Plugging along

Well things are moving along but more slow than I had hoped. I have had sick kids home every day this week. So progress has been slow. The construction of both of the beds is done now. And the paint prep is also done on both of them. This is the first coat on the bunk beds. The color is Bitter Chocolate and I love it. I will get better pictures. I should be able to finish the painting on this one today if my nurse duties don't take up too much of my time. I think that is my least favorite part of being a mom. I prefer naughty little ones to sick ones. You just feel so bad for them and there really is only so much you can do.

Two little beds

We are working on two toddler beds this week. We put an add on Etsy.com and amazingly we sold two beds and both of them are going to New York City. What an odd coincidence. But I guess when I think about it it does make sense. So many people in that city live in what would seem like very tight quarters to the rest of us, especially someone like me who lives on a 180 acre farm. This one is a bunk bed and it is going to be painted a mocha color, I will post the actual name of the color when I post pictures of it painted. This one has room underneath the bottom bunk in case they want to add drawers later.

This one is a toddler size loft bed. Both of them use crib size mattresses. The little loft will be painted white.

More pictures to come.

Two beds in one.

I have really been looking foreword to this build. I love how creative people can be and I hope that we are making what she saw in her head. Mostly I think I want it to go well because her husband told her that this idea would not work. Being a wife who often comes up with crazy ideas I'm really hopping that she can always have this as the crazy idea that worked out just fine. So her idea is to have the beds be low loft beds at first but knowing that kids grow and change what they like she wanted to have the ability to turn the bed over and have a twin bed. So here is how it is working out. This a close shot of the post she asked that we angle it to give it a little detail so that looks great.

And of course I got the pictures backwards. This way is the twin bed frame. The cross piece is really important for safety when it is a loft. But I think it will make a cool bed.

This is the loft way. This is such a great idea. I just love it. I may have to steal it for my own little girl. I think it is always great when you get two things in one.

Trying to catch up

We are trying to get caught up from getting a little back logged due to illness. First Freddy got sick then I did. Today our oldest came home from school with a fever. So much fun when they go back to school and get every bug out there. Anyway this is a little Ciera style bunk bed that we delivered tonight. This one is for very small kids and so their parents asked if we could build gates to keep them from falling out of the bed. The locks that Freddy bought would not work when he went to set it up. Then on his way home he figured out how to make something that will work better. So we will get that done and bring it back for them.

We have three beds to get done for Monday. One is a set of James style bunk beds. It is unfinished and nearly done. We have it cut out and mostly sanded. All that is left is to put the headboards together. Then we have two custom Jeffery style twin loft beds. Again I just have to say that our customers have the coolest Ideas! This very creative thinking customer has asked us to make them low loft beds that can be tipped over when the kids are bigger and become a four post twin beds. What an amazing idea. So we are eager to get those going. I can't wait to see how they will look upside down!

It always looks better in your house!

Here it is painted white in it's new home, I think it looks much better here than in our shop!

One of the best parts of what do is that we meet a lot of great people. And there is often an excited little one waiting for their new bed. This one was no exeption on both counts. It's a good gig.

Finished Jeremy

So we finally finished with the Jeremy style with the desk and drawers. We delivered it yesterday. Other than the sickness in the middle of it this has been one of our favorite builds. We loved how it turned out. These were taken just before we took it down to paint it white. The smudges are the filler we use to prep for paint. There is a drawer for a keyboard there under the desk. We debated about putting a pull on it but I thought that the line of the board that carries all the way around was good with out a pull. So we put enough of a lip underneath to pull the drawer open.

The feet do definitely add something to it.

Overall we just loved having the chance to build it. They end up being like your kids really it is too hard to say which is the best, but we really loved doing this one.

The Perks

I can think of many advantages for my kids that both their daddy and I work at home together, we are both home when they go to school and when they get home. Even when we are working we are only five steps from the back door. From time to time we can do things like just stop what we are doing and take them fishing. But if you are a five year old boy the best part is that you get the best set of building blocks imaginable. My five year old spent about an hour going back and forth to our scrap pile to build these beauties. He says that they are star destroyers I think. I am very sure that they are space ships from star wars. I think he is a genius!

The master at work!

rough in of desk and shelf

So even though the bed itself is done, we are not quite finished. These are some pictures from the rough fit of the desk and one of the shelves. These are options that you can add to any of our loft beds. So again not the best pictures but I am hopping to give the idea of how it is going. So here there is going to be a false front with another leg. On the false front will be a frame that you can put a mirror or cork board or what ever makes you happy into. It will give the front of the bed a more finished look as well as being cool.

Obviously the desk is just sitting there. It will have trim on the edges of it. So this is what the basic writing surface looks like. You can order any of our loft beds with one of these added, just like this. This one will be a little more detailed. It will have a drawer like for a keyboard. And it will have two more sets of shelves, one at the foot end and the other over by the other shelf. Trust me it will make more sense when it is done.

From the inside looking out at the shelf.

From the outside looking in through the shelf. So far we are loving it. We are so grateful that we get to do this for a living. It is the coolest thing that our wonderful customers keep letting us have so much fun making cool stuff and we even get paid. Thanks to all of them. Of course it is not always all fun and games. My poor husband, the last couple weeks he has had dental problems that have been very painful and now the munchkins have given him a cold. He feels like he is stuck in slow motion. But overall the project is still going ahead. And it is looking great.

Jeremy style, more done

So for all practical purposes we are done with the first Jeremy style loft bed. So if you were to order a Jeremy style loft bed this is what you would get. Again I have to apologize for the quality of the pictures. Our shop is so very small that you just can not get a good angle on a bed that is set up in there. So this is the fancy foot, which is an option you can take it or leave it if you order this style. I am not sure what the purpose of this picture was, I guess it shows all four fancy feet. I would think though that most people would get that there are four and not just the one I got the close up of.

This is just about as good as the pictures get in our shop. The front does have safety rail and the ladder will go on the end closest to you with an opening to crawl through much the same as the Jeffery and Ciera styles. The only difference is that in this style you can not request the ladder on the end. With the arch it would be too hard to figure out how to place it on an end.

So there you have it, this is an unfinished twin size Jeremy style loft bed. ta da

Jeremy coming along nicely

So the new style is coming along nicely. This is what the head and foot boards look like. Except that the legs are not on yet. The bolt for the leg has to go through the dowel that is holding the frame together at the bottom, so the let can not be put on until the glue has a chance to completely set up. They will go on tomorrow. Both ends are done, I only took pictures of one because the other looks just like it. So if you wanted this style of bed as a twin loft this is just what the head and footboard would look like, tomorrow we will add the desk and the shelves and then it will look completely different. I don't know if it shows very well in the picture below but the tops of the posts have some shape to them, they are not square at the top.

Also notice that the posts are larger in this style than in the others. This will be a very sturdy style. It also just looks nice with the arch for it to be in the center of the post rather than flush with it.

Tomorrow we will be putting it together for the exact measurements of the desk and shelves. So look for those tomorrow.

New Jeremy style tease

Today was mostly a shopping day, sometimes we just have to go and buy the stuff to make all these beds. Which ends up being a big all day ordeal because we do not live close to anything. But sooner or later you run out of things and you just have to spend a day doing that. But when we got home Freddy worked enough for me to have a couple pictures to show you. This is a brand new style for us. And as usual it comes to us from one of our awesome customers. You guys have the best ideas. We are calling it the Jeremy style because our youngest felt very left out that everyone had a bed style named after them but him. This one in particular will be very cool because it will have a desk and some shelves so it is really fancy. The desk and shelves can be added to any of the styles that we make so if you love that but not the frame style just let us know which style and that you want a desk like this one. But we are not to the desk yet. This picture is of the foot. I know not real exciting but this bed will be on feet and this is what the foot will look like. This is a little more exciting. This is the arch that will be at the top of the head board and the foot board. It is not fully assembled yet it is just laid out for the picture but you can get the idea where we are headed with it I hope. He spent a great deal of time over the weekend working out the arch. Now he has it all figured out and has made patterns so that he can do it again any time. This is just one of the many things that he can do that I would have no idea where to even start.

So there will be more to come tomorrow.