| Project by Dusty | posted 2038 days ago | 1753 views | 2 times favorited | 12 comments | ![]() |
![]() |
Many of you followed my blog “This Old Crack House” and know for the most part it is furnished with Mission and Arts and Crafts Style furniture.
Although these styles are my personal favorites , I have ,and do build several other furniture styles.
I thought I would share a few of the pieces I have built and have in various rooms in “This Old Crack House”.
This piece is in one of the spare guest bedrooms.
The head and foot board posts are solid oak and are 4×4 with walnut inlays.
This walnut and oak bed was designed and built by me using only mortise and tenon joints. I also used wood plugs and other “old craft” methods to construct the bed. The wood dowels are drilled threw the mortises and sanded flat.
This piece is a third generation piece. In other words it is the third one I built improving the design along the way each time.
I also have built matching nightstands and armoire to go with the bed.
The finish is natural.
The piece is a large bold piece but breaks down easily in four pieces so it can be moved with little or no problem.
-- Dusty
| Pin It |


























12 comments so far
Karson
home | projects | blog
34394 posts in 2596 days
#1 posted 2038 days ago
Very nice Dusty. I like the colors of this bed.
-- I've been blessed with a father who liked to tinker in wood, and a wife who lets me tinker in wood. Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †
Dadoo
home | projects | blog
1763 posts in 2186 days
#2 posted 2038 days ago
Yeah, me too. Looks real warm and inviting.
-- Bob Vila would be so proud of you!
TomFran
home | projects | blog
2934 posts in 2190 days
#3 posted 2038 days ago
Very precise looking work!
-- Tom, Surfside Beach, SC - Romans 8:28
Chip
home | projects | blog
1904 posts in 2288 days
#4 posted 2038 days ago
Beautiful piece of woodworking as always Dusty. You are amazing. Great design, great wood and great craftsmanship. Just great, great, great.
-- Better to say nothing and be thought the fool... then to speak and erase all doubt!
Dusty
home | projects | blog
785 posts in 2352 days
#5 posted 2038 days ago
Thanks guys.
This bed has the look and feel of a very solid piece of furniture. I agree with your when you say it is very warm feeling.
I did encounter several design challenges when building this piece. Hence the reason for ” third generation” design with building three of them
Here is the first one :
This is the second one.
close up of the foot board of the second one
As you can see I changed the design most notably by adding a center post in both the head and foot board.
Because of the weight of the over size 6 quarter plus walnut and oak that was mortise and tenon I was finding it not only bind but tended to sage and I was worried over time this would be totally inadequate.
I also changed the heights of both the head and foot boards. The first one the foot board when both a box spring and mattress was placed on the frame it came level to the top of the foot board and didn’t look balanced.
In the case of the head board you could see day light or a wall and that didn’t have the appearance I wanted either.
The biggest change from the first to the third bed was I used mortise and tenon rather than tounge and grove for the “vertical slats”.
This solved a host of other problems.
I also was able to build a much stronger bed by extending the tenons of the side boards into the 4×4 solid oak with walnut inlay bed posts.
An interesting side note to this is I gave the first bed to a friend for helping me various times in my shop and because he had fallen on hard times and couldn’t afford a bed at the time. To this day that bed is his favorite piece and still functioning with out a problem regarding what I was concerned about happening.
The second bed I sold to another buddy for only the cost of material and to this day is in use and is fully functional. His wife claims she will get rid of my buddy ( her husband) before she parts with this bed.
-- Dusty
cheller
home | projects | blog
254 posts in 2305 days
#6 posted 2037 days ago
Very nice looking bed. It certainly looks sturdy.
-- Chelle http://artsgranddaughter.blogspot.com
dennis mitchell
home | projects | blog
3994 posts in 2510 days
#7 posted 2037 days ago
Good solid woodworking!
cajunpen
home | projects | blog
12942 posts in 2261 days
#8 posted 2037 days ago
Your work is incredible Dusty – thanks for sharing the work and story.
-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/
Grumpy
home | projects | blog
17941 posts in 2047 days
#9 posted 2037 days ago
Beaut color contrast Dusty, great piece of furniture.
-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python
Dusty
home | projects | blog
785 posts in 2352 days
#10 posted 2035 days ago
Grumpy,
Thanks for the comment.
I admit this is one of my favorite pieces that I have designed and built in my collection. The bed has the feel a bold strong piece.
It really should be in an larger room , but I have other period pieces reserved for those.
Ii guess I will just have to add on to “This Old Crack House”, I guess.
:)
-- Dusty
Jon3
home | projects | blog
487 posts in 2301 days
#11 posted 2029 days ago
Very nice! Dying to see more This Old Mold House too!
Dusty
home | projects | blog
785 posts in 2352 days
#12 posted 2029 days ago
Jon3
Thank you. I hope to have the next chapter of “This Old Mold house” posted by or some time this weekend.
-- Dusty
Have your say...