Tuesday, January 3, 2012

2x4s are not 2 by 4...and other things I learned building a headboard.


This is what I've been up to.  Building a delicious headboard. (Idea from http://www.shelterness.com)

And I learned some things along the way. 
First and Most importantly: 2x4s are not 2'' by 4'' - if you have the guy at Lowe's cut your boards for you, and your plexiglass is already cut to fit your plans, this will be a crucial fact. 

A fact that I may have been the last human to learn. 

But real handywomen won't be deterred by such minor errors. :)

1. I built 57'' frame with cross boards out of 2x4s and secured it to the wall with anchors and L-brackets.



2. I put a layer of primer on the frame, and then lesson 2 made its point: If you buy boards that aren't really really straight, then you will have gaps when you try to fit things together.  The gaps were more pronounced with the primer on, so I filled them with a paint-able caulking.  Then she got a good layer of gloss white paint.


3. Each box got a strand of white LED lights, which I pinned to the wall and frame as needed so they wouldn't just be little tangled masses of lights at the bottom of each section. On the bottom left, where it would be hidden, but still easy to reach, I installed a push-button on/off switch.  



4. The plexiglass that I acquired (Thanks Brother! You are the best!) was the crystal clear variety.  I tried a few different products to make it frosty (opaqe-ize? to opaquen it?).  You can see in this picture how it started - the green bit down at the bottom.  I found a frost spray (designed to make glass look etched) was the best option.  All three sheets of plexi got 4 coats of spray and dried out overnight. It turned out even better than I expected!


5. I drilled guide holes for screws through the plexi and frame and attached with screws. (Third lesson learned: flat-head screws are a lot harder to tighten up with a drill than phillips head screws.  Just sayin'.) That's it!



It is perfectly awesome.  Bright enough to read with, but not garish. I kind of love it.  



Happy new year! 
My next growth experience will be some winterization stuff.  
What projects are you working on?








4 comments:

  1. You're HIRED!! That is the best headboard I've seen in a long long time!!

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  2. Way cute! Love the fun look! Nicely done.

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  3. You continue to amaze me! This is really cool!

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  4. That is amazing Laney! You really are becoming quite the handy woman! It's always so wonderful to learn how to do things that is usually considered a man's job. Now all you need are long tall reeds, or sticks with cherry blossoms to go on either side of the bed.

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