The boy's beds

The construction of the boy's beds was a long time coming.  Since Noah was born, the two of them have always been in the same room.  For all of our time in San Diego and Maryland, we had them in an Ikea bunkbed.  After a few months in this house, we decided to sell the bunk bed (yeah craigslist!) and make them some more traditional beds.  As usual, Mollie found a plan on Ana White's website (http://ana-white.com/2010/02/plans-simple-bed-full-size-inpsired-by.html).  These looked very sturdy and not too difficult to make.  Of course, everything takes longer when you actually make it.

I rarely have a full Saturday to dedicate to these projects.  With soccer games and lawn care, the day always goes too fast.  I started with the headboards and footboards.  Mollie and I were forced to improvise when we could not find any 4x4 posts at our local Lowe's.  We bought 2x4 and some hardward that would allow us to attach the side rails to a 2x4 instead. (This involved a little bit of learning with my router.)

I got the beds put together right about the time that I grew frustrated with the boys jumping on their mattresses.  For some reason, mattresses on the floor are the perfect jumping toy.  But when I put them on a framed bed, then that does not happen.  I was so rushed in fact, that I didn't do any finishing.  They slept on raw wood beds for a few months.  Then (after finishing other more pressing projects) I got back to the beds.  We had since found 4x4 lumber at Home Depot (not Lowe's)  and were ready to take on the task of correcting the posts and finishing it.  I'll note only in passing how much I hate finishing.  The endless sanding, filling, resanding. One way that we get around this is to use spray paint.  Because I don't have to wait hours inbetween coats, we can paint the whole thing in less than an hour.

Here's the finished project: