Friends.
Progress is sllllloooowww. It’s so fun when you’re starting a new project – a list of fun things to buy and ideas are flowing like crazy…. and of course, finishing the project is awesome ’cause, duh, you’re done. But that darn middle part… the purgatory of DIY. Lots of repetition, lots of boring muscle/grunt work and not much celebrating on the daily.
That’s where I’m at. And now you get to share in my, er, fun. Remember this dope plan I had for TRIPLE BUNK BEDS!?!? Well at least my excitement in the project as a whole is still 1000%!
Measuring, and more measuring… figuring that sh!t out takes time. Loads of it.
Honestly it took more than a minute to figure everything out. I HIGHLY recommend making sure your pieces will fit through the door (hallway in my case) before going all in. We did, luckily, and yup, it didn’t fit. But at least it wasn’t a full on catastrophe and just a minor frustration.
I decided to use bunk bed directions from Ana White’s website as a guide and modify from there. I’ll get more into specifics later if you’re interested!
How about a handy trick? Who doesn’t need those, right?!
When you’re patching holes with stainable wood filler, you need a seamless result or the stain will totally give you away. Not cool.
Okay, so fill the hole. Easy. Let it dry a bit. Easy. And then take a damp cloth and “clean” the patch, by rubbing it as you would gunk on the wall. Not too hard, not too soft.
Cool, huh?! If you’ve been sanding the heck out of all your wood to get it perfectly even, then you can thank me on the next project!
For the actual playhouse area, (after SO much debate) I decided to scour the city for pallets and use beat up wood planks for the siding. I was first considering using plywood, (as you may have deduced from this post awhile back) which would have been a lot less time consuming, but the sides of the playhouse are actually more than 6 x 6ft so I would have had to cut pieces and have seams… I wasn’t loving that idea much.
Anyhoo, if you decide to go the pallet route on a project, you’ll want to look for this symbol, which means it was heat treated and not chemically treated.
Taking them apart, removing the nails and sanding is an absolute pleasure. Not! But hey, they’re free.
I estimate that I’ll need about 120 sqft. That’s A LOT of pallets to haul home. Right now I’ve managed to find 13, and I think I’ll need at least another 5 more. Where have I found them? Well, grocery stores have been the nicest to me, let’s say! And a few others… by dumpsters. It’s not the most glamorous work I’ve done, that’s for sure!
After sanding with 60 grit (I still want that roughish look) I’ve been sealing them with Minwax Helmsman in satin, which is water based and easy to clean.
As for the beds, well I’m in the process of using my paint sprayer to put 3 coats on each side of Cabot premium wood finish, in Stormy Teal. I LOVE this stuff! It dries into a tough lacquer finish!!
For now, that’s all she wrote!! Lots of sanding, lots of building, lots of going to Lowes. Your basic equation for a good time in my book.
I’m saving my strength for the final push… a few more pallets, measuring and securing the slats, finishing up the paint and -Hold the phone!! (My son’s new favorite saying)- actually putting it together in the room.
Wait. Is that light I see?
Happy Creating!! Jessica
