And guess what?
I built it myself.
My inspiration was the Gustavian Bed from Vivaterra.
I've seen several DIY versions around the web, so I knew I could have my own for much, much less than the $2000 Vivaterra price tag.
Now, mine is not complete bed, only a headboard, but at some time in the future I may also make the wooden frame.
I found a great deal of help from the Ana White Fancy Arched Bed plans.
Her plans are for a queen sized bed and my bed is a king, so I had to make some changes.
At Lowes, when looking for wood, I found some great looking rough cut pine boards that I knew would give me that reclaimed wood look I was going for. 11 1x8 boards joined using my kreg jig gave me a finished width of almost 80".
Now that it is in place, I am not sure I'm in love with the finished shape. I think the center arch is a bit high and reminds me of a pregnant belly. I may have to drag the beast back out to the garage and take a few inches off the center portion.
I'm happy with the finished look of the wood. I stained the boards before putting them together so there wouldn't be any unfinished wood peeking through gaps. Before staining I coated each board with a prestain conditioner. Pine tends to take stain differently in different places, giving a streaky finsihed look. The conditioner helps eliminate streaking.
When I laid my boards out on the garage floor, I took care to alternate the grain. Why? because Ana White says to and she's the expert. If you look at the ends of the boards notice the rings. I lined them up alternating the direction of the rings.
I drew the arch pattern on my boards with chalk and Mitch used my chalk lines to make a pattern on half of the headboard. He then turned the pattern over and traced it onto the other half.
A jig saw was used to cut the arch design out.
I sanded the raw edges and applied stain.
For a finish coat, I used Waterlox in satin finish, just because I had some in the cabinet.
I'm happy to finally have a headboard, after being without one for several years and I'm even happier that I did it myself for less than $100.
