A MASTER BEDROOM REDUX

This is one of the projects I have been busy with for the past few months. We're getting the house ready to sell, in order to downsize to a one-story empty-nester, so we are in the process of redesigning our master bedroom and en-suite. We like contemporary design, with a few antiques thrown in, so I built Anna White's Pottery Barn knock-off Farmhouse Bed, and painted it  - with 3 coats of homemade chalk paint and 3 coats of hand waxed lusciousness,  no distressing - in Martha Stewart's Bedford Gray, to give it a more modern feel. I built the bed from pine, using 4x4-inch posts for the legs. I did not have to use wood conditioner to treat the pine before using the chalk paint - love that stuff for so many reasons, this being one of them, and it covered the knot holes beautifully, although I was careful to buy lumber with as few knots as possible. We went to a lumber yard for the wood, instead of one of the big box stores. I altered Anna's plans a bit so I could use pocket hole joinery as much as possible, and the legs are attached with some very long screws. I ordered some bed frame hardware from Rockler, so that we could break the bed down to move it - it weighs a ton! The wall behind the bed is done in her "Seal", a gorgeous, warm, dark gray color. I can't get enough of that color right now. I made the large, print pillow covers from a shower curtain my daughter found at Marshall's. I found a beauty of a bench for $5 at Goodwill, with curvy claw foot legs, that will sit at the foot of the bed when I finish repairing some of the broken trim, and paint it creamy white. I am making a box cushion for it out of charcoal gray pinstripe men's suiting fabric, to balance the yin and yang. I made a paper flower sculpture to go above the bed, in white Bristol board, cut on the Cricut. I'll post the bench when I get it done.

Building Anna White's Farmhouse Bed Using Pocket-Hole Screws

I am finally getting to scratch that itch to build something that I've had for a long while. I am building the Farmhouse Queen-size bed from Anna White's wonderful free plans. I have been a follower of hers since her blog was named, "Knock-Off Wood". Now it is just, "AnnaWhite.com", and if you're unfamiliar with it, please go and check it out - NOW! Then, come on back here. I wanted to share a couple of mistakes things I thought about before I started drilling into the wood to make this fabulous bed. For the panels, make sure that you position your pocket-holes (using the Kreg jig) close enough to the edge of the board so that they will be covered by the trim at the top and bottom of the panel when assembled.  That is, if you decide to use the panels - this bed would look just as great with a flat plywood panel instead of the individual boards - a bit more urban, perhaps) Use the 'C' shaft for the right-side hole, and the 'A' shaft for the left side. For the 15" tall footboard panels, I only used two holes, but for the 30" tall headboard panels, I put a third hole at the center of the boards for stability, aligning the 'B' shaft at the 15" mark. These won't be seen from the front side of the headboard, since it will be against the wall. If you want to float your bed so that the back will be seen, you'll have to putty these center holes. 

 

http://www.kregtool.com/Pocket-Hole-Jigs-Prodlist.html

After drilling the holes, using the dust removal attachment that came with my Kreg Pocket-Hole Jig K4 Master System, I used my Porter Cable orbital sander to sand all edges and clean up the pocket holes. I decided to slightly round off the long edges of the front-side of the boards, so that the panels would be distinct. I figure, why bother using panels if you can't tell they're panels. 

The bed is coming along. I'll post more pics as it progresses.