good fences make good beds

Yes. We built our bed (or more accurately, our headboard) out of fence posts.  I know what you're thinking, but we're really pleased with the results; so stay with me here.

I envisioned something tall, dark, and rustic for the headboard. Then, I thought to myself, what is more rustic (and cheaper!) than fence posts?! I know, Nick had a little trouble seeing my vision as well, but he humored me with a trip to the fencing department at Home Depot. He further indulged my plan by purchasing 13 fence posts for $2.55 a post. We had two of the posts cut down to 60 inches so that they could act as bracing for the structure of the bed.

Here's what we did:

1. We lined up the boards evenly and laid down our two supports.
2. Then Nick secured the boards, using four screws for each fence post. I stood by and made shadow puppets with the camera.
3. While at the HD we also purchased some L-shaped molding which Nick affixed to the fence with wood glue. (There was also some sanding following this step so that we wouldn't get any splinters in bed.)
4. Nick clamped the trim down so that it didn't pop up.
5. I stained and sealed this bad boy. (We used Minwax Dark Walnut, if you're curious.)

Then we stopped to admire our 1 hour of work/let the bed dry out for a couple of days:

Since we assembled it up on the roof, we had the great pleasure of carrying this massively heavy 5ft x 7ft beast downstairs to our apartment. Naturally, it wouldn't fit in the elevator. 

The final vision of my plan was to add sconces to the headboard, since our bedroom didn't allow room for bedside tables + lamps. I found a cheap pair at Ikea which Nick rewired to attach to the bed and hide the cords. (More on that later!)

So here's the finished project, from many angles:

Front and center

From Nick's side:

My side:

Up close and personal:

Love, love, love it! It's exactly what I had in mind and I'm so happy that we finally made a decision! 

I'll end this post with one final shot of us. Asleep. In our new bed.

JUST KIDDING! That would be weird.