Olie

My thought process what that there will be a lot of pink with all the other stuff I picked out as shown here. She does not know about everything here and all the other pink.

Now finish opinions. Ever since I started building the bed my daughter has came out to the shop and told me she wants the bed to be pink and asked why it’s not pink yet. I played around with some pink and didn’t like anything and I don’t like staining wood and I spent a lot of time selecting the alder with the best grain patterns. This weekend I made one final attempt at pink. I went to a Rubio supplier and picked up some samples to mix. I used Pure as the predominant color so it would be transparent and let the grain show and then I added a little velvet red and super white to get a diluted pink. This is the result. Still not sure I want to stain. I originally was going to go with Arm R Seal because it would darken the Alder and give some nice contrast to the Ash, but after seeing the bed now I kind of like the natural look of the wood although this one pops the grain nicely. With liking the natural look, I tested some Fiddes in the “Natural” color which they just came out with to use on light woods to not yellow and keep its natural color and I used this to prefinished the Ash slats. I kind of like it and it keeps it the lightest of all tested and then the bed would all have the same finish. Finally I tried the Fiddes “Clear” that I used on other projects and my workbenches and I can’t find the sample but the color is in between the Natural and Arm R Seal in terms of darkness. The pink gives my daughter what she wants, the Arm R Seal pops the grain the most but is the darkest, the Fiddes natural keeps the same finish on the entire bed, and the Fiddes Clear is in between and the Fiddes offers a little less protection compared to the Arm R Seal. So, do I give my daughter what she’s wants and not worry about what I think looks best and make it pink or do I keep my original thoughts of showcasing the beauty of the wood with a hardwax oil or Arm R Seal and compensate elsewhere with pink? I did order her a custom pink bedding set, pink sheets and pillow cases, pink drawer handles, and a pink sheet curtain that goes above the bed so there will be a lot of pink. The pink pic is obviously, the Arm R Seal is the pic with the long board sitting on the rail, and the Fiddes Natural is the other pic. Fiddes Clear is in between on darkness and I’ll try to find the sample.

The 6/4 one is milled down to 1.25” and this is what I was leaning towards. Can always mill down a little more if needed. Thanks for the insight.

Visual of 4/4 vs 6/4 top cap.

For a top cap on the headboard and footboard, I know it’s a personal preference, but do you think I should stay consistent with 6/4 alder or would that look too thick and stay with 4/4? Any design ideas for a top cap? I was just going to make it a little wider all around and put a beveled edge like I did other places on the bed, but open to other ideas.

Well my wife is gone with the kids and I’m supposed to be doing yard work but I’m on a roll on this project and don’t want to stop the momentum. I got the slat rail support installed, cut up all the slats and the divider pieces between the slats. I now have a functional working bed! Just need to mill up and install the top caps for the headboard and footboard tonight and then break it all down and do a final sanding and apply finish in which I’ll post about that later. Then it’s off to the storage cabinet that slides under. Gotta say this is the most sturdiest and stout bed I’ve ever owned. I guess not that hard being it’s just a twin.

I came close to shooting a mortise in the wrong side of footboard but stopped to double check everything and caught the almost error before it happened. Just lucky I guess and I’m sure I’ll do this someday!

It was a late night as I wanted to get all the mortises cut for the connection hardware. The instructions were very clear and concise and it was pretty easy. The most important thing is to take your time and make sure you mark the boards to identify reference face and orientation and change the fence height and depth settings appropriately as you work through the cuts. There is a lot more detail that goes into the process that I’d be happy to share if someone ever used this system. All in all I’m very impressed with this connection hardware. It was easy and gave excellent results. After tightening everything up I’m amazed at how sturdy and rigid the bed is and how tight the joint is and I’ll definitely use this hardware in the future if I ever build another bed. The only downside is that it is more expensive than traditional bed rail hardware but worth it to me with how easy it is and based on the results. Now for the slat support ledge and slats and I have a functional bed.

I have everything sanded to 120 grit and have the mattress in the shop to measure for the rail length and width. I’m pretty tight on available space on the width and wish I had another 1/2” but it will be ok. I did a practice cut for the domino connectors on some scrap and everything seemed pretty easy following the instructions. I may even get the connector joinery cut tonight or tomorrow. After I get the connector joinery set up and tested I’ll take it apart and add the ledge for the slats, cut up the slats, mill the top caps, and do a final sand to 180 grit. The bed portion is getting close and then it’s on to the storage cabinet underneath in which I picked up a sheet of Baltic birch plywood for constructing the carcass. I chose Baltic birch because the cabinet won’t be seen and will be face framed with alder.

I should just attach the rails and call it a day, but I always need to overdo it! If you saw any of my workbench builds with Kev they both started as more basic benches but that’s the way I roll I guess. But I need the storage so adding it will put the icing on the cake.

I have the domino 700 so I’m going to try the 90 degree connectors as they look pretty slick. The festool dealer in my town opens up boxes of the connectors and puts them in baggies per joint so you can buy just what you need to try the system out and not need to buy an expensive box set right off the bat.

I also selected a 7” tall memory foam mattress so it’s not as tall as most and lessens the overall bed height compared to the other 10” to 12” kids mattresses we have in the house.

Thanks. I took a lot of time picking out boards and grain prior to milling as I always do but what I learned is that I should cut some extra pieces and the end result after milling doesn’t always look the same as the rough lumber or the milling process shows knots or imperfections that weren’t there looking at rough lumber. Oh well, still doesn’t look bad.

The slats are floating and not glued it. Yes, it’s a tall bed. I need to really conserve space and use the space underneath to add storage

FINALLY got the headboard glued up. Previous pics were a dry fit. Everything turned out well and seams closed up nicely. I almost ran out of time with glue drying while getting everything assembled with the glue up so using a glue with longer working time is a note for the future. Another learning point for the future is board selection. I like the top 3 slats on the headboard but not so much the bottom 3 so I can do better with board selection or make extra in the future. I set the rails on stuff around the shop to see how it will look and not too much longer before I have a functional bed. As mentioned before, there will be more space under the rails than normal to allow room for a cabinet with drawers to slide under. Don’t mind the messy shop.