benjamin moore historic collection.

Just so I don't have to hunt for this, I am linking it here - the entire Benjamin Moore Historic Collection online from which I am pulling all the colours of my house (there have been a couple of changes since I posted that photo to Flickr).

But that's it for now.

um, wow ... lighting.

Well, for some reason yesterday I went to check out Rejuvenation's website (I think cos we're going to Portland Saturday and I was going to see the store's hours or something) and noticed in the homepage banner that they were offering a promotion - $100 off a $500+ order. And this is one of those places that never seems to have a sale or promotion (well, they do - twice a year I think but really ... ). So I called them up to see if at least went through Saturday. Uh, no luck -ends today (it's not even up on their website today).

So anyways, I already pretty much had the lighting for my bedroom and the back entry figured out and I didn't want to pass up a $100-off promotion so - after being on hold for 20+ minutes waiting for everyone else trying to place an order on the last day of the promotion - I got through to someone who then put me in touch with someone at the PDX store. My goal was to save on the shipping (a whopping 10% of the order total which seems awfully steep) by picking up the stuff the PDX store had and ordering the two things I would have to order so as to only pay shipping on those.

So after some finagling the order/deal with the girl on the phone (and still not 100% sure the charges are correct but I'll check it out when I pick up the stuff Saturday - the order total seemed pretty close) I got the following ...

For the bedroom on either side of where my bed will go (and matches the currently-remodeled bathroom light and the to-be remodeled bathroom lights) -

For beside the back door (to replace a bulb that's just hanging in a socket above the door right now - yes, it will mean rewiring this to mount beside the door about 5' up from the ground) -

And for inside the back entryway (um, it'll be fun to post a pic of the light that's hanging there now before I rip it out of the ceiling ... holy cow, that thing is a beauty) -

All very classic I think.

So anyways - they have to make the Rhone to my 28" specs and order the McKenzie but the other things I can all pick up on Saturday.

Next I need to order my bedroom fan before summer ... come on Restoration Hardware, have a flippin' sale (I did just sign up for their promotions/etc. emails).

bed part five.

Finishing (part one) ...

Well, with a solid weekend of gorgeous weather forecast I knew I would have to get on both coats of stain I intended. The first step was of course to put on a wood conditioner. I talked to the Stain Guy at Rockler last week and he hooked me up with Zinsser Seal Coat to serve the purpose - worked great (not sure what's up with the dude who left the 1-star review on Amazon). Although I should say finishing is not my forté. The last thing I think I stained was my entertainment cabinet I got at Ikea and one day decided to strip and refinish with a really dark stain. It turned out OK, but that was probably five or six years ago.

So anyway with my lack of experience understood I went to work applying the Seal Coat -

The one thing I learned was to not let it be applied unevenly as it will then show through the stain you subsequently apply. Seems obvious, but it just requires constant attention to make sure it's not dripping along the underside of an edge or something while you're applying. I used an old brush to put it on, then sanded it down with the lightest abrasive pad Rockler had (another suggestion by the Stain Guy).

After letting it dry for half an hour or so, I was able to start staining. Ooh boy. I was really nervous about this part I must admit mostly because of all the money, effort and time I had spent up until this point to make the bed as nice as possible. And I could very likely completely ruin it at this stage. I guess I could paint it, but then I would have spent all that extra money on nice clear, knot-free pine and VG fir for nothing. And I wanted it stained, not painted. So hopefully it would work.

I had picked out General Finishes espresso water-based stain cos it was the shade I wanted - a really deep, dark brown -

I used a foam brush (before Katie took over) to apply (it was really thick - almost like what I would expect a gel to be like) and wiped it off with a t-shirt. Well, started using just a t-shirt and my hand but did not like how uneven it was coming off. So I grabbed a mitered 2x4 I had and an old sanding sponge, then wrapped it with the t-shirt. The mitered 2x4 was a good angle to work at and the sponge helped even out the pressure I had to apply. Definitely helped.

The posts and siderails went pretty fast. The headboard and footboard took much, much longer -

I realized pretty quickly after starting them that I should have pre-stained the vertical slats and the edges of the pieces that filled the gaps in between them. That would have made it look much better (I assume), but I was hoping a second coat of stain would a) darken it slightly (although it was about as dark as I wanted) and more importantly b) hide the imperfections of the first coat.

Once I am all finished with the bed completely I am going to compile a list of things I learned (since this was just the practice bed, afterall) so that I don't make the same mistakes again on the next bed I build since even with the frustrations of staining and finishing I am still enjoying the process. Maybe because I am learning everything and figuring stuff out and solving problems as I go which is always good.

Next step - 2-5 coats of varnish.

bed part four.

Joinery (sort of continued) ...

OK, so over the last couple of weeks I have been struggling with how to join the siderails to the posts for this design (and even the headboard and footboard although I partially solved the problem with using the biscuits I routed). The requirement still: no screws can show anywhere on the bed.

So I had gotten some brackets from Rockler Woodworking up here along with a burly hangar bolt and wood screws. Then I thought I'd make my own from 2x4's and use tee-nuts and such. Still, nothing seemed to quite work. And to give an idea of how many options I tried - when I went to return the various brackets and hardware I didn't use it added up to about $50.

But then I hit gold with the idea of using pocket hole screws. I had to go out and get a $20 Kreg jig but I was hoping it would work. It has to be super-duper burly and strong since all the weight of the rails and 2x4 horizontal mattress supports, mattress and, well, my son will rest on these joints. I didn't want it to fall apart one night while he was fast asleep ...

So I tested this out last night with my little mock setup of the headboard/post/siderail I had made to test all my different ideas before doing the real deal -

And wow with only two screws (2-1/2") this joint was strong! I assume it's because you only drill partway in - then the screws that Kreg makes are self-tapping which really embeds them tight in the wood. I'm going to beef it up though and put in three screws for each end on the actual rails just to be safe.

This setup meant I had to cut off a smidge more from each end of the siderails where I had notched them in order for the screws to work (which meant holding each 6' rail upright and slide it along my table saw - good times - then chip the remaining wood away with a chisel like I had originally done when I routed them) but I have both rails done and now I just need to drill the holes for the inside of the headboard and footboard (just the lowest section that attaches - the top section I'll let go with just being glued using the biscuit joint.

Strong. And no screws showing. Perfect.

This is a lot of fun building I must say!

chop saw mount.

Since this so impressed the dude at Lowe's (and I thought it up) I figured I'd throw it on the blog. My chop saw is pretty solid but I've never actually anchored it to the table cos it seems like I'm moving it around a bunch. Or enough. But cutting large pieces of lumber where it is imperative the piece does not move and the saw does not move I have been searching for a solution.

And then it hit me.

If I use some 1/4" tee nuts I can pound them into my workbench (from the top - not from the bottom cos then every time you tried setting the saw back through the screws the downward force would pop them out), then thread 1/4" screws (cos the holes in the Dewalt's base are drilled out for 1/4" screws) up from the underside of said workbench like this -

Then I just slide the chop saw onto them and secure with a washer and wing nut on each. It's fast to secure, rock solid and, when I want to move it - just as fast to remove the wing nuts and lift off the saw.

At least I was impressed. Oh, and the guy at Lowes, too.