Furniture Plans: Twin-over-Twin Flat Panel Bunk Bed

Introduction

Twin bunk beds have been on our to-do list for quite awhile now, but we were kind of just dragging our feet. Finally, when our three year old stopped sleeping through the night because she had outgrown her toddler bed, we decided to get to work. When we designed these beds, we wanted something that would grow with our girls. We knew that eventually they will want their own rooms and eventually they won't want bunk beds anymore. With that in mind, Kristen got to work drawing up a design for bunk beds that can actually convert to separate headboards and footboards for separate individual twin beds. Below is the finished product. I have put step -y-step instructions with all the tools, materials,and instructions needed to build your own twin-over-twin bunk bed.

Finished Photo

Finished Photo

Image of how the beds will look separated. 

Estimated Cost: $400*

*Depends on where you buy the wood. We purchased the dimensional lumber, plywood and paint supplies from Home Depot and bought the crown molding and MDF top cap from Stock Building Supply (a lumber yard here in Utah). We bought the bun feet from an online store (Osborne Wood Products) because they were way cheaper and had a huge selection. They did charge a lot in shipping, but it was still cheaper than getting it locally.

Dimensions:

The overall dimensions are 7' 4 1/4" long by 3' 11" wide by 6' 6" tall. It fits perfect in our girls' room because we have 8-foot ceilings.

Tutorial: Window Sills and Casings

Tutorial: Window Sills and Casings

Kristen and I have been wanting to install window sills and casings on our family room and kitchen windows for a long time. We have been putting it off for a long time as other projects have come up first. When Kristen received some money for her Birthday, she asked to buy wood for the window sills and casings.

We started by determining the materials we wanted to put around the window. We decided to match the casings to the casing around our doors. We wanted to match the crown molding under the window sills to the crown molding we used at the stair cap.

Estimated Project Cost: $200.00 (This cost will depend completely on the amount you are covering.)

Difficulty: Medium

We forgot to take a before picture of the three windows in the family room, but we dug through our photo archives and we found one from when we moved into our house in 2008. 

We did remember to snap a before picture of the bay window. It looks extra bare because we had already take down our curtains.

The depth of our existing window sills were about 3 1/8" deep. We decided to buy 3/4-inch MDF at 5 1/2 inches deep for the window sills and the header piece at the top. We made sure the sill would extend past the casing by about 1/2-inch. The casings were 3 inches wide, so we measure the window opening and added 7 inches to the length of the sill (3 1/2 inches on each side. Then we drew the notches in the 3/4-inch MDF and cut them out with a jig saw. We routed the edges with a 3/8-inch roundover bit. We raised the bit high enough to get beading at the top. This also matches the cap on the stair wall.

The existing window sills sloped away from the window, so we had to level the window sill. We used wood shims to level it out. We used a torpedo level to check the level and glue it down with dabs of liquid nails adhesive. I then used my nail gun to nail it in place while the adhesive dried.

Furniture Plans: Ana White Inspired Fancy Farmhouse King Size Headboard and Bed Frame

 Introduction

Our plans were inspired by Ana White’s Fancy Farmhouse Headboard found here:

http://ana-white.com/2013/04/plans/king-size-fancy-farmhouse-bed

Remember how we built a beautiful upholstered headboard and bed frame for our master bedroom a couple of weeks ago? Well, to make a long story short... someone we know wanted us to make them an upholstered headboard and bed frame. We agreed. I went with them and we purchased all the goods to build their headboard. They ended up picking out the exact same material as ours and they wanted the same shape of headboard as well. At the very last minute, I decided that it would be fun to make a different headboard for our room. I loved the upholstered headboard. I didn't love how it looked with my bedding. It all seemed a little too busy and a little too tufted. That probably doesn't make sense to anyone else, but I convinced TJ to play along with me and make a different bed for our room and then we could sell the upholstered headboard we made for our bed to the people who wanted one. I went and returned all the material that I bought to make the other headboard and then I went and bought all the lumber for our new headboard.

TJ ended up taking the day off a Tuesday (thanks to commuting half way to Salt Lake, realizing he didn't have his laptop, calling me to check if it was at home, my phone not working, coming all the way home to get his lap top, realizing it was in his car the whole time, then it turned into taking a personal day and not going in at all), so it ended up being the perfect opportunity to spend some quality time building in the basement.

Estimated Cost

$216.76

See detailed material list below.

Dimensions

Headboard = 81 inches wide by 61 inches tall

Bed Frame Dimensions = 86 inches deep by 79 inches wide by 15 inches tall.

Tools

• Table Saw or Circular Saw
• Miter Saw
• Kreg Jig
• Drill and Driver with drill Bits
• Nail Compressor
• 16 gauge and 18 gauge Nail Guns

Tutorial: Organizing Your Junk Drawer

Remember our tutorial a few posts ago on how to build a built-in utensil divider for your silverware drawer?  Ya know, this one?  Well, having my utensil divider built-in to my drawer has rocked my world.  So much, in fact, that I made a special trip to Home Depot to buy more melamine so that TJ could help me tackle my dreaded junk drawer.

I was so excited to get going on the project, that I forgot to take a "before" picture.  So, google image search has kindly provided me with a picture of someone else's junk drawer.

I can assure you that my drawer looked a lot like this, if not worse.  I swear to you, I was cleaning out that drawer and organizing it almost once a week and within a few hours, it looked like I had never touched it.  I thought about buying some plastic baskets to try to organize it, but I knew I'd never be able to get the arrangement just right with those baskets.

I started by taking everything out of my junk drawer (and throwing away all the junk I didn't really need).  I cleaned the drawer out, then I started slowing put things back in and trying to figure out an arrangement.  Once I got a section how I wanted it, I would send TJ down to the basement to cut me my piece of melamine to divide it.  Finally, we got it just how I wanted it.

Tutorial: Getting Rid of the Over-the-Door Hooks

I have a slight obsession with organization.  Lately, I've felt the need to finally cross of a couple of projects that have been on my to-do list TJ's honey-do list.  One of them was the silverware drawer, one is the cookie sheet cupboard (tutorial coming soon!), and then one was towel hooks for our bathrooms.

The towel hooks are such a small thing, but I was always surprised how much they bothered me.  There isn't enough room to hang more than a couple things on just one hook, if you buy the over-the-door hooks that hold a lot of stuff, they take up a lot of room.  Not only that, but all of the over-the-door hooks make it hard to open and close doors regularly.  Then, you have to worry about them sliding around and scratching the paint on the door.  Like I said, they are so small but I really can't stand them!  I decided there must be a better, and more permanent, solution to my towel problem.

It's really, really easy to find simple Hook Rails/Coat Hooks like the one pictured above, but there is a problem if you want to install them on a door.  Doors are hollow!  That means a regular drywall anchor won't work for holding the Hook Rail onto your door.  Also, a regular screw (like the ones they include with the Hook Rail) won't hold it onto a door either.  So, I decided to do a little research and.... ta da!

Look what I found... Hollow Door Anchors!  The solution to my problem.  Now, I could buy my Hook Rail and I had a safe way to anchor it to my bathroom doors.  Not only that, but these anchors hold 40 pounds so I knew they would be safe when my kids are trying to yank their towels off the rack.  I bought two Hook Rails (one for my bathroom and one for the kids' bathroom) so I only needed one pack of the Hollow Door Anchors.

Installation was a breeze!  I did it by myself and I had both installed in less than 15 minutes.

Tutorial: Custom Built-In Utensil Divider

Don't you hate those cheap plastic utensil inserts that go in your utensil drawer? They slide around every time you open the drawer and never fit quite right because they typically are one-size-fits-all. They are usually too shallow and you aren't able to fit very many utensils in each divider.  They also never look custom because they do not match the material of the inside of the drawer. Most of all, they are ugly!  Well, we decided to build a custom utensil divider to match the melamine that the drawer inside is made of. 

This project has been on my to-do list for a long time. It is such a simple project that it is easy to overlook, but it adds a customized feel to the kitchen drawer.

Cost: $5

Time: 1/2 to 1 hour

Difficulty: Easy

Tools Required

• Tape measure
• Table saw
• Miter saw
• Air Compressor
• 18 gauge pneumatic brad nail gun

 Lumber and Materials

• Rubbermaid 10 in. x 36 in. White Shelf (this is a white melamine shelf with edging on all sides)
  Click here to see the shelf we bought.  Just a note, in store we paid about $5.36.

Consumable

• 1 1/4” 18 gauge brad nails 

Steps:

1. Measure the Drawer

Measure the interior dimensions of the drawer. Also, measure the depth of the drawer. Draw out your desired configuration.  One tip:  Make sure you make the dividers deep enough to hold your desired amount of utensils, but not so deep that they are hard to grab out once it's finished.

2. Rip-Cut the Melamine

After you figure the drawer depth and then figure your desired depth (either flush or recessed a little bit), set the table saw fence at the desired length. Make sure you keep one of the finished edges on your rip cuts. Cut the 10 inch piece into three pieces (the middle piece will be thrown away - the two sides will be used for the dividers).  Remember, you will always want the pretty melamine side showing and not the cut edge.

If you don't have access to a table saw, you could get away with cutting the wood with a circular saw or a jig-saw.  You would need to measure out the whole length to cut, clamp your wood, and then cut away.  Doing it this way won't get your cuts as straight and the pieces may not sit as flush on the bottom of the drawer, but it would be better than nothing!

3. Cross-Cut the Rips into the Desired Lengths

Measure, mark and cut the two pieces into the desired lengths (in our case, we had 4 pieces at 11 inches, 1 at 13 1/2 inches and 1 at 9 inches). We actually put the bottom five pieces in the drawer and then measured the dimension for the final top divider. We just barely had enough material to finish. If you have longer lengths or more pieces, you may need a long piece of the melamine. 

Here are our pieces (minus the 9 inch piece) after they were all cut and ready to be nailed into the drawer.

Tutorial: Rounded Concrete Forms for Stairs

BEFORE

AFTER

When we moved in to our house, our back porch was pretty much non-existent. It included the wood steps (but with only one handrail - we had to add the second handrail ourselves later) and a tiny concrete pad (about 3 feet by 4 feet). We added the bigger concrete pad in 2010, but we kept the wood stairs. These wood stairs were such a pain. They took up a lot of unnecessary porch space, because the top landing was so long. Not only were they a lot of maintenance (I had to stain them and seal them every spring), but they always looked like crap. The stain looked good for about 2 months and the rest of the year they looked completely dilapidated. The home builder also took a shortcut by not adding concrete under the stairs. It was dirty under the stairs and there was always garbage blowing under the stairs and there were weeds growing under them too. The worst part were the wasps. They loved those stinkin' stairs! There were always tons of wasp nests under the stairs and every time you walked on the stairs it would disturb the wasps and they would come flying out.

We had originally planned on redoing the porch with Trex wood, but that would still leave us with half the problems we had before. That's when we decided to do concrete stairs. I found a picture online of some beautiful half circle steps and that's where we got our inspiration.

We didn't totally plan on doing the steps as soon as we did, but we were talking about the project one night and went outside to assess the porch and how hard it would be to take it apart. Next thing we knew, we had the railing off and half of the porch cut apart.

Woodworking Tip: Working from the Factory Edge

A factory edge is the edge of a board or sheet good cut at a mill or factory. With oriented strand board (OSB), the factory edge is normally painted an orangish-red color or blue or green. Plywood is usually not colored, but the factory edge is the perimeter of the wood.

When working with dimensional lumber, the factory edge has usually been planed and sanded smooth. I have noticed, especially with pine, the dimensional lumber is smooth on the four sides, but the ends are a little rough. 

The trick to a nice, straight cut is working from the factory edge. This applies mostly to sheet goods (e.g., 4x8 pieces). When making more then one cross-cut or rip cut, it is important to understand where the factory edge is. Obviously, the first cut will be from a factory edge. If I only have one more cut, I will flip the sheet so I run the factory edge along the fence. That way I know I am starting from a straight edge. I pay attention to the factory edges when making cuts so I can run as many factory edges along the fence as possible. I also always try to pull my measurements from the factory edge. A cut edge will never be as straight as the factory edge.

During your next project, pay attention to the factory edge and work from it when making a cross-cut or rip cut or pulling measurements. 

Giveaway!

We're doing a giveaway!

Head on over to our facebook page, (http://www.facebook.com/jrlwood), to enter for your chance to win this shelf (only unfinished, you can paint it whatever color your little heart desires).

Instructions for entering to win the giveaway are on the facebook page.

Good luck!!

Furniture Plans: King Size Upholstered Tufted Headboard

Over the Christmas break, and mostly during my recovery from my surgery, TJ decided to start this woodworking website. He’s wanted to do it for awhile and he just decided to do it. He thought it would be so fun to do tutorials and share plans for all the things he has built in the past and for future projects we do. I decided to take advantage of his new website and give him a project to build. I drew up my vision - an upholstered headboard and bed frame with tufted fabric, researched our needed dimensions, and I even figured out how much wood we would need. Then, I went out and bought all the non-wood supplies: foam, batting, fabric, buttons, upholstery thread, upholstery needles, etc. After I had everything we needed but the wood, I convinced TJ to go get the wood so we could get started. He obliged. He bought all the lumber on a Saturday night and we started building on Sunday afternoon. We had the bed completely finished six days later, on Saturday night. We made sure to document most of the building process so we could put together a tutorial.

Estimated Cost 
$282.62

(See detailed material list below.)

Dimensions
Headboard = 79 inches wide by 60 inches tall (note: it will be a little wider with the fabric and batting)
Bed Frame Dimensions = 86 inches deep by 79 inches wide by 15 inches tall. 

Tools 

• Table Saw or Circular Saw  
• Miter Saw  
• Kreg Jig  
• Jig Saw  
• Band Saw
• Drill and Driver with drill Bits  

Lumber and Materials List
See the detailed materials list below 

Cut List 

See the cutlist diagram shown below.