A Bunk Bed for the Kids

    It has always been fun to work in the shop with one of the sons.    In the old days, they were the ones who did the sanding, painting, and all those mundane tasks that I so disliked.    My reasoning back then was that you are too young to run the power tools and they seemed to accept that.   Once in awhile they would protest, but I would counter with "Hey, you can run the power sander if you like".     Eventually, the charisma of running the power sander wore off and the next thing I know, they all left home.

   Well, this past weekend Brian and his family came down for a few days and we were back working together in the shop.    It was fun to share a project, just like the old days.     Brian's wife, Cari, had seen a kid's bunk bed on display at a store and was hoping that we could make something similar.  That was the goal of this week's shop project.

   We did not have a plan, but we did have a picture and a couple measurements to go by so this was one of those "plan-as-you-go"  projects.    The end result was to end up with a bunk style bed with one bed on top and another bed on the floor.  

   The first thing we did was rip a bunch of 2x4's in half ending up with several 2x2's.  The picture on the left is the end result of cutting those 2x4's in half.   We used 7 2x4's ending up with 14 2x2's.    I had bought a sheet of 1/8th inch melamine which had the white finish on one side and the brown backing on the other.   Once we had the 2x2's cut to size we sawed a kerf down the middle of several of those making an insert for the melamine board to slide into.   (So far we were working with new boards which I am starting to enjoy versus the old resawn wood I have on hand.)  My little buddy Blair was helping in this process and in order to keep herself clean she designed an apron out of a plastic shopping bag.    Pretty creative idea.  

Grandpa in a crabby mood.

   Once we had the 2x2's sized, the next step in the process was to cut the melamine board to different sizes to fit into the rectangular forms we had made out of the 2x2's.      When we had those sheets of melamine cut, I thought Brian could paint the back side (or the brown side) the color blue that Blair had picked out.     Suddenly Brian was called to change a diaper or something which lasted for an hour.   The next thing I know I was stuck with doing the painting.   (I couldn't help but wonder at what point in my life this role-reversal occured.)     I looked for the cat to show up, but even she seemed to know when not to appear.

Grandpa, Judah, Brian, and Blair

    The next day, after the paint had dried, we started to assemble the bunk beds.   There were a few glitches, but all in all, it came together quite well.    Of course we had plenty of help.   Even Blair ran the power drill some.   (I thought maybe I could train her to run the power sander, but she expressed that she did not care to do that.   Hmmm.)      Even though we painted the melamine board, we had planned to leave the pine wood unfinished.   We did round over the edges and sanded the exposed sides.

Blair 4 years old -   Judah 1 year old 

   Once we had the frame completed, I cut several scrap pile boards to size to fit under the mattress for support.  Even though the project was now finished, it was time to do the disassemble part of the project.   We had designed the bunk bed so that it could be taken apart, put in the back of the van, and reassembled back in St. Paul, MN.    

    The picture to the left  is the bunk bed in the kid's bedroom in St. Paul.    Cari has definitely dressed it up to the point where it would be a fun attractive place to take a snooze.   (I'm wondering about making an adult size one.)   Blair will be sleeping in the top and Judah will be sleeping down below. It looks like it reassembled  just fine.

    Until next week, have a good 4th of July.  

Dag