Similar to the first bed I built, I went through a pottery barn catalog and picked out a nice platform bed. Because there were no stores that had the bed, I could not go and measure and also see how it was built. Fortunately, after looking at a few beds in local furniture stores, the design plans solidified in my mind. With the exception of the trim around the legs and the hardware connecting the header and footer to the rails, the ENTIRE bed is made out of glue and 1x4 pine. It took several nights of clamping glued wood together, sanding, staining, and sealing.
Before staining the wood, I had everything sanded perfectly smooth, and became worried that the wood would look boring. So, Kristy and I took screwdrivers, an unloaded nail gun, and a bag of bolts and had fun distressing the wood.
After assembling the bed and finding the right comforter, we can confirm from two house guests that it is solidly constructed. It did not collapse (or budge for that matter).My next project was to make a butcher block cutting board. I had made a thin cutting board to put above the drawers in our cabinetry and thought that would be a fun gift to make for people. The butcher block turned out to be a huge pain, but I think it looks good.
The dark wood is maple and the light wood is birch. The blocks were glued together, sanded, and then coated in mineral oil
My favorite way to spend time now is on our patio. We have roses, a lemon tree, a baby orange tree, five zucchini plants, two cherry tomato plants, sage, rosemary, basil, chives, mint, oregano, and lots of flowers. I can't wait until everything gets ripe! It's killing me. So, in the mean time, I just hunt snails and other pests.
Here is a huge rose from our garden!
Overall, life is very good. We are so happy to be living where we are. Graduation is June 13 and I am trying to be patient to see what is next in life. So in the mean time, working with my hands (and less with my head) is very refreshing!
