chestwick platform bed

many thanks to ana white's awesome blog - and the FREE plans she provides to all of her readers - if you're ever feeling crafty, you should totally check our her blog. its massive. she is a genius.... if only i could get over my unexplained fear/anxiety of table saws...

z and i are in desperate need of a new bed - the one i "jankily threw together right before moving in just so we had something to put our mattress on" is starting to get a little old - its basically plywood with a 2x4 frame underneath and some 4" 4x4 legs.  super basic, not so nice. will make great scrap material for another project - or for rose to gnaw on.

needless to say, it was time to update. so i made my way to ana's blog - in search of a platform bed. i came across the chestwick platform bed... even better, the dimensions were already specific to a queen size bed, jackpot. plus, no table saw required! AND its a replica of pottery barn's cheswick platform bed which retails for $800 (right now it's on sale for chump change... $550)

ana's directions are fairly straight forward, make sure to read user comments as they provide additional insight, i would also head over to whitney's blog shanty2chic who ana partnered up with to build the chestwick bed. shanty2chic has a couple more detailed shots of the bed. i would recommend downloading the PDF from ana's website for any project, the documentation is very detailed and contains all the specifics. 

so one thing you will notice....  i am really good at before and after photos but terrible at taking "mid-point" photos. so bear with me while i work on that aspect.

kreg jig k4

to start, i did go out and buy a kreg jig k4 pocket hole system, which is AWESOME. it hides your screw holes when you are joining two pieces of wood together. definitely worth the $99, especially if you plan on making a bunch of items. 

z and i went to Lowe's and got all of our supplies, but as is usual with any diy project, multiple trips are guaranteed. plus some returns in the future on items we didn't need (ahem woodworking screws and the wrong type of finishing nails recommended by an employee). i cannot emphasize enough - make sure that whenever you're purchasing lumber - for any project - you are checking the pieces of lumber for straightness, knots, warping.

Here's what we bought:

• 4 – 4” tall Furniture Feet
• 4 - 3" waddell table leg straight top plate
• 8 – 3/4" x 3/4" moulding, 8 feet long
• 4 – 2x8 @ 8 feet long
• 3 – 2x4 @ 8 feet long
• 8 – 1x3 @ 8 feet long
• Wooden slats (aka 8 - 1 x 3 @ 8 feet long since we are not using  a boxspring)
• 50 count 2 1/2" pocket hole screws - Kreg Jig brand - self drilling so that makes it nice
• 100 count 1 1/2 pocket hole screws - Kreg Jig to attach 1x3's to 2x8's
• A box of 1 1/4" finishing nails 

total cost of all the material was about $120

I had to work in the garage - on the floor with the miter saw - my back and thighs hurt so maybe my next project is making a collapsible work table. Anyways - here were the cuts I made (per the instructions).

chestwick all put together

Cut List:

• 2 – 2x8 @ 63”
• 2 – 2x8 @ 80”
• 3 – 2x4 @ 80”
• 4 – 1x3 @ 80”
• 4 – 1x3 @ 65”
• 4 – 3/4" x 3/4" moulding @ 63” (shortest point, both ends mitered at 45 degrees off square)
• 4 – 3/4" x 3/4" moulding @ 83” (shortest point, both ends mitered at 45 degrees off square)

i had the hardest time with the moulding - and its the most expensive. i always recommend doing test cuts with the moulding like 3 - 5" up from where the actual cut needs to be made so that way you can see if how you are cutting is the actual way it needs to be  - i learn kinesthetically, so this method helps in that sense. 

i put two pocket holes on each end of the 80" 2x8's. so a total of 4 pocket holes per 80" 2x8. to attach - a pipe clamp would be your best option to make sure the pieces of wood are 1) square 2) stay together when drilling the screw into the other piece of wood. but since i didn't have a pipe clamp, i opted for using a garage wall, a square, and my body weight. it did the trick - i was able to get the diagonal measurements within an eighth to a sixteenth of an inch with what the plans call for - so that was promising. 

one of the four pocket holes on this 2x8 @ 80"

so you assemble the box with the 2x8's and right there you start to see the shape of a bed frame - hopefully. then after you get the 4 2x8's attached you add in the additional 2x4 supports - there are 3 of these. again using pocket holes - attach the 2x4 to the 2x8's. i just did one pocket hole on either end. be careful not to drill the screw too far in - otherwise it will poke out the other side of 2x8.

after you get those in - its on to the 1x3's. all 8 of them. this part involved a partner that after you get on one side of the 4 1x3's you will need someone to help you flip over the bed frame to get the other 4 1x3's attached to the underside (or upside, whichever way you look at it)

center 2x4 support mounted with pocket hole screws

to attached the 1x3's I used a countersink drill bit and 1 1/2" kreg jig screws - i will have to fill in all of the holes with wood filler - but it shouldn't be too much of a pain. just make sure - if you're a perfectionist - you have all the countersink holes spaced the exact same for each of the 1x3's. no matter how much sanding you do to fine tune the wood-filler you will still see the little holes. I think that you could go to any hardware store and they might have real wood caps you stick into the countersink holes - i haven't looked into this or asked greg, my dad.

next was the moulding. i was fearing it was going to be the most difficult, but it was relatively painless. like i mentioned above, making the cut a little bit longer that where it is needed ensures you can check to make sure the angle is proper - ana's plans call for "off square" and frankly, i don't know what the means, which is why i do my practice cut 3 inches up from the point of where the real cut needs to be made.

moulding attached

at this point z came out and was helping me - my legs were shaky from all the stand up, sit down. nevertheless, z helped me accomplish the rest of the moulding - he even gave up his 9th hour of football to assist.

3" Table leg straight top plate - courtesy of Lowes

sideview of chestwick platform bed

so we got out the air compressor and nail gun - using 1 1/4" finishing nails attached the moulding. the plans specify to use wood glue - and you should. I didn't - 1) it was only 50 degrees in the garage WITH a heater, thus preventing the glue from drying when the temps dropped to 20 degrees over night and 2) i was worried that not having enough light i would miss a drip of glue that squeezed out and then it would dry then the wood wouldn't take the stain. so we just nailed them in. one note - it takes a while to figure out the right PSI for an air compressor and nail gun - too much and the nail shoots through the other side, too little and the nail doesn't go in. any whoopsies on this part are easily remedied with a pair of side angled snipping(?) cutters, wood putty, and sand paper. just make sure you cut the nail as low as possible, otherwise it will rip the sand paper, and subsequently cut you or snag your clothes or bedding.

we finally got to attach the legs - this was tedious - the hardware used to connect the legs to the piece of furniture is a straight top plate. seems easy. only the location of where we were putting our legs was not ideal because it didn't allow for use to leave 2" from the ends of the piece of wood - leaving a higher likelihood the wood will split. we had to attach these on an angle (picture to come) in order to make sure all 4 screws were able to be put in.  

i finally got a chance to put on minwax dark walnut stain. it went on fairly easy, the only exception is where the wood is cut you shouldn't apply stain directly to the cut end of the wood - it will completely soak up the stain and become much darker than the rest of the wood. two coats of poly - now we are done! i used minwax water based polycrylic protective finish - i had it from another project and it dried fairly quickly, especially considering it was only 20 degrees outside. let me know what you think or if you have questions!