The next couple of years I was busy with a new home and I did not have much time to build furniture. I did build a custom three-tier deck with a hot tube and a 12 ft tall play set for the kids in the back yard. Once these things were done, I got back to building furniture.
The next major wood working project was a captains bed for my youngest son. I took the photo in 2003; however, I build the bed somewhere around 1995 or 1996.
The design came out of a woodworking magazine. As I remember, there were a number of projects that I built out of that one magazine, but the bed was the most ambitious.
This is called a “Captain’s Bed.” All the corners are rounded and there are drawers integrated under the mattress inside the bed frame. This seemed perfect for a little boy.
The bed is made out of birch. This is the first time I used birch on a woodworking project. I had to go to a mill and special order the material. This was also a first in my pursuit of woodworking.
Later you will see that I built a matching dresser and desk. This will be a post for another day. I recently sold the bed, nightstand and dresser when my son decided after 13 years in the bed, it was time to upgrade to another bed.
I found another picture of the bed just before I sold the set (2009). This will give you a good idea what the three-piece set looked like and how it functioned. Not bad considering I started this around ’96 and I sold it in 2009!
Kona Sunset Coffee 