, but those could be hidden fairly easily.



FINISHED BED! :D





I should also add that there were a few spots with leftover white paint from the stripping. These areas were touched-up with brownish-red paint after the staining was done (before varnishing).







I'm really happy to finally be off the floor.

Too Many Chairs

I had a conversation at work today with my boss where I eventually ended up uttering the comment: "I need more chairs like I need a hole in the head".

This prompted me to actually go through the house tonight and COUNT all the chairs.

Apparently I have 38 chairs.

38 chairs is TOO MANY CHAIRS. I mean, seriously, that's insane. Now I should mention that I counted everything that could be considered as a chair. What I mean by this is that I included "chairs that can't currently be used", like antique chair frames that need upholstery, and broken chairs that need repairs or refinishing. I also counted junk pieces like the busted-up chair I keep in the garage just out of convenience (it's covered in paint and the original seat was changed to a piece of painted plywood long ago), and other oddballs like my computer chair, a small bench, as well as chairs like the fancy wing chair in the living room, and the deteriorating "papasan chair" in my front porch (which I want to get rid of).

Refurbished wing chair (free - found at the road, but I redid all the legs and changed the shape of the back):


Lovely antique straw and kapok stuffed chair found at the road:


Out of the "incomplete" ones, I was donated 3 chair frames. One is a completely disassembled Victorian chair in a box (it needs repairs, refinishing, gluing together, and complete upholstery), and a pair of beautiful inlaid French or English tub chairs (just the bare frames, these will be GORGEOUS but need a bunch of work, too). I need to take a photo of those chair frames. I also have a fairly plain bare frame with springs from a roadside find that I picked up probably over a decade ago.

Plain bare chair frame (roadside find) with a solid elm frame (an old photo from back at the apartment):


Then there are the full set of chairs for the dining room (8 of them), and the chair and bench that go with my walnut bedroom set. Aside from these, all the rest are random finds. Some were bought from yard sales, one came from an auction, and several others were free or nearly free. Pretty much all of them are antique, or at least 60 years old.

Dining room chair set (mahogany):


Gibbard furniture set which has one chair and a matching bench (shown in the next photo):


Old (vintage?) chair with fancy arms and turned legs (yard sale find):


I do have at least a dozen that I want to get rid of. Obviously the majority of these are piled in the basement right now, so they aren't being used in any way.

So yeah, it's not like I'm hoarding chairs or anything (not purposefully anyway!), but I definitely have WAY TOO MANY.

A Comfy New Addition & Halloween

Wing Chair Project:

So the house has a new addition in the form of a piece of furniture. This is a wing chair I picked up at the curb down the road in May 2014. I have been on the lookout for a wing chair for a while, and I had spotted this one coming home from work. When I went to look at it, I noticed it had nice legs, so I brought it home.



Now, right off the bat, I knew I'd be changing the chair if I decided to keep it. I absolutely hate the back (La-Z-Boy style pillow back), and when I took a closer look at it, I discovered that the legs were just cheap plastic.



Ugh. At this point I wasn't sure if I should just put it back at the road, or try to save it. I decided to strip it down somewhat, and see if the frame on it was decent.

With just the back removed, the chair already looked a lot better. One other feature that I really liked on this chair was the lean on the back rest.



I decided that I'd make new legs, and make a few modifications to the frame. The frame on it was solid wood (mixed hardwoods) and it was fairly decent (far from the best, but it wasn't made with scrap wood or plywood).

The following 3 photos were some of my inspiration for the legs. I didn't want to do any complicated carvings or shaped Queen Anne style legs. Since I have a lathe, turned legs would be easiest option.







I decided very early on that if I was going to keep this chair, I wasn't going to spend much money on it. The new legs were made from scraps of cherry that I had on hand, and the chair was upholstered in a plain grey upholstery fabric that I had bought over 10 years ago for another project that never got done (the two previous sofa chairs I threw away when I redid the antique settee).

The new legs were done in a fairly simple, yet traditional style.



Since the legs on a chair are usually built right into the frame of the chair (for strength), these had to be tacked-on and held with large dowels and biscuits. Since the fastening method is a bit weaker, I decided to add stretcher bars in between. Normally, higher end and older chairs have these stretchers. I'm not really a fan of the stretchers, but they were needed for strength.

Also notice that the bottom curve was removed from the front rail, and a taller back centre board was added (I didn't like the flat back). I finished working on the frame and finishing the legs just about a month ago.



The chair was brought into the shop a few weeks ago, and I reupholstered it.



I changed all the foam on the chair. The arms had gotten too soft, the back was no longer the original pillow type, and the seat cushion was worn (and very cruddy).





The finished chair has nail-head detail around the legs. It's an extremely comfortable chair. Combined with the ottoman I did a while back (which matches the sofa cushions) it's just fantastic to sit in. I got the chair home just a few days ago.



I'm very happy with how it turned out. The fabric choice is a bit boring, but it works well in the room, and it was basically free. The chair does take up a fairly large amount of floor space in the small living room, so for now it's in this corner. It's hard to believe it's the same chair, and hopefully this gives you some ideas if you're thinking of having a piece of furniture redone. I often tell people that you're better off redoing an old sofa than buying a new one. Once it has new cushions, and fresh fabric, you're left with a beautiful piece that isn't shoddily thrown together like what you find today. Most of the newer frames I've worked on were garbage, and I'd say anything older than 1980s is good. This particular chair is probably 1990s, and just starting to drift into "modern junk" territory.



Halloween:

This year's costume was a cheapie. I'm pretty broke at the moment, so I only spent 5$ on this costume (the price of a plain red t-shirt from Wal-Mart). I went as Peter Parker, or "Spiderman in disguise".



The shirt was done using some quick sketches, freezer paper, an iron, and spray paint. For those who don't know, freezer paper (the kind used by butchers and available at most grocery stores) is a fun way to make simple stencils. You simply cut out what you want, and iron it in place. The glossy side of the paper melts and sticks in place creating a perfect stencil for fabrics.

I started with the curved horizontal lines, which were an absolute pain in the ass to line up.



The verticals were much easier, but they were also made up of hundreds of pieces. Largely thin strips, followed by tons of little bits to fill-in all the gaps.



The spider was fun. It's a mirror image, so I just quickly sketched out one half, cut it, then stuck it down.



Despite several coats of black on the spider, it didn't completely hide the web lines. The shirt still turned out really well though. I mentioned to several people that I had made the shirt, but no one really took me seriously until they saw the "making of" photos on my Facebook page.



I'll conclude by saying that I had a record number of trick-or-treaters this year. I normally buy for roughly 40-50 kids, but this year I had enough for 50, and I ran out completely within an hour! I started to get kids at around 5:50pm, and by 6:30 I was completely out. I had to be gone for the party by 7pm, but normally if I'm home for the evening, I keep handing out candy until 7 or 8pm.