Soooooo, this was another “me” project. I recently moved into a newer, smaller place that didn’t require the need for an actual kitchen table. The kitchen countertop warranted the need for a high-top chair or stool in order to be purposeful. So I came up with a few variations and ultimately settled upon this design. I originally set out to create something simple while still looking complicated. The goal was to create a design that was easy to make, yet complicated to the untrained eye…..if you know what I mean. This was the winner. The seat and foot rungs are made of solid maple and the legs are made from an inner core of pine, skinned with an outer layer of 0.125″ Baltic Birch plywood.

Concept Drawing

Concept Drawing

Concept Drawing

Concept Drawing

Concept Drawing

Scale model complete, time for the actual build!

Legs have been fabricated…

Edges are being routed for joining…

Testing the fit of the legs…

Prepping for paint…

First coat of paint!

Adding the leg rungs…

Finished!!!

This is one of those projects that I should have completed several years ago, but never found the time to do it due to other things getting in the way….like life. When I was in college, I designed and built my first bed out of oak veneered plywood. 10 years later, I would ultimately scrap the piece out of embarrassment and vowed to design another bed that had anything but 90º corners. I was lucky enough to have acquired some solid cherry from my grandfather, who recently passed. I used most of it for the main structure of the bed but given the smooth arc of the headboard, I would need to source another material. I decided on 1/8″ cherry veneer plywood. The bed features a full length LED light strip into the headboard that not only serves as a design element but also a reading light. An early concept I was considering incorporated an LED light strip on the edge of the headboard. (See concept pics) This never came to fruition as I got tired of the bed taking up so much room in the shop and needed to get it out as quickly as possible…..I still like the idea and plan to use it in another project. I also threw in an outlet and USB charger into the headboard for good measure. A small inlay hides the electrical when not in use.

This material had been sitting in a storage shed for nearly 30 years…

Unfortunately, I uncovered some details of the wood that weren’t visible till they had been run through the planer. Surprise!

The feet and cross pieces are all made of solid cherry. Time to scrap my existing box spring!

The headboard isn’t all that complex. A few supports for strength before skinning it with cherry veneer.

Special clamping cauls are used to clamp the veneer in place while the glue dries.

Experimenting with warm and cool LED lighting…

Only the two outside feet are made of full length, solid cherry. The interior feet are caps that match the two ends.