Project: Headboard - Nightstand Combo for simple platform bed

[Jim Becker]

My 20yo daughter uses a simple, full-size platform bed that Professor Dr. SWMBO has had since grad school back in the 1980s. Other than a new mattress from Ikea, it's pretty much original "kit" type furniture made of pine and particle board. Because of my daughter's emotional issues, she has a tendency to move her bedroom furniture around with frequency as a stress reliever. Interestingly, a month or three ago, she asked me to make her a headboard and I agreed that it would be part of her holiday gifts. I started it a few weekends ago and it was completed and installed on Monday of this week...a few days after Christmas, but that's how it goes sometimes.

While I was thinking about how I wanted to design this, it occurred to me that she'd also requested a second nightstand on multiple occasions...so when I put two and two together, I came out with five. Err...I came out with a way to curtail the furniture movement while addressing both of her "needs". And that is an integrated headboard with nightstands that pretty much dictates exactly where that bed needs to stay in her room going forward.

Aside from coming up with an attractive design that met the stated (and unstated) needs, I wanted to use available material in my inventory and only purchase hardware that I don't keep around, such as metal angles for mounting it to the bed, etc. So the frame is made from poplar cut and milled off our property and the "field" of the headboard is bead board that was gifted to me by a contractor friend when he cleaned out his storage area. The bead board was actually perfect for this as it mirrors a wall on the opposite side of the room from where the bed is located. Construction is simple pocket screws and glue. The bead board "field" is painted in the color that she chose for all of the trim and the bead board wall...that paint work will get done in the spring.

I like to post full construction threads and this is no exception, but I'll start with the "finished project" first so anyone not interested in the steps can avoid scrolling through a few posts full of pictures. A lot of folks really hate pictures, you know...

Finished Project:


Rufus, the 3-legged Flemish Giant bunny (15 pounds) just had to check things out as soon as he was allowed to do so.


Build Photos and Commentary:

The top of the headboard is curved and after it was cut on the bandsaw, it was necessary to smooth the edges using a block plane and some power sanding




The side pieces were cut long and temporarily screwed on to get the right angle to cut the tops to mate with the curved top. Using the pocket screws was an advantage on this project in that I could test assemble before fully committing. This photo was taken after the top angle was cut.



Similarly, I was able to measure, cut and temporarily install the lower cross-piece before determining the exact length of the center stile in the frame. The cutout where the grey clamp is holding on is where the headboard slips over the existing bed platform's raised edge. The width of the cutout was derived from the exact width of the bed plus about 1/8" to insure it wasn't too tight during installation with the nightstands to the bed



Here is a shot with the center stile measured, cut and temporarily installed



At that point, I pulled out a router and made the rebate that the bead board will set in upon final assembly



Routing the rebate does a nice job, but doesn't leave "square" corners..."square" is in quotes simply because the corner at the top of the outer stiles isn't "square"...but I think you can understand what I mean from this photo...routed on the right and cleaned up on the left

[Jim Becker]

This is an example of what the bead board will physically look like when in the frame



At this point, it was time to start figuring out how long the outer stiles would need to be to accommodate the night stands as well as stay clear of the floor. This bed is not very high off that floor, either...



Of course one of the key dimensions there is the size of the nightstands...and since I prefer to take measurements directly off of things, this required actually building the nightstands. The design is a simple box that will have a top surface level with the bed frame and a lower shelf/cubby. No drawers.



These assemblies could then be used to mark the exact end of the side stiles on the headboard frame. And since they were only temporarily screwed together, it was easy to take each to the saw and carefully trim them to length. Unseen here is the extra frame added behind the nightstand to provide something to bolt it to upon final installation. You'll see that in a moment. At that point, I glued the whole frame together




After the glue was cured (overnight), it was time to drill for the bolts that would hold the nightstands to the frame post assembly



The frame was then flipped over and blind nuts were whacked in the head with a hammer until they were properly seated.



As always, one must test fit something like this and tighten down the bolts to be sure everything snugged up properly



And that did indeed work out...

[Jim Becker]

At that point, it was time to take all that apart and move on to fitting the bead board "field", rough cutting to length on the sliding table saw and then contouring the tops at the bandsaw to account for the curve. I did this carefully to insure that both sides matched relative to the bead board appearance





And then it was time for finishing after some additional sanding

Priming the bead board



Because this project needed to at least approximately match the Thos Moser inspired armoire already in her room, the poplar got a multi-step treatment to get the color close to that. It's darker than the bed, but my daughter was ok with that. First step was a water soluble dye to get that lovely, ruddy, uninspiring brown as a base. (water soluble dye really looks like, well..."you know what" when it first goes on and dries. Nature of the beast)





The next step was to actually use some Minwax "Gunstock" pigment stain to add more color. It was wiped directly over the dye as I didn't care if they blended a little. you can see how it darkened up quite a bit. (I think this photo may have been taken after the next step, which was a couple coats of de-waxed shellac to seal things a little more and provide a base that I could lightly sand with 320 to get rid of any remaining raised grain.



More views of the color after the shellac is on



After the first of three coats of waterborne clear is sprayed on



Once the finish was on and cured overnight, I re-assembled the nightstands to the frame so I could screw the nightstand tops in place so everything was flush. I didn't mention the tops previously, but they are simple three board glue-ups that were carefully grain matched so they more or less look like a single board.





The final piece of the assembly was to "contain" the bead board in the rebates. They stood about 3/8" proud of the back of the frame, so 3/8" scrap was glued and stapled on and then some scrap 1/4" thick material was stapled on to hold the boards in the frame. Note that they can still float a little to account for seasonal wood movement.







And, of course, a repeat of the finished project, installed and ready to use

[Mike Wilkins]

Looking good Mr. Jim. After the final finish, that Poplar looks like something much more expensive. I'm sure the young lady is proud.

[Jim Becker]

Mike, a lot of folks poo-poo tulip poplar, but it's not a bad species to work with economically and as you mention, care in finishing can make it look like a lot of other close-grain species, especially when they are not physically next to each other. I have a ton of it because it was harvested on our property during two septic projects so I tend to use it for projects like this. Tia does like it...and so does my "bunny grand-sun" Rufus.

[Terry Hatfield]

Cool project Jim! Looks very nice. Don't know if you noticed or not but you seem to have some sort of rabbit infestation.

[Phil Mueller]

Very nice, Jim. My compliments as well on the finish...I've always associated poplar with paint, but you've shown it has much greater possibilities.
Not meaning to divert the thread, but did you relocate dog holes and fill with dowels?

[Jebediah Eckert]

Nice, great pictures and an enjoyable post. But what do you put in the feed in Buck County? I think that thing stopped being a "bunny" about 10 pounds ago.

[glenn bradley]

Looks great Jim. I love the headboard, side table combination design. I appreciate the build progress shots too; always helpful now and in the future. Although I make a lot of nightstand for others I plan to replace mine as part of the bedroom re-do. Your piece just adds credence to my thinking; mount the headboard and nightstands to the wall and set the mattress platform free ;-)

[Chris Hachet]

I love the design, very well done. Inspirational to see a thoughtful approach to a simple project....

[Jim Becker]

Not meaning to divert the thread, but did you relocate dog holes and fill with dowels?

Yes...if you can find the original thread on my bench, I believe that I admit to, um...screwing up...the spacing and having to re-drill all ten billion of them...

Cool project Jim! Looks very nice. Don't know if you noticed or not but you seem to have some sort of rabbit infestation.

Nice, great pictures and an enjoyable post. But what do you put in the feed in Buck County? I think that thing stopped being a "bunny" about 10 pounds ago.

LOL. Rufus is a Flemish Giant. Average weight is in the 12-20 lbs range, but I've seen photos as large as 50 lbs. He's the "best furry pet ever". Rufus is about 14-15 lbs at this point. He was down to about 12.5 after having his right rear leg amputated due to a nasty spiral break from jumping down from someplace he shouldn't have been, but he, um, eats well.

[Lee Schierer]

Very nice work Jim. Now you can start on the matching dresser.

I like working with poplar, though I've never tried staining or dying it. When you apply the dye do you get the stiff fuzzies sticking up that are typical when you put the first coat of paint on the poplar? What about when you put on the shellac?

[Jim Becker]

Lee, there's already an armoire in the room that matches this new construction. She has a commercial dresser of similar color, too.

There is a little fuzz after a water soluble dye is applied and dries. I use 320 or 400 paper and lightly "wipe" across the surfaces and then apply the de-waxed shellac. (in this project, the oil-based Minwax stain was applied directly over the dye and rubbed in well, but I did the light de-fuzz first) I also do this after the first coat of de-waxed shellac to get any remaining "nubbies". The second application of de-waxed shellac seals everything and makes things ready for a water borne top-coat.

[Mike Null]

Very nice work. I like your finish and the way you mounted the bead board. I have been planning a similar project and was going to house the bead board in a dado. (no arch in my design) Now I think your method is easier and better.

I will be attempting to match the headboard with other furniture as well.

[Art Mann]

What a great application for pocket screws! I think that is one of the most under utilized joinery methods in woodworking today. I would hate to think of how long it would take to make all those M&T joints.