My wife was turning 30. I wanted to do something BIG. Something I had never done before. To push the limits of my woodworking skills. As in... I had never really built anything before.
She had a picture of a West Elm daybed on her vision board and this thing was pretty expensive. It only had a single twin bed but we needed to have more for guests.
I got to work drawing up ideas on graph paper. I finally settled on a 3D pattern design that I liked. I added the complexity of making it a trundle bed. So I wanted the bottom mattress to slide in and out. This project was certainly beyond my expertise but I was ready for the challenge. There was just 1 problem.
I wanted to keep this a secret and all I had was a 10 X 12 shed in the back yard. It was February in Colorado so it got cold at night. I decided to do all my cutting outside on the patio during the day while she was working. Then I would do the gluing, sanding and assembly in the shed at night.
Here's a series of photos documenting the build and progress over time.
. 
. 
. 
. 
. 
The Big Reveal
Fast Forward to 2018
My daughter was ready for a big girl bed and I refinished it white. It was great to be able to pass this onto my daughter who now gets to enjoy it and has a trundle bed for sleepovers. To this day, it still surprises me that I built this thing.
This project was what gave me the confidence to now tackle just about anything. I built this entire thing with a cheap table saw, old circular saw, old miter saw, borrowed jointer, drill and orbital sander, and minimal prior woodworking experience.
If you believe you CAN or you believe you CAN'T, you are right.
If you approach a project as a learning experience, make it a gift, work under a deadline, these are all ingredients that will help you succeed.
