Twin Platform Bed, Project 2

1/4/11

Converting from Queen (Ana's plan) to Twin. End Rails are 39" and Side Rails are 76.5".

Shopping List
(3) 1x8 8' long
(1) 2x6 4' long
(2) 2x2 8' long
(?) 1x3 ' long need enough for 26' of slats and 8.3' of leg trim - see Purchased List.
I invested in a Calculated Industries 8510 Home ProjectCalc Do-It-Yourself Project Calculator while in store to figure this out. Love it!

Purchased List
(2) 1x8x10 $10.30/ea
(1) 2x6x8 $3.82
(2) 2x2x8 $1.34/ea (Quality was awful, did the best I could)
(1) 1x3x6 $2.37
(4) 1x3x8 $2.82/ea

Cut List
(2) 1x8 @ 76.5" (side rails)
(2) 1x8 @ 39" (end rails)
(2) 2x2 @ 75" (cleats)
(4) 2x6 @ 5 1/2" (leg bases)
(16) 1x3 @ 6 1/4" (leg trim)
(8) 1x3 @ 39" (slats)
(4) 2x6 @ 5 1/2" length on two sides cut at 45 degree angle (corner supports) - HD and Lowes won't do diagonal cuts. You either need a saw, a friend with a saw, or a local woodworking club to help you out. I did the latter.

Costs:
Lumber - $40.75
Cuts - $5 My Home Depot usually does them for free, but I wanted to try out Lowes. They charged .25/cut after first two free,
but only charged me for 20, when they actually did 33.
Wood Screws - $4
Old-Fashioned Milk Paint - $9.95 for a pint + shipping
[Unintended cost, optional] Donation to Woodworking club for corner bracket cuts - $10
[Unintended cost, optional] Pre-made Feet (Kelleher 2-5/8 in. x 2-5/8 in. x 4 in. Basswood Table Leg) - $22.00

Total: We'll round up to $95 for this twin bed. Okay, so it's not cheaper than the FJELLSE bed from IKEA ($30), but it's pretty.

2/15/11
Okay, I'm definitely looking into other sources for lumber from now on. I've had so much trouble with this bed solely because I had to take the best boards I could find and in the case of the 2x2s, they were ridiculously bad.

It's taken me a while to build this because our weather has been so cold and I haven't wanted to work in the cold garage.

When I built the frame, I could not get it to measure square. After doing some reading and some suggestions from users on Ana's forum, I found out that your boards have to be perfect lengths to expect your project to be square. Since I have my cuts done at the big box stores (or I did for this project anyway), I know they aren't. Strike two for the lumber from Orange and Blue.

Tip: I could have used the corner brackets to make it easier to get it as close to square as possible, but that didn't occur to me until I was watching a show on the DIY channel after I built the frame.

I added the corner brackets fairly easily. I wasn't sure I could use pocket holes for them, but I did and it worked fine.

Next step is cleats. Oy. These are the 2x2s that were warped to hell. I tried to turn the boards so that I would be able to eliminate the warping with a good solid joint. I found the center of the side rail and drilled my first screw there so that I could try and get the board level before doing the rest. It worked out fairly well, but the warping still caused me to lose level toward one end.

Tip: If you can make and use a guide for multiples of the same measurement, do it. It's infinitely easier than doing the same measurement over and over. Let me explain. I'm nine months pregnant. I don't have a work bench so I work on the floor and hopping back and forth from side to side while I tried to get the cleat level and attached was not an option. The easiest way for me to tell if the cleat was staying straight was to take a paint stick and mark the distance from the cleat to the top of the side rail. Then, I could just stick the paint stick on top of the cleat as I drilled each screw down the length of the cleat to make sure I stayed at the same height/level. Same for spacing the distance between screws along the cleat and also the distance between slats. Guide > measuring tape for repeated measurements.

Having said that (before I made the guide), I screwed up the first hole and drilled it slightly lower than two inches from the top so my clamps would not hold the cleat to the side rail. I wasn't concerned about the height of the cleat for the mattress, but not having the clamps haunted me while I tried to finish the cleat installation.

Tip: Don't put glue on your screws for the cleat installation unless you are SURE that the slats will fit. See below.

After I finished the first cleat and was working on the second, I thought it might be a good idea to see if I could fit one of the slats in so I grabbed one and tried to set it on the cleats. Too long. Noooooo. After having a mini freak out, I measured the space between the rails and discovered that on the ends of the bed, it was a perfect 39", but in the middle it was a whole half inch shorter. Expletives! Thankfully, I hadn't used glue on the screws for the cleats and my husband suggested I loosen the screws on the first cleat. I did and was able to fit the slats in. Phew. I went ahead and spaced the cleats the correct distance at this point and left them in while I re-tightened the first cleat. Then I finished the installation of the second cleat. Crisis averted.

Tip: If you put the slats in before installing the legs like I did, you will need to space them so that they are not covering up the corner brackets. You are going to be screwing the corner brackets to the legs and you need to make sure you can drill there without a slat being in the way.

Sometime in early March '11...

I gave up on the chunky feet and here's why. The big box stores can't cut wood to accurate measurements. When trying to make the feet pieces flush around the center piece, I discovered major discrepancies in the sizes. I purchased a miter board and saw combo to try and shave off the extra bits to the correct size. I don't have a work bench and couldn't mount the miter board so trying to cut 16 pieces of wood with a miter on the floor of my garage, in a timely fashion, was just not going to happen. This project was already past my deadline and my patience was gone. I think I'll look back and realize this was the moment I decided to buy a real saw. However, I'm about to go on a maternity building hiatus so that we'll hit the pause button on that.

When you can't build, buy. So another trip to Home Depot and I came home with four pre-made feet for the bed. They will make the bed slightly taller, but still a reasonable size for a platform bed. Since I didn't need to screw the feet from the top side, I added the last two slats to the cleats and flipped the bed to install the feet. I made a cardboard template circle of the bottom of one of the feet, poked a center hole, labeled the directions of the bed (long end, short end) on the template and marked the drill locations for the feet onto the corner brackets. Next, I pre-drilled just a bit to get them started and then my three-year old helped me screw them in with a dab of wood glue in the holes. Bed finished!

3/14/11

Tip: You'll need at least two plastic paint containers with lids to mix/store the milk paint.

I combined two colors of the milk paint powder and mixed them with the water to create my lovely shade of green. It was still a bit lumpy so I decided to go ahead and strain it into a second container with a knee high nylon. Had to get my hands dirty for that one and squeeze it through, but it worked great! I absolutely loved how the paint went onto the wood. It was really smooth and not sticky like regular latex paint. I was a bit congested and couldn't smell a thing, but my mom said she could smell the clay in it. Why did people stop making/using this stuff? It's fabulous! I actually liked the look of one coat in some ways... you could see the wood grain through it really well, but the husband requested a second coat.






3/15/11

I could have done the second coat much sooner, but just didn't have the time. The husband was right though, it looked much better after a second coat.

3/16/11

Ater the second coat dried, I noticed some paint puckering where I had used Elmer's Wood Filler. I was a bit concerned about that after reading that a specific brand of filler is sometimes recommended for use with milk paint. I would have bought some too, but it couldn't be found locally and the shipping cost was ridiculous. I even tried to do a little sanding with a fine grain paper and painting again, but the puckering happened again. /sigh I will have to do some tests with other brands of wood filler to find out what works best.



Flipped the bed and put the first coat on the feet.

Oh! I can smell the paint now...barely. It smells a bit clay+lime. Love, love, love that it's so non-toxic that I don't have to worry about fumes or anything and I can paint at 9 months pregnant!

3/17/11

My sanding test produced splotchy spots so I had to add a third coat to that side and I finished the second coat on the feet. I think I'll try to cover the wood filler problem areas with some kind of stencil design using craft paint, but that will have to wait. This bed needs to see some use first. Hoping to get it all set up tomorrow night!

3/18/11


Final thoughts: I painted a bit of green on the inside of the frame so that when the mattress moved around, you wouldn't see the plain wood. Or so I thought. I didn't paint enough. I probably should have painted all the way down to the cleat, the cleat, and about four inches of slat on both sides. There is a tiny bit too much space length-wise for the mattress, but I wanted to add a headboard at some point so we'll just install it to the interior of the frame rather than the outside and problem solved! Overall, though, I am really happy with the bed and my daughter loves it too!

Children's Play Fridge, Project 1

I keep telling myself, and everyone else, that this is the first woodworking project I've ever attempted. Actually, it's the second. The first is still sitting in the garage unfinished. I do hope to finish it soon and it will have a post of it's own, but for now here is my first finished project.

I used the fridge plan with the side by side doors from Ana-White.com. It is similar to the fridge in our home so I hoped our daughter would recognize it.

After the fridge, I plan to do the stove and sink. Of course, now the Munchkin is in a major playing shop phase so I might build her the grocery store front too. The to build list grows! However, I really need to build her a twin bed so that will have to be project number 2.

In case you haven't checked it out before, do yourself a favor and visit Ana-White.com. She gives away the furniture plans for free and the four things above are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to my list of things to build.

You really don't need to own a saw to do most of her plans, but if you build enough projects, you'll end up adding one to your wishlist fairly quickly. The only thing it will cost you is style and time (and maybe a little money if your store charges for cuts).

Tools & Materials Used
Tape Measure
Square
(2) 6" Irwin Quick Grip Clamps
Kreg Right Angle Clamp
Kreg Jig (optional. You could drill with a countersink bit and fill holes with wood filler)
Drill
Nailer (optional. You could use hammer/nails).
Hand Sander & 120 grit sandpaper
Primer/Paint
Magnetic Primer for Fridge Doors

11/7/10
I recently had all the boards cut for the play fridge compliments of a big-box lumber store.

Today, we picked up a nailer and compressor that I'm borrowing from my uncle. It only shoots 1 1/4" so I still need to get a nailer of my own at some point that can do 2". I'm going to buy a Kreg Jig tonight if the Munchkin gets up from her nap early enough...or tomorrow morning. I have no idea how to use the thing. I'll have to read the instructions!

11/9/10
So, I bought the Kreg Jig yesterday, bought the paint, and some various other stuff to get started. My mom came over to watch the Munchkin for the afternoon so I could work on it. I assembled the Kreg, watched the instructional DVD (luckily it was short), and got set up in the garage to make my first pocket hole on some scrap. Then, I realized our drill really isn't a drill. It's really just a cordless screwdriver with a few drill bits for around the house type stuff. It wasn't capable of using the Kreg Jig drill bit. UGH. I don't want to buy another drill just yet so I'm going to borrow my Dad's this afternoon.

11/13/10

I got my Dad's drill and initially thought that it wouldn't work either. The clutch didn't seem to fit the Kreg Jig drill bit, which is huge! It was a silly mistake, but hey, I'm new at this! I thought I had the clutch pins all the way open, but the ring was just stuck. After I figured that out, I was in business.

I started drilling on a piece of scrap and it took me three attempts to get a correct pocket hole drilled. Using the Kreg is simple, but before yesterday I didn't even know how it worked! It's been really hard for me as such a perfectionist to have so many bumps and hiccups in starting this hobby, but I'm determined to plow through and figure it out. I'm really relying on the web completely in answering my novice questions and that doesn't always work out.

I drilled all of the pocket holes for the entire play fridge, probably about 20 or so, in about half an hour a few nights ago. It went fast once I figured out where I wanted them. I couldn't screw any pieces together though because I was in desperate need of a a right angle clamp to hold the pieces together while I screw the joint together.

11/14/10
The clamp arrived from Amazon last night so I can't wait to put my first two boards together.

I bought the handles from IKEA on Thursday. Munchkin helped me pick them out even though she doesn't know what they are for.

11/15/10
This is where I'm at so far. You can't see the toe kick in the front side because my van was in the way and I couldn't back up any further.



I had a pretty big screwup on the top shelf. I forgot to drill two pocket holes and assembled the pieces before I realized it. I tried to use the portable Kreg, but I didn't have the right size of clamps to hold it still and I couldn't drill the pocket holes correctly. I figured out a way to fix it by using a countersink bit/screw so I'll have to fill the hole with wood filler and sand it. Since I'm painting this project anyway, it should be no big deal because it will be hidden by paint anyway. If I were staining, it would have been a huge mistake so I'm glad I'm starting with stuff that is going to be painted. =D

After adding the backing with the nailer, wood filling the holes, and sanding, it looks like this:



12/18/10

Ran into another snag. I set the doors inside the fridge and realized that when closed, there would be a large open gap between them. The interior measurement is 15.5" creating a whole inch wide gap with both doors on. Even with the hinges adding a little space on, it will still be a large gap. Large enough to see inside the fridge with the doors closed. I don't like how it looks at all.



I was trying to figure out what I had done wrong so I took a look at the inspiration blog post by Ana to see what others' doors looked like.

Here's the link to that post.

If you look at the photo from Edfrank1777, there is practically no gap at all, but in the photo just below it by Anna, the fridge doors have a large gap when closed similar in size to the gap I am going to have if I install my doors as is.

I'm trying to get this done before Christmas and fixing this is going to make that difficult!

12/19/10

Went to HD and an associate suggested I use a 1/2" x 3/4" strip of pine moulding and nail/glue it to the edges of the door pieces to make them just a smidge wider. It worked fairly well, there is a very minor line where the boards are joined and they have closed the gap and are flush when inset in the cabinet. I have them put together, wood filled the nail holes, and sanded them. Now the husband has to prime them tomorrow (I'm avoiding fumes because I'm expecting) and I should be able to paint them tomorrow night. We might have to do hinges and handles on the doors when we get back from our holiday trip Saturday night.

12/20/10

The yellow paint is quite a bit brighter than I thought it would be. I should have been tipped off by the name 'Dazzling Daffodil'. I'm starting to come around to the husband's request that we use milk paint. The colors are much more earthy and subtle. Though, it's a toy...crazy color should be okay on these pieces. I'm doing the outside of the piece in yellow, white on the interior and the doors will be green.




12/21/10

The grey color on the doors is the magnetic primer which the husband tested out.



Works pretty good! I didn't fill the pocket holes on the bottoms of the shelves since they won't be seen.

Notes to self:
Definitely two thick coats of primer next time.
Test the Frog painters tape. The blue painter's tape doesn't make a clean edge.

12/22/10
Tried to do handles and hinges tonight. Didn't have the right drill bit for either. Holiday trip was cancelled so I might actually be able to finish this thing on time.

12/23/10
Unbelievable the trouble I am having building this fridge. You'd think handles and hinges would be easy, right? Nope!

I went to HD this morning looking for a 2/8" drill bit as called for in the IKEA handles package. No drill bit labeled 2/8", but how about a 1/4" which should be the same right? Wrong. It was too big. The different between 1/8" bit and 1/4" bit was huge. I bought a 3/16" bit because it looked the closest to what I needed. The 3/16" ended up working, but would have been even better with a slightly smaller bit. I'm so confused by the bit measurements, but that is a post for another day. I got the handles on alright, but I did do a little damage to a door drilling the pilot holes. In retrospect, I should have just screwed the things straight in and not even pre-drilled holes on wood this soft.

I also bought a kit to drill the holes for the European style hinges that will go on the back side of the doors so they'll be hidden. I tested one on some scrap pieces. Good thing I did because in order to work, the door has to overlap the side of the cabinet so I would have yet ANOTHER gap problem if I used them. Could I just go back to the hinges on the front of the fridge? They don't look as nice, but I do have them laying around. Uh, that would be a no. Since I added the moulding strips to the doors and eliminated the gap, it makes standard hinges too large to fit. ARGH! So back to HD again tomorrow to get yet another type of hinge that I can install on the inside.

I keep trying to tell myself... I am learning a lot... I am learning a lot.

12/24/10
It's Christmas Eve and I'm hunting down hinges. I needed a Free Swinging, 100 degree, Inset European style hinge to complete the fridge. Amazingly, I found the exact hinge I need on HD's website and it was supposedly in stock. But when I got to the store, with the printout in hand, it doesn't match the product on the shelves. The item number matches, but it's not the right hinge. Instead, it's a Full Overlay hinge which means the doors have to overlay on the panel of the cabinet (creating the huge gap) when they are closed. I never imagined what type of hinge you use would have such a huge impact on the measurements of a piece, which is probably why there is so much variation among the projects completed with Ana's plans. The Euro hinges aren't cheap either. At $5 a pop, it's not hard to see why most people go with the standard hinges. I'm out of luck at this point though. I can't get the hinges I need to put the doors on in time for Christmas. #$%#$#@

12/26/10

Well, I wrapped up the fridge for Christmas anyway and the Munchkin loved it, even without doors. Love her.

12/29/10

I found the Euro hinges that I needed at Lowes, but they aren't Free Swinging, they are Self Closing. That isn't good for a kid's toy. It means that the doors will close with force once they are given a push and that means pinched fingers! In order to get the hinges I want, I'd have to order them online and pay shipping. I want this project done so I'm going to cut a corner with a type of hinge that I just discovered. It's free swinging...check! works with inset doors...check! but is a surface mount...boo. It won't look as cute, but it will be done! The price is right. I can get a set of two hinges for $2 instead of the $5/each for the Euro hinges.

Here are the hinges:


It was easy to mark the holes for the screws by flipping the hinge upside down and sticking it on the edge of the door like so:


Then I flipped the hinge over and screwed it onto the door. I had the fridge laying on it's back so I stacked a bunch of magazines onto the edges of the shelves to the height where the doors should be flush with the edge of the fridge cabinet panel and put the door into place. I then screwed the other side of the hinge into the side of the fridge cabinet and repeated the process for the remaining three hinges on both doors.

12/30/10
Doors installed! They are a little sticky in one spot and the husband will have to sand them down a tiny bit (primer fumes), but I'm so happy they worked! I still need to add a magnetic latch to hold the doors closed a little better (the result of using the free swinging hinges).

Finished project pic to come.