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I have been working on bunk beds for my two boys for almost a year now. I have had a lot of interruptions in the mean time, but am finally done. This is my first time working from a formal plan, and given my penchant to deviate from any plan, this was difficult for me. My one big mistake was I added a 2 inches to the posts, thinking it would help with storing stuff underneath. Well it turns out that in a bunk bed situation, if there is 2 extra inches on the top and 2 extra inches on the bottom, your ladder comes up 4" short. Oh well, maybe I will build a longer one. Maybe.
I had a couple cracks to cover up so I decided to give butterfly inlays a try. I wanted them to be artistic and hand cut. I feel I did ok, but the first two had a horrible form. I added to them to improve them, but I still don't like them. The more I did, the better they got though. The boy wanted them everywhere. He may regret that when he is a teenager, but for now thats what he gets.
The plan called for 6/4 boards but that was out of my price range. Cherry shorts on the other hand were on sale and in my budget. So I glued them together and made 6/4 boards. I used polyurthane glue for the board glue up & hide glue for the joinery. The plan called for blind tenons with bolts but I opted for wedged through tenons. For finish, I sprayed General Finishes pre-catalyzed water based urethane and I did it in the spray booth at work ( I work at a body shop )
All in all, very pleased with how it came out, but not as pleased as my 4yr old. He has been spending a lot of time up there. He loves it.
For now, we just have the little guys crib stuffed under the top bunk. It works and clears up some floor space.





























This is his happy face! :D

Gallery

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Love the through tenons - is this just for the stiles? I'm guessing the rails are removable to take the bed apart? Where did you get the plans? Looks great!
 

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Mighty fine work. End product is amazing. Looks like someone is very happy happy happy. That spray booth is like something I'd see in a dream. Wow!
 

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Great set of bunk beds, John! Are the original 'bats' still there? That is a happy boy! Thanks for sharing.
 

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Looks cherry! :)
Nicely joined and finished; should last a lifetime!
 

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John, great work. Your son can just call them vampires bats when he gets older!
 

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Awesome job, John. Clean work.
 

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Love the through tenons - is this just for the stiles? I m guessing the rails are removable to take the bed apart? Where did you get the plans? Looks great!

- Matt Ramsey
Yes, head and foot boards only. The stiles that connect are bolted in for removal/bed dis-assembly.

Great set of bunk beds, John! Are the original bats still there? That is a happy boy! Thanks for sharing.

- CFrye
Yes, those are the ones I tried to fix. I am not sure if I made them better though.
 

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That is really cool. Great job
 

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That is a lot of work, well done. I like the inlays a lot.
 

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Turned out great, should be a great addition.
 

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Great job John. They look really nice.
 

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Holy cow, great build John! Awesome touches with the inlays.
 

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It came out beautifully John. I think the butterflies are absolutely fantastic! Sorry that you don't quite see them as such.
 

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The dude is mighty stoked for his new bed. Solid work brother.
 

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Love the finish. Nice and smooth and still gives the cherry some nice color even though it's water based. Must have been a real treat to spray at work and you did an excellent job.
 

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Thanks all

It came out beautifully John. I think the butterflies are absolutely fantastic! Sorry that you don t quite see them as such.

- AnthonyReed
Its just the first set that bug me. The ones by the ladder in the last pic. (sorry about the poor focus) They went from looking like bats to looking like flowers. But overall it was a good learning experience and I am happy with that.
 

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Really nice how you rich the bed with those inlays!
 

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Wow, real nice. The inlays came out great and the tenons are sweet! Well done.
 

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That's the best kid-proof bunk bed I've ever seen. Well done sir!
 
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