Why buy it, when you can build it
It’s time to replace that old bed, huh?…and you know just the store to go to. After a little online research you head there. Now, you’re walking through the store following the arrows like a good little mouse. You see that pretty “bed” its so tempting you want to jump in, so you do. You get out and think… “this bed would look great in my new bedroom.” So what’s next?…you buy it! After getting it home, you begin the egregious task of assembly. You can read Swedish, right? Now, after Installing that last weird “turn-key” fastener (sorry for the cheap pun) you sit back and are elated with pride. But do you really want to take credit for that cheap particle board construction they call a “bed”, that took you so much time? Of course you do! After all, you did build it. You planned, designed and sourced the materials. No you didn’t. So why buy it and pretend to build it?… only to be left with an inferior product.
The truth is DIY is in your blood, if it wasn’t you wouldn’t be reading this blog. So why bother buying cheaply manufactured furniture from the big box stores? To save time and money?…you say? How much time would you say you spent online looking through their furniture catalog? or worse, how long did it take you to find your way out of that maze they call a store? How much did that “bed” set you back? If you tallied the effort you spent in buying it and pretending to build it, I’m sure you would find that you could have spent that time planning, designing and truly building your own bed… cheaper, more durable and in less time. “But how do I”, you ask?
Planning
First, you have to believe that you are capable of DIY. Start by planning out what you want. Measure the dimensions of the space you want to build your bed on. (LxWxH) Then decide what you want, Let’s say it’s a queen or king size bed. Now, we can get to the fun part. Flip the page of that legal pad and sketch whatever you can envision of your bed in that space imagining what it would look like. Not so good with doodling? No worries, you will get better. Finished?…good, the first sketch is always a little ruff. The planning stage is not over yet, now I want you to go on to Pinterest and type in “DIY bed” (crew,queen,king). From here you can start to pick out ideas that work with your concept.
Designing
Now that you have finished the planning stage you should have all the raw information that you need to proceed to designing your bed. Here is where it gets a little technical. You do have a choice though. You can skip this step if you choose, but in my opinion you shouldn’t, because it will help you in the next and final building stage. I want you to visit the site Sketchup this is a computer aided design (CAD) program with a DIY platform built in just for us DIYer’s. Follow the prompts and after clicking the download link you will have to make Trimble account. Trimble is the cloud client for Sketchup which allows you to save your work on their servers. After you complete this step you can now proceed to download a free copy of Sketchup. Look for Sketchup Make 2017, this build is free. Sketchup can be intimidating at first but be patient with yourself. There are online tutorials that can assist you with understanding the bare-bones of the program. Many are on YouTube, use this resource. If you still have any trouble send me an email and I can send you a link to some very helpful lessons.
Building
With your completed sketch from Sketchup you can now begin to build your bed. One of the great functions of Sketchup is the dimensions feature. With all the measurements that you inputted you can now use for your cut-list. Some of your cuts you can even have Home Depot or Lowes do for you as long as there is a foot on either side of the cut. Your local lumber yard if you choose, can make very specific cuts to your needs. Just remember be patient with yourself, DIY is a learning process and with any type of learning there are curves, you got this!
