R.C. Willey Inspired Bed Frame

When my amazing hubby and I first got married, he built us a bed frame. 

I loved it but we built it to be really high...like I mean he had to build me a stool just so I could get on it! It was fun, but when kids started coming into our lives..it just wasn't practical anymore. 

So we got ride of it. Since then we just had our bed on the standard metal bed frames. 

It has worked, but recently my hubby was ready for a change. 

We started looking at new bed frames online. It was so hard to choose. I am such a visual person so we decided to go down to R.C. Willey Furniture Store to check out some of the ones we liked online. I am so glad we did. Some of the ones I liked I hated in person! The man that was helping us took us over to a bed we didn't see online. I fell in LOVE with it the minute I saw it. It was so the style I am starting to like with being more into crafting and making things look old and worn. 

Here is what the bed looked like:

Go HERE to see it at R.C. Willey online.

This bed was on sale for $649.99 in stores.

We decided not to buy it right away and think about it, even though I absolutely loved it. 

As we were driving home and the next few days after, my hubby had a great idea that

WE COULD MAKE THIS BED OURSELVES!!!

OK, so I was TOTALLY scared when he talked to me about this. I have never worked with upholstery  before so I was thinking..."How in the world are we going to do it?!?" 

But my AMAZING HUBBY will take on any challenge to make something himself. He loves to work with wood so he definitely had that part down.

Materials Used:

The First step was to go to a few different stores and price all the materials out. 

We ended up spending $230.00 to make it!

HUGE difference from the one at the store!

1-We bought all the wood, hardware and screws at Home Depot. The sizes we used for the wood are as follows:

-6 / 4"x4"x8'

-2/ 2"x8"x8'

-1/ 2"x6"x6'

-3/ 2"x4"x6' {cross beams under mattress}

-1/ 1/4" standard plywood {4'x8'}

Hardware:

10/ 2"x4" Fence Brackets 

16/ 90 Degree Corner Brackets {2" Wide}

8/ 90  Degree Corner Brackets {1 1/4" Wide}

1/ Natural Wood Puddy

2- We also bought the foam for the head and foot board at Home Depot. We looked at Joanne's for this and it was going to cost us $30.00 PER YARD! Yikes!! Them my hubby saved the day. He remember that Home Depot has camping mattresses that are foam! Genius!! This was $20.00 for the hole mattress and we were able to make it with just one! 

3- We bought a Whitewash Wood Stain at Home Depot as well as a Semi-Gloss Polycrylic, which is just a clear coat to protect it.

4- You could do any material you like for the upholstery...this is a great way to customize it for your style and bedroom colors! We chose to go with a Black Suede Material. We wanted a good contrast on it. This was a great way to customize it to us! We got 2 yards of this. 

5- We bought Satin Silver Upholstery tacks at Joann's as well. This matched the hardware in our room on our dresser. You could do any type of tack that matches what you are doing. 

How We Made It:

The first step was to make the upholstered part on the head board and foot board. This way my hubby could get the dimensions exactly right so they will fit snug into the wood.

My hubby cut the foam to fit the the sizes of the head board and foot board from the plywood we got. We had Home Depot cut these to the sizes we needed so we didn't have to deal with that at home. They will give you 2 cuts for free! We got the dimensions off the website of this bed so we could use that as a guide, go HERE to see that.

Then we hot glued those to the boards.

{This is the foot board. It was pieced together with the foam so we only had to use 1 piece of foam to keep the cost down. It didn't have to be pretty since we covered it up! The head board has 1 solid piece of foam on it.}


Next, my hubby cut the edges of the foam at an angle with a knife. This is so when we covered it, it wasn't bulky at the edges and also so we could get the upholstery tacks in.

Then comes the fun part...covering these bad boys!!
We laid them out on the fabric we got and cut out just wider then the boards, about 2 inches. We then turned those upside down and my hubby knelt on it so the foam would be squished. We wanted a tight look to it so it wasn't all lose and gappy looking. It was a little tricky doing this part because we couldn't do it too tight or we would be able to get the tacks in the front very well so it still needs to be a little loose. We put a few tacks here and there to hold that in place. 

Then we put the tacks in by hand around the front of the boards. This took a little while so we could get them spaced just right. We almost bought a tack strip roll, which would have been extremely easier, but they didn't have the silver color I wanted so we did it by hand.

We put the corners in first and then did in between. We were able to space them 2 inches apart.

Here is the foot board all done:

Now, my hubby was able to get started on the bed frame knowing the right measurements. 

Like I said before, he used the measurements that are found on the website where the original bed is found, which can be seen HERE. He has been doing wood working for about 20 years, so he used his mad skills to make the bed. 

When he got done making it, he used wood puddy to fill in the screw holes and a few other places it needed it. We got a color to match the wood color. 

Here it is all put together:

**Please ignore the messy garage!

Next, we moved it out of the garage onto the driveway so I could sand it. I used an electric hand sander. We also prepped the garage for painting while it was out.

After I got done sanding, we brushed off all the saw dust from sanding. Then we moved the bed back into the garage.

Then came the fun part...PAINTING!!! We used a regular paint brush to paint it on and only put 1 coat on.
This is the paint we used:

After the paint dried all the way, I used the electric sander again to sand the corners, edges and a little bit here and there throughout the bed to get that old worn look. 

After that was done I wiped the saw dust off. Then I got to the staining!

To stain it I used a staining sponge that we bout at Home Depot. A rag would work just fine for this. I rubbed it on and then used a white rag to wipe it off so it wouldn't turn the white paint too dark. I had to do this in little segments or I wouldn't be able to wipe the excess off that I didn't want there. You only need a little bit of stain on the rag. A little bit goes a long way when doing small segments like this. 

I used the color Early American to stain it.

I let that dry for a couple of hours.

Next, I put on 2 coats of the clear paint we got. I put it on with a regular paint brush.

We let that dry over night so it was good and dry. Then my hubby attached the upholstery to the head board and foot board using corner brackets. 

Then came the most exciting part...

PUTTING IT TOGETHER IN OUR ROOM!!!

Here it is all done and put together:

{I apologize for the pictures. We are living with my parents right now so our room is not very big and it was hard to get a picture of the full bed. I promise it is Gorgeous though!}

In the beginning this was a big challenge to take on, but I am So Happy with the outcome. I love that we were able to make it customized to our room and taste! 

The next step is going to be making new pillows for the bed and redoing some room decor! 

I can't wait for it to be all done!

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