I was living in an apartment in Waco with my newly minted husband, and was gearing up for a move to Lake Jackson after his graduation from school. I had this horribly flimsy Walmart platform bed that was at the end of its life. After I read a post on a favorite blog mentioning my now hero, I checked out the projects on Knock Off Wood. “Hmmm,” I thought, “I think I can do that!” So, I found the perfect plans for the queen-sized Farmhouse Bed, and went to visit my parents. Print-out in hand, I showed my dad what I had in mind. He was totally on board, and said he even thought he had all the lumber we needed in his barn. And he did! We spent a Sunday afternoon shopping his barn, and then loaded it all up to drive over to his shop to do all the cutting.
Here’s the best part. I then loaded every single cut piece of lumber into my Honda Civic and drove it back to Waco. Yes, people. I didn’t even have an SUV, I had an economy size 4-door sedan. And I fit all that lumber in it! As soon as I got home, I was raring to go. Unfortunately, the Husbane was not. He was grumpy, and moaning about trying to put a bed together in an apartment. So I huffily said “Screw You!” and went on my merry way. Okay, that’s a total lie. I actually cried and shamed him with my words into helping me, because he was ruining this exciting new prospect with his bad attitude. Feeling like a horrible person, he apologized and took me to McCoy’s to get all the screws and hardware we needed to put this behemoth together. We put the headboard together as a team, and once I learned just how to use a power drill (it really was my first time ever!) I put the footboard together all by myself. I was so proud! Then we put on the side boards, figured out the rails and slats, and pushed the last screw in the next day. For just $16, a lot of free barnwood, and gallons of sweat and tears, we had our very first hand made bed. And I couldn’t be prouder.
