TRUE VALUE BLOG SQUAD CHALLANGE - A BED FIT FOR A KING! The Final Chapter!

Drum roll please!!!! The day has come where we are actually sleeping on our brand spankin' new King size bed we made from scratch! I can't believe we finished this massive project. I cried. I actually cried the moment it was complete. Half out of pure frustration of the time it took, and half because I am so proud Joey was able to make the most beautiful bed! Behold (along with the glorious mess we made) the bed!

Now, this bed is HUGE. I'm not kidding or exaggerating. It's massive. See the pillars behind it? Those are 7+ ft. tall. We had to inch it over into position, 3 inches at a time. It's very rewarding to have finished, and we want to share how we completed this project!

We wanted some dark wood feet, so we bought raw feet from True Value and just stained them. A lot of the prep work for the bed can be found here, here, and here, including the feet. After they were stained we added them to the body Joey constructed.

For Christmas, I got Joey some new tools, which came in very handy while constructing the bed. The compressor I got him is super portable and he loves all the attachments you can get. For the bed the nail gun got used most.

After attaching the feet, all that was left to do was assemble the whole darn thing. First we attached the headboard, then attached the wings to the "back" of the headboard. We used the nailgun to secure the back to the headboard and some hinges to secure the wings. As you can see, we were super excited to see it all coming together.

To keep the mattress sturdy, we nailed down some "ladder" pieces to support the mattress. We used clamps to make sure it was all straight. We also numbered the pieces so when we reassembled, we knew it would be a perfect fit.

We would like to say it was easy, but it wasn't. It was in challenge, but it is also an awesome reward. We made a bed from scratch. Our biggest DIY furniture project to date! We got exactly what we wanted, except now - we need to find a King size mattress we agree on! Let's check her out one more time!

TRUE VALUE BLOG SQUAD CHALLANGE - A BED FIT FOR A KING! PART Trois!

Helllllooo pretty people! We have resolved to complete this massive bed project before 2010 is over, and we are here to present Part Three (or a happy little trois!). If you missed Part One or Part Duce, check them out for a refresh. If you feel like staying put, here is a quicky break down of where we are up to. We bought our supplies, build our frame, stained the feet, and upholstered the sides and foot of the bed. Today we will share...drum roll please....the almighty headboard! Got it? Great, let's go!

The headboard required a small army because of it's massive size and weight. This time we were lucky enough to have some family and friends in town, so we put them to work, stat!

So here is how we upholstered the bed, before we get to the tufting (which is hard work, let us tell ya!). 

You will need:

Foam

Batting

Spray Glue (one-two cans)

Gorilla Glue (just a little)

The headboard you built from wood

Fabric

Buttons (we made our own from the upholstery fabric using a kit from here)

Upholstery Thread & Needle

Staple Gun

Rubber Hammer

Sharpie

Scissors

Drill

You can find everything at True Value except the batting, fabric, and upholster thread!

 

First you are going to attach your foam to the front of the headboard you built. Make sure if you are tufting you pre-drilled holes before you glue the foam to the headboard. We found spray glue is way easier to use and works great! The Gorilla glue is pretty great too, but you have to account for more drying time. We used the Gorilla glue to make sure corners of the foam were super flat on the surface of the wood. 

Once you have a super secure (no sagging!) base to work with you can start batting. We loved the cotton based batting. It's 80% cotton and 20% polyester. We bought two "Queen Size" rolls to cover the foam three (yes, three) times. We were paranoid the greem foam would peek through our light fabric, so we played it safe.  

We think the trick to having the professional look when upholstering is clean straight lines from the start. We smooth out the matting several times before stapling it. We hammered loose staples to keep the smoothness going.

We didn't sew any of the fabric except to piece it together. Instead we stapled it tightly to the wood, and folded the corners like you see below. Easy peasy.

Tufting is what we were initially scared to do, but it wasn't so bad! Granted it's a good idea to have an extra pair (or two) of friendly hands to help and steady the bed as you work with the needle and thread to make sure the buttons are perfectly placed. We had to push the buttons against the foam really hard and secure the thread with staples from the staple gun. Want to see our genius mess?

As you can see we made a bit of a crazy mess with super glue and staples to keep the upholstery thread secure in the back of the bed. Thank god this will be covered up (more on that next post!)

Speaking of our next and final bed post, check out how close we are to sharing the final product!

Have you made a bed? Know a great project about bed building? Please share! We are kinda obsessed with how affordable it is compared to buying. 

Lets get legal: We were one of the 10 bloggers True Value has chosen to work on The Blog Squad , and we are way excited to take on the challenge of showing you exciting DIY projects.  They have compensated us for our time and writing, and provided materials for the projects we have worked on. However, our opinions are entirely our own and we have not been paid to publish positive comments. Did we mention we are excited to show you our DIY Blog Squad Projects

TRUE VALUE BLOG SQUAD CHALLANGE - A BED FIT FOR A KING! PART Duce

We hope everyone had an amazing and yummy Thanksgiving! We had a blast! As some of you know, I am a vegetarian, and Joey is a bona-fide meat eater. So I thought it was sweet when he helped me make a vegan "turkey" out of wheat gluten! It turned out really great, and everyone was happy with "both birds". More importantly, we have been moving along with our True Value Blog Squad projects as well as getting the house Christmas ready!

We have been getting a lot of requests for the next steps with the "making of the bed" so we thought we would push this post in front of others we had planned out to get you all rolling on making a bed of your own!

So if you haven't been keeping up with the bed making progress, take a peek at the last post to get you up to date. 

And now, we officially begin part two!

Your True Value Shopping List will include:

for the legs:

Six "feet" $6-$8 each

An electric screwdriver, we like Ryobi

The left over 2X12 wood you already used for the sides

Wood Screws $4

Stain, we like Minwax gel stain, A LOT $15

for upholstering the sides of the bed: 

Staple gun $28

Plenty of sharpies and pencils

Scissors

spray glue (optional, but you will need it for the headboard)

Don't forget:

Fabric and matting

After you collect the few things you need to make this awesome DIY bed, make sure to review your plan. Make sure the fabric looks good with the stain you picked out, and you KNOW the shape of the headboard you are going to use, etc. Having a plan upfront is key to a successful bed. 

We left off here last time:

After you get to this point, dismantle the bed. Yes, we know you are probably asking "Why on earth would I undo all that hard work?!" Well, there are a few reasons. Reason one is because building it in your bedroom will be much easier than getting it though a door way. Or in our case, up two flights of stairs. Number two, it's much easier to upholster the sides one by one. Label your sides! Decide now what side you want to be what. 

You will not have to finish this wood in anyway, unless of course you do not plan on upholstering your bed. If that's the case, finish, paint or stain now. If that's not the case, just finish the feet.

We used a dark Minwax gel stain. We really love the gen stain and totally suggest trying it out if you never have. We would gel stain everything in our house if we could. It's just so painless and rewarding. 

After the six legs are stained and let dry for 24 hours, we used the left of scrap wood from the 2X12 pieces we used to make the frame to give the legs height and have the feet double as braces for extra support. We cut 2 large triangles and 1 small triangle, everything was connected with 2 1/2 in. wood screws. Set these aside for now.

Now that the frame is dismantled, you can upholster the sides with the fabric of your choice. We selected 1940 German grain sack. We bought sixteen yards in case we mess up, and to make pillow shams. Cut your batting about 6 inched extra on each side of your 2X12 wood.

The reason you want to use matting before you staple your fabric to the wood is to add a uniformed smoothness as well as an extra layer of cozy. Simple staple with a staple gun tightly around the wood. Then do the same with the fabric.

Repeat for the left side, right side and food of the bed. Take a break! This is a lot of hard work. All the fabric must be stretched tight in order for it to look its  best. It's good to do with a friend to help out. When you have completed these steps, you should wind up with this:

It's kinda looking like a bed, eh?! This is the part where is starts to get exciting! Can't wait to show you what's next!

LETS GET LEGAL: WE WERE ONE OF THE 10 BLOGGERS TRUE VALUE HAS CHOSEN TO WORK ON THE BLOG SQUAD , AND WE ARE WAY EXCITED TO TAKE ON THE CHALLENGE OF SHOWING YOU EXCITING DIY PROJECTS.  THEY HAVE COMPENSATED US FOR OUR TIME AND WRITING, AND PROVIDED MATERIALS FOR THE PROJECTS WE HAVE WORKED ON. HOWEVER, OUR OPINIONS ARE ENTIRELY OUR OWN AND WE HAVE NOT BEEN PAID TO PUBLISH POSITIVE COMMENTS. DID WE MENTION WE ARE EXCITED TO SHOW YOU OUR DIY BLOG SQUAD PROJECTS?