Craftsman Bed

I made two of these beds, one for my oldest daughter and her husband (as a wedding gift) and one for my wife and me. The inspiration for this project was “In Craftsman Style, A Craftsman’s Bed” by Rich Preiss and the Mission Bed plan by American Furniture Design.

I used the Mission Bed plan for the overall design of the bed, with additional inspiration from the book In Craftsman Style. The plan had half the number of spindles, with wider spacing between them. I wanted the look from the book, so I doubled the number of spindles from the plan. Additionally I added a long corbel to each leg.

The bed was constructed of quartersawn white oak using traditional mortise and tenon construction, with the tenons pinned and covered with raised ebony plugs (with their edges gently radiused back to the surrounding wood). There are 39 spindles on both the head board and the foot board. The only hardware on the bed is the steel bed rail fasteners, which were mortised into the legs and bed rail and fastened with screws.

Each leg features quartersawn figuring on all four sides, accomplished by assembling the four boards with a locking profile.

The finish color was achieved by dying the wood (first amber yellow and then reddish brown), applying a stain and then three coats of Waterlox satin finish.