modern platform bedroom sets

for this week's project i'm building aplatform bed from walnut with floating shelves a sheepskin headboard and it haslights. the frame of the headboard is going to be mitered at the corners so tobe sure they come out nice and tight i'm taking a little extra time prepping thematerial i started out ripping the rough stock alot wider than needed at the table saw so if there was any tension in the woodand it warped i would have enough material to correctit at the jointer and planer. once i had all the materials squared up iset up my feather board at the table saw

to help keep it tight to the fence whilei ripped it to the final width i then set up the table saw to cut themiters. since the material was a bit long i clamped it to the miter gauge to helpkeep the material from wobbling around during the cut. this helped make a niceperfect 45 degree miter then i did a test fit to be sure all thecorners are square and lined up. once i was satisfied with the fit i used someca glue to add some pine blocks to give me something to clamp to, to pull thejoints tight while glue up. i used the domino in each corner to strengthen thejoint and a slow setting epoxy so i would have plenty of time to finesse thefit of each miter.

while the frame was drying i moved on tomake the bed rail to go underneath the headboard this piece is what the mattress supports will be attached to. since this partwould be hidden under the mattress i use alder as a cheaper wood. once i had thepiece cut to length, milled flat and squared at the jointer. i cut it tofinal width the table saw i centered the rail on the bottom of theframe and temporarily clamped it in place. once held in place i marked outsome dominoes to add some strength and keep the pieces aligned during glue up from there it was gluing in the dominoesand spreading some glue on the rail and

clamping it up now to beef up the frame and add somevisual appeal i added a walnut filler strip where the mattress and lower shelfstart. then used some dominoes to help keep italigned to the face of the frame during glue up. i use parallel clamps that werelong enough to catch the top rail of the headboard frame to keep everything inplain. this made gluing up the filler strip much easier. the headboard isalmost done except for the floating shelf and sheepskin but i'll come backto that towards the end of the build right now i'm joining and milling up andfour quarter alder for the frame that

supports the mattress. these are goingto be attached to the side skirt boards and foot board i ripped them just tall enough sothey would accept the knockdown hardware and set just below the walnut platformto hold the mattress in place then i cut them to length. since they areso unwieldy i clamp them to the miter gauge when i cut them ensure i got anice straight cut. then i milled up a piece of walnut for the skirt part of the footboard and glued the other mattress support to it. while the glue is dryingon the foot board i laid out the knockdown hardware on the headboard.i built a plywood jig the same width as

the hardware and clamped it down to mylayout lines. to set the depth of cut i bottomed out the router bit and use thehardware itself to set the death stop on the router then using a pattern bit i followed thetemplate and rounded out the notch for the hardware to sit in. i cleaned up the round corners left bythe router bit and repeated the same process for all four corners of the bed. therewas one more step, the mating piece needed a place for the hooks to go into the wood and not interfere with the two pieces latching together. i laid out therelief slots with a pencil and using a

similar width router bit i freehandrounded out the slots to attach them it was easy enough, justpre-drill some holes and screw them down then it was the same operation forattaching the mating pieces to the skirt board. now i'm on to building thewalnut skirt, before ripping the width and milling to thickness i cut them tolength using the same clamping methods as before. this has worked out reallywell at getting perfectly square ends on long boards. i wanted to be sure icouldn't see the in grain of the alder on the headboard so i notched the sideskirt board so would hide the end grain when installed

i held the piece in place and laid outfor the knotch i forgot to hit the record button when icut the notch but here it is. i spread some glue on the support rail andaligned it to the edge of the notch for a tight fit when the headboard wasinstalled. once i got it all lined up i just tacked it in place with a brad nailwhile i lined up the other end. there was a slight bow in the center so i pulledit in place with a clamp and put a few brad's in it until the glue dried. then imilled up some 8/4 walnut for the platform frame that is going around themattress, cut to length with the same clamping method to the miter gauge

layout for some domino's to attach thetop to the skirt board and glued and clamped it all together. ittook a bit to get the first few dominoes lined up but once it was together thedominoes kept it all lined up while i got it in the clamps;. once the glue isdry i sanded off the squeeze out and did a little test fit to be sure the skirtboard would pull tight to the headboard using the hardware. now i needed to makea platform for the mattress to sit on so i ripped a bunch of slats to support themattress but to reduce the shipping weight and make it so i can roll up theslats together, i beveled the sides. i cut each one to length and test-fitthem. i installed them the full length of

the bed. if you don't use a box springthe mattress has to be fully supported underneath or you void your warranty.before i was done i did install a center support using the same hardware as thesides to help support the mattress slats then at the end of the build i stapled on somenylon strapping to keep all the slats together during shipping and allowed me to roll them up together. back to the headboard it's time to buildthe floating shelves since the shelves are going to be modernin design with no in end grain showing i'm going to veneer them and miter are allfour corners. i started off by shop sawing all theveneer i needed at the bandsaw

and then cleaned up the saw marks at theplaner i cut the veneer to the width and lengthi needed and then use the veneer tape to prep them for glue up i had quite a few parts to glue up so igot the veneer bag ready to go so i wouldn't waste any time and i could loadthe bag quickly. i always glue the seam in case there's any shrinkage in theveneer it won't pull apart at the seam i taped both ends to hold it togetherwhile i slide it in the bag. i kept an eye on the clock so i wouldn't go toolong between the first piece i added

glue to and the time i needed to sealthe bag to apply pressure. i hooked the vacuum up and made sure everythingstayed in place while i was loading the bag and i left it under pressure forabout 30 minutes before taking everything out. once out of the bag istarted to cut them to size i set a stop on the miter gauge to besure all the pieces would come out exactly the same length. you can cut aperfect miter but it's not going to close tight on all edges if they are notthe same length. while i had the stop set up on the mitergauge i cut the front and side pieces as well then i ripped all the parts totheir appropriate width. since the

shelves have five pieces to holdtogether and i have to get eight miters lined up perfectly at the same time. iadded a few domino's to act as a third hand and help hold things in place whilei got everything adjusted. to cut the domino's on these narrow fronts iscrewed a stop block to my table with an apposing 45-degree angles so it trapped thenarrow pieces making it safer to cut the mortises. to bring the inside of theshelf to the right thickness as well as give me some meat to screw to wheninstalling the shelf on the headboard i glued and tacked in place a plywoodfiller strip. then i started applying the glue and domino's to all the surfaces asi worked my way around the shelf

once i had all the parts in place i usesome ca glue along with some glue blocks so i could pull the miters tight withclamps and adjust the fit as i went. i use the slow setting epoxy for this glue upso i had plenty of working time to make adjustments and ensure i had tight miterson all sides. i did the same process for all four shelves. once the epoxy was dryi removed the clamps and knocked off the glue blocks with a light tap from amallet and chisel. now that the shelves are made, it was time to have something to attachthem to. i ripped a piece of plywood to size and laid out for the shelves andtwo reading lights. i drilled a hole in each side of the plywood for the base ofthe reading lights to go through and

then attached a spacer block so theupholster wood know how big the base of the light is. we use the forstner bitjust to help keep things lined up. i did a quick test fit and sent theplywood sheet up the street to my upholsterer friend to have him apply thesheepskin. don't worry no actual sheep where skinned in the making of this bed. it's asynthetic sheepskin made from chemicals. while the plywood panel is gettingupholstered with our synthetic sheepskin i milled up and installed a strip of woodand attach it to the inside frame. this will give us something to screw oursheepskin panel to. i installed the cleat on all four sides. once i got the sheepskinback from the upholsterer and unwrapped it

and it slipped perfectly into place. i then used an air hose to fluff thefibers back up. to attach it to the frame i screwed it to the cleat that i hadinstalled earlier. then it was time to install the floating shelves but ineeded to make a custom bracket to give the shelf some strength in case someonegot a little frisky they wouldn't rip off the shelves. so i started out cuttingsome flat bar with the same width as the shelves and cleaned up the bur with thegrinder. next i laid out a hole pattern so i could bolt the headboard and theshelves together. i center punched each hole so the drill bit wouldn't wanderwhen i got it started. then i just spent

some time at the drill press drillingout all the holes. i cut some round bar to act as a support brackets. then built ajig on a scrap plywood to hold the pieces in place as i welded themtogether then i use that same blocks to locate anddrill the corresponding holes in the shelf i slid the brackets in from the backsideand attach them with some screws and then slid the shelf onto the bracketssecuring them with some long lag bolts installing the lights was pretty simple.i fed the wire through the hole, attach the mounting bracket to the light, andattach the bracket to the back of the

bed. before shipping it off, i put a nicepiece of plywood over the back to cover up all the wires and screws, and i have acompleted finished bed

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