My daughter asked me if I could take her husbands childhood bed and turn it into a bench.  Always up for a challenge, I said yes.  She also wanted to work with me in making this happen.  She works, so it’s going to be a slow process.  The bed is made from hard maple.  I think it’s about 40 -50 years old. So we took the foot board and cut that in half.  Haven’t gotten much further than that so far.  It’s a learning experience.  Connecting one round end to another round end. Took me awhile to realize it was rather simple. Anyway, here is what this ugly thing looks like right now.  Worst case, it will burn nicely in the fire pit…ha ha ha.

 

Now that's a cool redesign!

Had a bed almost just like that when i was a kid. Nice repurpose

Hey Pauley, does husband know this is happening?

52 minutes ago, lew said:

Now that's a cool redesign!

Well. We will see what happens…

6 minutes ago, John Morris said:

Hey Pauley, does husband know this is happening?

He knows, but hasn’t seen what we’ve done so far.

Great minds think alike. I have an old twin bed sitting right behind me as I type. I have been wanting to do the exact same thing with my old bed so I am going to be watching this build closely. Perhaps you can help me keep from making a few mistakes. Seems every thing I build I have to do it 3 times before I get it somewhat right.

Looking forward to seeing how yours comes out.

Cool project Paul. Even more cool is your daughter's desire to be part of the build. Looking forward to following along.

2 hours ago, Grandpadave52 said:

Cool project Paul. Even more cool is your daughter's desire to be part of the build. Looking forward to following along.

I was surprised that she wanted to work along side me with this.  Made me very happy.

23 hours ago, Bubba said:

Great minds think alike. I have an old twin bed sitting right behind me as I type. I have been wanting to do the exact same thing with my old bed so I am going to be watching this build closely. Perhaps you can help me keep from making a few mistakes. Seems every thing I build I have to do it 3 times before I get it somewhat right.

Looking forward to seeing how yours comes out.

Thanks, Bubba.  I’m like you, it takes me forever to do some simple things..

Well, this project is coming along, but very slowly.  My daughter has a full time job, plus they went on vacation…but it is coming along. Here’s a couple of pictures.  First we had to make a couple of leg risers for the back legs.  Don’t know why, but it was necessary. (I probably did something wrong…again).  I placed 3 inch deck screws into the tall head board where it meets the side. Did this on both sides.We framed for the seat.  Thant will be 5/4 cedar…got a good deal on them from my local mill.  She plans to do a white wash finish on this. I told her that I thought it would look very nice to use a Thompsons weather seal on the cedar.  Makes a nice contrast.  So far, that’s the plan.  Meanwhile, between waiting for her to come and work on this together, I’ve had some more going on.  I think I’ll make another post to show what I have done.

 

Sure is lookin' good, Pauley!

Great progress Paul. Fun watching this project evolve. Thanks for sharing.

4 hours ago, lew said:

Sure is lookin' good, Pauley!

Thank you, Lew.  

4 hours ago, Grandpadave52 said:

Great progress Paul. Fun watching this project evolve. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you very much.

This is the best bed bench I have seen

Looking great Pauley.

This is one unique project Pauley, very cool and super cool that your daughter is helping make it happen

That is a very imaginative project!  Something that probably would never occur to me to do, and it's looking very well executed.  Nice job to you both!

On 7/30/2024 at 11:16 PM, Gerald said:

This is the best bed bench I have seen

Thanks Gerald.