Farmhouse Twin

I'd like you to meet the Farmhouse Twin.

She's got a very light stain to even out variation in wood tone and a few coats of satin finish polyurethane.

Detail of the footboard

Added rail support to accommodate the box spring and mattress.

A view from under the headboard...the insides of assembly.

And the final pic of it all put together!

You May Approach the Bench

This week has been a week of bench building, and it has not been without frustration and introspection.

I began making a dining table bench for someone based on the Farmhouse Bench plans from Ana. I was glad to start it since I'm likely making one for our house in the near future (with a table with room for 15 million kids).  After taking some stain samples to match with the existing dining room set I decided that the bench I built was looking to bulky for their space, then I was less than enthusiastic about the way the stain was coming along, so I set it aside and started over. ARG. I went with a smaller more modern version of that bench with a 1x12 seat. That was much better.

I've also been in the battle of Jen vs. Bench (watch your mouth, Jen) with some small kid sized benches I made a while back to go with the Trestle Table I made for the Barosh family. The kids managed to break off the 1x2 stretcher along the underside of the bench, so I had them brought in for repair. I got them fixed and put back together and they WOBBLED! ARG ARG ARG! It was really irritating and very discouraging!

I felt as if the wood was fighting against me. It was being stubborn and refusing to become what I was trying to make it. And as I said those words out loud in complaint to a dear friend I heard the Holy Spirit saying, "Um...duh. You are the wood." Oh snap. And it was true. How often am I the wood in this situation? How often do I refuse to listen to the leading of my Jesus and keep trying to do my own thing, my own way? He is trying to take this boring, beat up, rough and splintery piece of me and turn me into something new, something useful, something beautiful. So in that moment I decided to do a few things.
     a. Stop being a stubborn piece of wood
     b. Ask Jesus for patience and concentration in building
     c. Ask my Dad for advice on building

The next morning I stumbled upon a tutorial video on using the kreg jig, and wouldn't you know it, they used a clamp. DUH!!! A CLAMP!!! How did I miss this? Clamp your piece of wood to the work surface, glue and screw and it can't run away from you! So simple, yet so essential. I started over with trestle bench repairs, changed the design a bit, used clamps and then I had stable, non wobbly benches. AMEN.

So here are the two dining room benches I tackled this week.

 

The farmhouse bench: 17H, 14W, 39L

Currently for sale: $60

And the sleeker version: SOLD. 

Stained Toddler Bed

 I sure was busy 2 days before Christmas....nothing like waiting until the last possible minute to start a project! I did this build with my BFF which made it so much more fun! We made this as a Christmas gift for her nephew.

This was my first real stain job! I did that one piece years and years ago, but it had been so long it really didn't count.  We were sure to use wood conditioner, which i believe makes a huge difference in getting a really even stain.  The stain used here was "special walnut" and I do believe it is quite special. Followed it up with a satin finish polyurethane. Please for the love of all furniture everywhere, do not use high gloss poly! yuck. 

Another Doll Bed

Here's a cute little doll bed I did before Christmas. My daughter's teacher's daughter was a happy girl.

To see more doll beds check here...

Let's Build

Remember that pile of lumber in my garage?

I totally forgot to post about what I built!

First I made this great farmhouse bed:
Yes it would be nice for some furniture to stay in my own house from time to time, but this one went to another fine home.

I had plenty of left overs to make two of these cute benches. They are both available to be your very own cute bench for $40.

And the good news is that I still have a decent pile left out there. I've got another bed to build which should finish it off.

And I have orders for 4 of these:

And as soon as I'm back from ITALY I'll get started!!! I'm looking forward to my lumber delivery when I get home....maybe even before I leave! YEAH! Seriously folks, it excites me.

Many thanks to Ana-white.com

Riley's Doll Bed

In the wake of all the stomach virus passing in the family, Riley fell victim the day before a birthday party for her buddy Riley S. Normally we'd have just made a run to Target and grabbed some random gift, but since she missed the party and it's Spring Break, she opted to help build her friend a doll bed.

Riley helped organize all the pieces, used the nail gun, helped with the sanding and the painting. She did a pretty good job, especially with the painting. I really just had to go behind her and get all the little corners. We went with a dark pink base coat, then a light pink top coat. Then sanded and roughed it up a little and let the dark pink come through.

Then we added a piece of thin plywood and used spray adhesive to attach the fabric, sewed a little pillow and blankie and were done! I think her friend will really enjoy it!