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You are visiting: Home » Decorating/DIY » Create Your Decor » Mastering the Master Bedroom {the Handmade Bed}

Mastering the Master Bedroom {the Handmade Bed}

by Lindsay Ballard on August 18, 2011 39 Comments

The Top Secret Lumber Yard Project is finally complete, and my husband, Tom, is owed a huge round of applause.  He worked his rear off in the 105+ degree Texas heat so that my dream bed would become a reality.

In all of my adult life, I’ve never had a real bed.  When I was single and on my own, I had a mattress, box spring, and bed frame.  When we got married, the tradition continued.  Even when I made my old toile headboard, it was simply attached to the metal bed frame.  Back in July, I did my best princess pout, and he agreed to build me a real bed.  I have a REALLY good princess pout, y’all.

We found building plans online at Ana White’s website, but Tom did quite a bit of redesigning to make it how we wanted it.  He’s actually going to do a post here soon explaining his tweaks for anyone who is interested.  Tom did all of the designing, measuring, cutting and attaching.  I did all of the sanding, painting, glazing and polying.  This bed is truly handmade.

The grey stain + black glaze was the perfect combination for this room, and it really plays into my modern vintage style.  This is the first piece of furniture I have ever stained, and it was both harder and easier than I imagined.  I’ll soon be sharing with you what I learned in the process.

In the meantime, I’ve put the brown nightstands on notice: they are next items on the chopping block.  Or painting tarp.

Have you ever built a piece of furniture?  Do you ever plan to?

P.S. Every gorgeous bed deserves a great mattress.  Join Sleep Number for a Sleep Better chat on Facebook and Twitter tonight from 7-8 CST.  One lucky participant is going to win a Sleep Number bed!  Sign up here so they’ll know to be expecting you.

About Lindsay Ballard

Lindsay Ballard is a former college mascot turned political geek turned roller derby playing, DIY fanatic.

Lindsay chronicles her projects, design ideas, and lifestyle tips here at Makely, where she shares tutorials and inspiration. Her DIY designs are bold and graphic, while her spirit is fun and full of color.

Lindsay lives outside of Austin, Texas with her husband (Tom), children (Zack and Emma), and dogs (Duke and Jill). She plays roller derby for the Rockin' City Rollergirls out of Round Rock, Texas.

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Comments

  1. Emily@remodelingthislife says

    August 18, 2011 at 7:18 am

    Wowie, I love it! I love the whole room. You really are amazing, Linds!

    Reply
  2. Kristi says

    August 18, 2011 at 7:30 am

    Gorgeous Lindsay! You and Tom did a great job.

    Reply
  3. cassie says

    August 18, 2011 at 7:33 am

    love it! i absolutely love the more rustic edge it adds, especially next to the modern chevron wall- looks great!

    Reply
  4. Kara says

    August 18, 2011 at 8:00 am

    It’s perfect. Can’t wait for your tips on staining. I’ve been wanting to use a gray stain on my damaged dining room table.

    Reply
  5. Erica says

    August 18, 2011 at 8:02 am

    The bed looks great!

    My husband built our bed as well. He built it about 3 years ago right before we bought our first house. Therefore the color of the bed isn’t exactly what I want but I finally got him to let me stain it darker. I wrote about it a couple weeks ago here beautyfortheeye.blogspot.com/2011/07/i-love-my-husband.html

    Reply
  6. Elina Katsman says

    August 18, 2011 at 8:17 am

    I’ve been begging my hubby to let me build our own bed…..I think after seeing this he might just say YES…You are awesome!!!

    Reply
  7. Gina (Lady Goats) says

    August 18, 2011 at 8:36 am

    Looks great! Is that one of Ana’s plans?

    I have been going through a process over the past year trying to create a hand-built home. I’m *ALMOST* halfway there (if my hubby would help, it would go SO much faster!). However, I think you REALLY lucked out. Our master bedroom is VERY low on the to-do list.

    I haven’t had one since I was a teen, so I’m excited for you to have a bed!

    Reply
  8. Holly says

    August 18, 2011 at 9:17 am

    GREAT job! It looks so fantastic–and perfect for your room! I am in the process of building my own harvest table–read, I have the materials and need to start assembling!

    Reply
  9. Anna says

    August 18, 2011 at 9:22 am

    We built two twin-sized beds for our twins. 🙂

    http://thelawrencegirls.blogspot.com/2010/10/sweet-dreams.html

    I would love to do a King size Farmhouse bed for our Master, but I have just settled into the Back to School grind, and I feel like my “to do” list is a mile long. Yours is beautiful! I love the color choice for paint and stain, too.

    Are the plans from Ana White? Love her stuff!

    Reply
  10. Julie says

    August 18, 2011 at 9:22 am

    Looks amazing L!!! Your poor husband probably wants to kill you now, like mine….

    Reply
  11. Bri says

    August 18, 2011 at 9:35 am

    Had to look back at to see the before, and compare. Nice work!

    Reply
  12. Cindy M says

    August 18, 2011 at 9:47 am

    Wow!! That is one Gorgeous Bed!! Your Husband is very talented!
    I can’t wait to see the complete bedroom reveal! I’m sure it will be AMAZING! 🙂

    Reply
  13. Sylvia says

    August 18, 2011 at 9:51 am

    Great job! Love the stain/glazing combination. Perfect for the room.

    Reply
  14. Angie @ The Country Chic Cottage says

    August 18, 2011 at 11:16 am

    Love it Lindsay!! The bed, the color, all of it!! Amazing job!! Can’t wait for all the deets!!

    Reply
  15. Kristie says

    August 18, 2011 at 11:34 am

    Amazing! I wish I was as handy as your hubby. I’m totally coveting your bed.

    Reply
  16. Laree @ Ever Heard of Euless says

    August 18, 2011 at 11:44 am

    It looks great! I really wanted to make her farmhouse bed (we’ve had just the metal frame for 8 years), but my hubby hated it. So instead, we found a bed for about the same price that we both loved. It works!

    Reply
  17. Ashley Ez says

    August 18, 2011 at 1:06 pm

    That is GORGEOUS! And I think that it would be a great bed to upholster too.

    Reply
  18. Christina says

    August 18, 2011 at 8:54 pm

    Looks Great!!

    Reply
  19. Laura :) says

    August 18, 2011 at 9:39 pm

    Yowza!!! That is lovely!!! I love the design and the color is just perfect!!! It suits the room so well!!! Nice job!!!

    I’ve made some furniture with my dad. He’s got an awesome garage of tools and gadgets and a lot of know-how and so we build things together and I love it!! My favorite was a large dollhouse I designed for my daughter for Christmas one year. My crude drawings became a sweet memory for us. 🙂

    Reply
  20. ESTELLE says

    August 22, 2011 at 9:49 pm

    SWEET, love, love, love the color…

    Reply
  21. Kendra says

    September 13, 2011 at 2:43 pm

    My husband just built us that same bed…LOVE it!!!

    Reply
  22. Melissa says

    October 14, 2011 at 2:41 pm

    LOVE LOVE LOVE!!! How did you come to know the deminsions of the bed? Do you mind sharing?

    Reply
  23. Gwen@theboldabode says

    October 18, 2011 at 3:17 pm

    Yo, Lindsay! I just made a bed. Out of a reclaimed-Truss… OK..It’s not a real bed, yet. We still have that dorm budget metal frame, but I still have pieces of the Truss that will, some day, in butween cleanin out the litter box and beating Algebra into my son’s head, and sweepin up Monster Black Lab hair, and nursing my poor lego stabbed feet…oh, I forgot what I was trying to say… Oh, WILL become a bed…

    Man, now I guess, I’ma have to follow you so I can come back and stalk~~umm, comment on yo’ awesomeness some more…

    Reply
  24. Debra says

    October 19, 2011 at 6:53 am

    Beautiful Progress. I love Christopher Lowell too. I must be really old because I remember him in his first show “Interior Motives” . Love your blog

    Reply
  25. Marge Fredrickson says

    January 1, 2012 at 6:15 pm

    Beautiful work! Do you have any suggestions for a wall unit that is behind our bed? We had it made to fit the entire wall behind our bed. I love the piece but the wood is oak and the stain is dark. Any suggestion to bring it up to date
    Thanks,
    Marge Fredrickson

    Reply
  26. Tiffany Boren says

    January 17, 2012 at 8:57 pm

    I just stumbled upon your gem of a blog the other day. I’m looking for tips on how to paint some cabinets I scored, for next to nothing on Craigslist (thank you very much!), that have found a comfy home in my garage for the last 6 months and are crying out for a makeover which will allow them to adorn our laundry room walls. 🙂 Low and behold, I find this post about staining and I do believe, my fair lady of Texas, you have converted me! I’ll be hitting the home improvement store tomorrow for some supplies to get these puppies prepped and ready for my dear sweet husband to hang after he returns from some good ole’ Army training. He always loves to come home to my new “creations”. Yeah..he’s my biggest fan. 🙂

    Thanks for all the helpful tips and gorgeous pics of all your hard work. YAY for husband and wife DIY teams!

    Reply
  27. Artsy Nifer says

    March 8, 2012 at 10:42 pm

    I’m in love with your blog! So inspirational. Can’t wait to start my projects I’ve been planning. xx

    Reply
    • Lindsay says

      March 9, 2012 at 7:48 am

      Thank you so much!!

      Reply
  28. Megan says

    August 15, 2012 at 10:31 am

    do you have your version of the bed on here? I LOVE your version better than the original from the other website!

    Reply
  29. Heidi says

    October 5, 2012 at 8:17 am

    Can you please share the brand/colors/process you used to stain your bed? We are building Ana’s fancy X desk and I really want this grey black finish you have going!

    Reply
  30. Sarah says

    February 21, 2013 at 9:24 pm

    Did your husband ever put up the adjustments he made to this bed…

    Reply
    • Lindsay Ballard says

      February 24, 2013 at 3:52 pm

      No! That loser. 🙂 I’ll check and see if he still has that info. I’m scared that it was on my computer that crashed.

      Reply
      • Kim says

        September 3, 2014 at 11:14 am

        Dying for the tweaks he made! Love that side railings were added!!

        Reply
  31. Marisa McCroskey says

    August 15, 2013 at 8:48 pm

    WOW. I absolutely LOVE your bedroom makeover! I have been “clinicly obsessed” (lol) w chevron for a while now, I just can’t get enough of it. The colors you chose are perfect and compliment each other beautifully:-) This room is fabulous!!

    Reply
  32. Kathryn says

    January 28, 2014 at 8:43 am

    Hi Lindsay! Wondering what combination of Grey Stain and Black Glaze you used to achieve that color?? Thanks!

    Reply
  33. Kaleena says

    February 26, 2014 at 12:59 am

    Just wondering if your husband ever did a post explaining the tweeks he did to your bed. I’m planning on building this bed in the next couple months and it’s so hard to decide exactly how to do it! So many little changes you can make. 🙂

    Reply
  34. Jessica says

    May 9, 2015 at 12:22 am

    Looking to see if your husband was able to put up the explanation for the bed frame I love it and want one!!!

    Reply
  35. Carrie says

    June 28, 2016 at 9:00 pm

    Where are the staining and glazing colors and directions. Please reply. Thank you so much! I love it!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. {31 Days to an Eclectic Home} Day 18 - Layering Your Room - Makely School for Girls says:
    April 25, 2013 at 6:00 am

    […] Well, there you have it.  As dated as it seems, I generally follow this formula when putting together a room.  For my master bedroom, I am finally on Level 6.  I’m hoping to be finished by the end of this month and will be able to bring you the big reveal.  For those who have been reading along for a while, I think you will be very surprised with how far it’s come since the last time I shared my progress. […]

    Reply

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About Makely

Lindsay Ballard is a former college mascot turned political geek turned roller derby playing, DIY fanatic.

Lindsay chronicles her projects, design ideas, and lifestyle tips here at Makely, where she shares tutorials and inspiration. Her DIY designs are bold and graphic, while her spirit is fun and full of color.

Lindsay lives outside of Austin, Texas with her husband (Tom), children (Zack and Emma), and dogs (Duke and Jill). She plays roller derby for the Rockin' City Rollergirls out of Round Rock, Texas.


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