Saturday, February 28, 2015

Our DIY Bed

A few months ago, my husband and I went bed shopping. After searching all the usual stores (West Elm, Crate and Barrel, Restoration, etc...) both in person and online, we really weren't super excited or thrilled with what we were finding especially for the prices. I really wanted something with a fresh feel and a reclaimed wood finish. My whole house is warmer greys, beige, blue, and white.

 
Now, I'd like to mention that we really aren't DIY pros and have never considered ourselves crafty people--but we came across the Ana White Farmhouse Bed on Pinterest and fell in love with the design. For those of you who asked on Instagram, that is where you can find the basic plans for this bed. However, we did make quite a few changes--because our bed is a King (not a Queen like the plans are for) and my husband did want to make a few minor structural changes that he thought would make it more solid. And trust me--this thing is as sturdy as can be (and heavy too) His plans are posted below.
 He bought the wood at Home Depot, and it is all various grades of pine (staining instructions are listed below)

KING BED PLANS: Please note--we made some adjustments to the original plan which I linked above, these may not make a ton of sense, but I'm posting them so you can get an idea of how we adjusted it for our own needs/wants. Oh, and also posting these because they 100% describe my husband's hyper focus personality :) LOVE HIM.



 
Those are our adjusted plans and again--visit the original plans HERE!
 
Mila helped a lot during the whole building process ;) And don't worry, she was not actually out in the garage while any actual building, drilling, sawing, nailing, painting or staining happened! 


 Here are two links from different sites my husband found very helpful while making this bed!
 
This one is also a King Size, different style but has a DETAILED materials list with prices!
 
This guy made a Queen version and also has a DETAILED step by step instruction and even a few videos!

He did end up purchasing a few new tools for making this bed, but like I said--we aren't really crafty people and didn't have many tools to begin with!
 NOTE FROM THE BUILDER (aka my husband):
Unless you have oodles of time that you have nothing to do with, I wouldn't recommend building this bed just to save money.  It was rewarding but really frustrating and tedious at times.  We built it because honestly the only bed we found that we liked were $2k plus and I just couldn't justify spending that...secretly I also built it because I knew it would be a great excuse to get some cool new tools.   In the end I learned a ton out of this and have a new appreciation for why furniture costs as much as it does ;)


I have also had a lot of people ask about the finish. We tried SO many different finishes and paint/finish washing techniques that we found online. Again, we weren't getting the look we wanted. Finally, I came across this tutorial from Thrifty and Chic and it was the WINNER!
 
INSTRUCTIONS FOR STAINING: We used a standard white paint to first "white wash" the whole bed. We did a quarter cup of water to one tablespoon of paint (1 cup water to 4 Tbsp of paint) We did one coat and let it dry. Then did another. I'm not sure exactly how long it dried for but we made sure it was completely dry, and then used Provincial by MiniWax. We rubbed on one solid coat and did not let it sit very long, before we would wipe it off with a clean rag (For the headboard, my husband would start going with a coat and I would wait just a few minutes to start wiping it off behind him. Really, it did not sit for long at all!) And that was it! It really is that easy, and I am so glad we found this tutorial because it is EXACTLY what we were looking for!
 
So there you have it! That's our bed! And please don't judge the rest of our bare bedroom--we're still a work in progress over here :)

Feel free to ask us any questions you might have!

Saturday, February 14, 2015

better late than never...mila's valentines photoshoot

 
 
Happy Valentines Day y'all!
  Photos by very talented sister Siera Olson.
Visit her BLOG to see more of her amazing work!

xoxo