I Built A Bed!
I did! I built a bed all by myself and I'm in love with her!
I used two different tutorials that I found online and melded them together to create my own unique piece. The bed frame was 100% built from DIY Candy's platform bed frame tutorial. But I went in a very different direction with the headboard and adapted this adorable headboard tutorial to fit the overall look I wanted.
I'll admit, she didn't turn out perfect but she did turn out a lot better than I expected! (yes, I've assigned my bed a gender and yes, she is definitely female). But most importantly, I learned a lot along the way. These are the three most noteworthy lessons:
Lesson number 1: I learned that nice wood is expensive! I walked into Home Depot thinking I was going to build this bad girl out of poplar. I pulled down the boards I would need to build half of the fame. I did the math on how much just that half would cost and almost fell over. Don't get me wrong, I'm having a good time learning how to build and all, but the point behind building for me is the whole saving money part! If my overall price is more than I would've spent just buying something new then you better believe I'm going to go buy something new! I promptly changed courses, found the pine section and saved myself hundreds of dollars.
Lesson number 2: Did you know that oil based wood stain can SPONTANEOUSLY COMBUST!? Yeah, I didn't ether. Honestly, this sort of situation makes me feel grateful for my anxious mind. I do know better than to stain in a poorly ventilated room, so I started the staining process in my garage with the doors open. But when it was time to go to bed, I closed the garage doors and tucked myself in for the night. As I laid there thinking of all the things that could possibly go wrong (this is a constant dialogue in my mind. It's exhausting. I'm a 6 on the enneagram, are you surprised?) I vaguely remembered someone mentioning something sometime somewhere about ways to safely handle your stain rag when you're letting it dry... so I googled. And I'll be damned! If you do not let the rag that you use to stain your furniture dry properly it can, no joke, light itself on fire! This is the actual stuff of my nightmares. I immediately got out of bed and took that cloth outside, far away from my house to dry in the cold winter air.
Lesson number 3: On a less deadly note, I also learned the difference between softwood and hardwood! Softwoods are from trees that grow faster. This is why softwoods are typically less expensive than hardwoods. I also learned that even if a softwood and a hardwood look like the same color when they are unstained, they will accept stain very differently. When I bought my bed legs, they looked the same as the rest of the bed to me! I was shocked to see how differently they stained from the rest of the wood. I'm considering it one of the quarks of my new bed.
This was my second building project ever and it's not only functional but it's super cute too! I am so proud of myself! I have a vision of my future self, with so much more knowledge and experience, looking at this platform bed and smiling because all the little quarks and imperfections will remind her of this version of myself. The version of me that is so eager to learn and create. The version of me that picked herself up after a hard blow and began the process of building a new life and a new home that brings her peace and joy.
I think my future self is going to be proud of me. My present self is proud of me too.