Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Making a king sized headboard - final

When I was purchasing the wood for this project over the summer the couple I visited asked me what I would be making as we started chatting about woodworking as a hobby. I mentioned fiddling with projects in my basement at night for a few hours a week and quipped that the headboard would probably be done around Christmas. It was placed in our bedroom on Dec 29th.



The panel proved to be easier than I thought. I started by cutting the foam down to size and left it just a bit smaller than the opening it fits in to allow for the vinyl fit as well. It is attached to the plywood with spray adhesive.


Next, the vinyl was laid over the opening and then the plywood and foam was put down on top of it. I pushed the panel through until it met the rabbets and pulled the vinyl to take up any excess.


The result was perfectly smooth, though the corners were scrunched up. I futzed with this for a bit and opted to have scrunched corners instead of a sloppy fit.


I cleaned up the back of the panel by stapling the vinyl and trimming the excess. I am glad the back is hid up against the wall. An upholsterer, I am not.


The rest was finished with three wiped on coats of a 1:1:1 mix of polyurethane, boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits. This is the first time I used this finish, aside from premixed Danish Oil, which I believe has similar ingredients.



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My freakishly strong wife and I wrestled this thing up two flights to the bedroom and I attached it to the bed frame with nuts and bolts that were spray painted black. You can't see them but I didn't want shiny, silver colored hardware.



The bedroom furniture is complete (for now), and no longer has a dorm room feel to it. That being said this large piece highlights the boring color on the walls. Painting in there may have been moved up the task list.

On to the next project: unpacking tools that were moved in a year ago. First, they need a home which means finishing the rehab of the bureau with sliding tills in the top drawer, possibly adding dividers to the others. And painting the whole thing.

Happy New Year and thanks for reading.
Jim

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