Headboard, footboard

OK, so I’m in bed phase… and things have gone swimmingly so far. The cabinets are in place and bolted together.  But, wow, I don’t want to look at that footboard. Plus, I need something a little bit more – how shall I put this – stately for a headboard than just the painted wall.

So, I set about building a headboard and a footboard for the bed. This way, I could hide the seam where the cabinets are joined, and give the bed a more finished appearance.

http://tomsworkbench.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/1420140839782.jpg

Since I was going to make both the headboard and footboard out of the same plywood I was using for the cabinets, I started by using my edge taping trick to cut a matching veneer for the exposed edge of the plywood. That was easy with the table saw, some glue and a little blue painter’s tape.

The back boards

From there, I cut some alder boards to serve as posts for the bed. My plan was to face glue two boards together, cutting out the inside one to fit the head and footboard to make a strong assembly. I figured a one inch inset would be plenty strong for this, so I scribed a one inch line down the side of the two ‘back’ boards of the stack.

Layout

The next step was to lay the pieces on these scribed back boards to show what I had to cut away to fit the pieces. The footboard, since it was square, was a piece of cake. The headboard, which had a curve, was a whole lot more important to lay out to make sure the fit was perfect.

CuttingWith the marks in place, it was a quick trip to the band saw to slice away what wasn’t necessary. I love the band saw for work like this because it’s just so darned easy.

The assembly

With the cut made, I glued and tacked the two boards together, then glued and screwed the panels into place, fitting exactly in the area I cut. For some reason, this photo looks slanted,but I assure you that the ends of the board were indeed square.

The footboard

Just a few screws through the cabinet into the head and footboards made these things rock solid, and I just love the way the headboard looks with its graceful curve.

The headboardAll that’s left to do now is to build six drawers and finish the piece. Yes, we plan on finishing it in place in the room (with the mattress and bedding removed, of course), which means water based stain and finish – a first for me. This should prove interesting, but so far, I can’t tell you how happy I am that this is working out well.

4 thoughts on “Headboard, footboard”

  1. Did you switch from a metal from with box spring to this storage box base? Do you think the bed feels different without the box spring? That’s the only thing holding me back from building something like this for my bedroom.

  2. I sure did, and there is absolutely no difference in mattress feel. The idea of the box spring is to hold the mattress rigidly in place, so the plywood deck is serving that purpose.

    Now, if you go to a mattress salesman, he’ll tell you that you absolutely need a box spring.. but, the reality is probably not…

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