King Bed

[Pwk5017]

Unfortunately, I don’t do well with journaling the process of builds, so this is more like the rest of my journals that are more of a showcase. Having two bulldogs in bed precipitated the need to upgrade to a king. We had a Queen Saatva and loved it, so when they had a promotion for free shipping three weeks ago, we jumped on it. Thus, the clock was set for me to make a bed frame by the time they were ready to deliver. I drew up about six options in sketch up, and my wife shot down 4-5 of them. In the process of poo pooing my models, she wanted to add storage. Most everything we do involves an option for “more storage”. She is a neat freak, and I clearly am not, but I said I would fit drawers in the bottom. In the end this proved to be a headache and a half each time I assemble and disassemble the bed. From start to finish, I probably have 20-30 hours in it, and the build seemed to fly. I worked on three commissions simultaneously that delayed the bed build slightly, but I finished prior to the mattress arriving—if only just by minutes, I was literally screwing the slats in place as they range the doorbell. 

 

As far as construction is concerned, I kinda cheaped out on the wood selection slightly. I had a bunch of 4/4 walnut occupying the majority of my two lumber racks from various cheap Craigslist buys. I also had Super cheap 8/4-12/4 white ash taking up floor space that was also from Craigslist. Seemed too convenient to face the 12/4 ash with walnut and save myself $400-500 in lumber costs while simultaneously using up existing stock. I thought about it for a day, and really didn’t want to fork over the extra money just so I knew the whole thing was solid walnut. With a mattress in place, no one is the wiser. I’m sure all my support pieces are 2-3x what they need to be, but I always hated how previous beds squeaked and creaked. It was my original intention that nothing would deflect or make a peep under any load. The saggulator helped confirm my gut when sizing parts. I exclusively used the domino 700, and flew through all the joinery. This allowed me to use festool’s breakdown joinery. Previously, I used the flat connectors,but this was my first experience with the 90 degree, and so far I’m really happy with them. I found the best method is to clamp everything together prior to tightening the Festool connectors. They will draw a joint tight, but you can’t rely on them to close things up if things are  1/16-1/8” apart. Overall, the build is super simplistic, but I had some fun with the panels. The center panels are cut from a big crotch I purchased. It is the brother to the wood used for the jewelry box build. To pair with it, I had another crotch that had longer feathering to it. I liked the way they came together, and set to resawing everything for the footboard and headboard panels. I tried to keep the rest of the grain selection pretty subdued. Most of the build went along without a hiccup, and was especially pleased with how flawless the faux through mortise came together. I added a walnut seat ledge to the perimeter, and thought it might be a nice touch to have a pillowed leg pole through. I made a quick router template out of 1/4” ply, made my marks, and then chiseled out the rounded corners. Fit like a glove on the first shot. Finally, finished everything with a few coats of endurovar. 

 

While building the associated subsections of the bed were relatively simple, assembling this thing SUCKS. Either my design for the drawer support sucks, or adding a few extra pieces to the assembly overcomplicates things. In either case, it takes a lot of patience to get the drawer web frames in place along with the central support and two bed sides. I found I would fit one section in place that was then preventing the placement of the next section. Really, it’s just the drawer web frames that over complicate matters. My photos kind of suck, but the bed is about 3-4’ smaller than the room in every direction. I was standing in my closet to get the full shot of the bed. My bedroom is horrendously dark, but the morning light did the best it could. I’m actually a little bummed it’s in the room so snugly, because I can’t really take in the finished product. I haven’t seen the thing properly finished and assembled, but only in pieces. I will have to wait for a proper sized master suite to get a better vantage of the bed. By then I’ll probably make another bed. 

[Pwk5017]

I forgot to add, if you want to find out how small/Jam packed your workspace is, just assemble a king bed frame in it. I moved a bunch of crap around and even then I could barely dry assemble it. Afterwards my whole space was unusable. 

[JosephThomas]

Looks great.  Are there still drawers at the headboard end of the bed, and do they open fully? I have been pondering this for a future build and I'm tempted to just not do drawers on that end since the side tables will always be in the way.

[Pwk5017]

There are drawers at the head board, yes, and as you pondered, they will be a complete PITA to access. I figure my wife will put winter sheets/blankets in there and we will access the drawers twice a year. This will require moving the night stand out of the way, and replacing it afterwards. I think the best bed storage idea I saw was a gas-assist strut to lift the box spring and mattress up. 

[wdwerker]

Looks great ! Those panels are like framed art .

I've built drawer bases before and moving a bedside table is a small price to pay for the extra storage space for out of season linens.  Did you make drawers that reach to the center of the frame ? Will you even be able to remove a drawer once the whole thing is assembled ?

[JohnG]

Looks great! Those panels are gorgeous. Eventually I will be making a bed so we can stop using a metal frame. It looks like you made space to use a box spring, is that correct? Many of the bed builds I have seen recently have opted to maximize the storage space by eliminating the box spring and using more slats or a solid layer for the mattress to sit on.

[wdwerker]

Check your box springs, if it has a continuous wood/plywood top you can build a plywood platform in your new bed. If your box springs actually have springs multiple slats would be a better replacement, maybe wth a center support for king/queen size. Multiple loose slats fairly closely spaced will flex under the higher load points.

[Pwk5017]

29 minutes ago, AnonymousAccountant said:

Looks great! Those panels are gorgeous. Eventually I will be making a bed so we can stop using a metal frame. It looks like you made space to use a box spring, is that correct? Many of the bed builds I have seen recently have opted to maximize the storage space by eliminating the box spring and using more slats or a solid layer for the mattress to sit on.

Well, there is an idea i never considered. My drawers are 6.75" tall, and that was the best i could do without making the bed too tall. I think my mattress top sits at around 29" right now. I wouldnt mind losing an inch or two, because it feels a tad high, but really im splitting hairs at that point. I opted for the much shorter box spring they offer at 4.5" tall. So far, i am very pleased with the rigidity and stoutness of the frame. It doesnt move a millimeter, and it doesnt make a sound.

 

Im waiting on special order handle hardware to match the other stuff i made, so my drawers arent currently installed. Im curious to see how they operate with the wood runners. Im really happy with the nightstands and dresser i made, but these drawers are a lot deeper than those. They are 26" by 37". Fingers crossed they dont turn into a POS that binds etc. 

 

Ive had the one crotch flitch for 3+ years, and ive slowly been delving into that pile for project panels. I think i still have 2-3 boards left that have good feathering similar to what you see. I also purchased the other crotch log as a whole, but it is a sadder story. The guy cut the crotch in half horizontally and kinda ruined what would have been 4' of awesome figure. Instead i have 24" of really good crotch figure with another set of 18-24" of the tail end of the feather. Which is still ok, but it sucks the homeowner did that. I only paid $75-100 for the whole log in sections, and its worked out thus far. Not particularly usable stuff, but ive sawn drawer fronts out of it, the front and sides of the jewelry box, and now the panels for bed. Im running through my stock of crotch lumber this year, and need to find some replacement deals off craigslist. This is one area where i would consider going through the hassle of setting up an alaskan mill. I bet a bunch of tree services ditch 3-5' crotch log sections all the time. 

[Chet]

Came out looking nice.  I like the head and foot board panels. Well done.

[pkinneb]

Turned out awesome!!