Return of the wreath

As much as I hate to start another project with the last one still taking up space in the shop, it's time to Christmas decorate so the remaining twin is just going to have to get worked around while I wait for the in-laws to pick it up.

A 60-degree day over the weekend means we've got all our lights all up already, so all I have left on my decorating list is re-doing my wreath and getting it hung on the garage. This year's wreath is getting a much stronger base than last year's, and I hope that means this year's wreath becomes next year's, and the year after that, and so on.

So no drywall. While we were out picking up more lights I picked up an extra 2x4 sheet of 1/2 inch plywood to go with the one I already had on hand, and used them to cut my circle with the same technique I used last time. Unfortunately cutting each one out was as far as I got with all the other things we had going on, but that's enough for now.

I was drilling some guide holes but lost interest pretty quickly. Jig saw did fine w/o them.

A sturdier build means I also have to figure out how to store it, but with some extra hinges sitting around I think I might have that one handled. Once I figure out how to hang it and keep it looking like a wreath I think we're in good shape. The rest is just stapling and time management, something that seems to be in short supply right now.   

Twin beds part III: the finish. Or at least most of it.

Whelp, should have seen that coming. Who would have guessed, starting a new job and going to school meant there wasn't much project time around here for a while. But I managed to get some time this weekend, and I'm still not that much closer to getting anything finished. Turns out having someone else pick out the finish didn't save me any time on these. In fact, the girl picked a color I couldn't really find, so I had to get creative which even added some time.

And it's not like they picked crazy colors either. The boy went with red, and the girl just wanted pink. Plain pink. Apparently not a lot of paint companies have a plain pink furniture paint, but fortunately getting red for the boy meant I could use some white I already had and hopefully make a pink she found acceptable. That sounded a lot more acceptable to ME vs paying three times for pink matte than I paid for red glossy.

And whew! The red we went with is REALLY RED. Like, fire engine red. It works for the boy, since he wants pokemon sheets (ugh) to go with it.

Since I had white in the same paint type already, I hoped I could mix them and get an acceptable pink. What's more, I wanted to make enough that I didn't run out in the middle of the bed and have to try and mix more.

You know what would be good for a project like this? Those old folgers coffee cans that every dad seemed to have in his garage when I was a kid. I don't have any of those, but I do have some empty espresso cans around so that will have to do. It made me feel super-yuppie but gave things a lovely coffee smell.

Time to mad science some pink.

The blog motto: "Hey, that's not terrible."

Thankfully it worked. And something I learned: adding an extra complementary color can tone down the color you've created by mixing two other colors. The first mix was way too hot pink. I dropped a splash of blue in to make it a little more eyeball friendly, it worked great.

That is definitely pink

I've gotten the boy's bed entirely painted and polyed, and I'm trying to find the time to finish the girl's bed by next weekend so they can use them. It sounds like they already have mattresses ready to go, I just need to get them both completely finished before I break them down and take them over.

I also have some initials I was going to put on the headboard, but they might have to wait at this point. I'm writing this as a break from the actual paper I'm writing tonite; it's only an 8-10 pager, but I already cranked out a 5 pager last night and I admit, I'm starting to feel a little stressed about it. The longer one isn't due for a week but based on this week, I'm not going to have a lot of Mon-Fri time to get it done by midnight next Sunday, so here I sit for a while longer.

Twin beds part II; getting things together

Wow, that was easy. I can't believe something like a screen door ended up taking nearly a month to get together but I can have two twin beds together in basically a couple of days. Well, at least they're ready to paint at this point.

 

With the head and foot boards done, all I had to do next was trim the 1x4's to size for runners, and pick up two more 2x4s to split and attach so I had something to put slats on once they're cut. Like I said, easy.

I glued the split 2x4s on and let them sit overnight before adding some 2" wood screws. I clamped a scrap of the trimmed 2x4 on each end to make sure they were centered and would fit into the joints I had cut out.

I've only cut slats for one frame, I was more itching to get things together.

With those done, I clamped both beds together as a dry fit, and screwed the runners in once I confirmed I had things how I wanted them. Two twin beds took up more space than I was expecting, but it's still workable.

I wanted to prime them both before I put the colors on but like an idiot, I didn't put a drop cloth down before they were together. Getting one down was a bit of a challenge and the extra time it took meant I had to stop after priming instead of getting the furniture paint out. Ooops.

So now we've come to the part of every project where things grind to a halt as I have to finish each bed to the exacting standards of my children. There's going to have to be some disassembly and labeling too, to make it easier to get everything back together at the in-laws' house when they're done. That might make for an interesting next post.