You Serious Clark?

If you've kept up with my projects thus far, you know that most have been small-ish in size (but not necessarily in scope). Well, now I have my first large project under my belt and wanted to share it with you, my fine readers. All three of you. I'll give you a hint, it's a custom daybed. I'm not sure if that is supposed to be one word or two, but if I'm too lazy to google it, then I'm too lazy to type a space, so it will remain one word. This particular project has been a beast, having taken a great deal of time and effort, but one that will pay off down the road. You see, it is for Court's parents' river cabin, and thus, something that Campbell and any future little Conaways/Eisons will be using for what I hope will be generations. At least that's the plan. Here's to hoping it's not like Clark's turkey in Christmas Vacation...something that looks great on the outside, but upon closer inspection, falls apart faster than Charlie Sheen's career.


There's an open loft area in the cabin that includes a dormer window cut-out. That was the future home of said daybed, and it measured just 62" wide. A standard twin mattress is 75", so if you're over 5 feet tall, you are too tall to ride this ride. I found the building plan on Ana-White.com, which is pretty awesome if you like DIY projects, because she provides detailed plans for just about any furniture project you could imagine...for free. I adjusted the plans to make it fit the space, and a few trips to Lowe's and a couple of weeks later, I had three identical boxes that looked like this:

without trim on left, with trim on right

The daybed is made up of three identical boxes that do two things: 1) provide storage cubbies, and 2) make it easier to move and fit through door frames. Put them together and you get this:

So, here is the unfinished naked base for the daybed. Notice the lonely cabinet door waiting for his brother on the right. If you're Fred Flintstone, this would be more than comfortable, but plans are in place to have a custom-sized cushion made to go on top. Wanted the daybed to fit in with the rustic decor, so I used the same stain that was used on all of the house trim to finish it off and here is the end result:

Looks like a built-in and (once the cushion is added) functions as a couch/bed with storage.