Walnut & Zebrawood Bed

[Clark Harbaugh]

I made the mistake of taking the wife with me to the wood store one day. She was looking around and decided that she wanted a bed with walnut and zebrawood. Man I love that woman:)...

Any way, this is actually my first project to go from design to completion. I've built several other pieces from plans, but the is my first original. I welcome any feedback on it.

The walnut portions are all solid. It was challenging finding 16/4 walnut for the legs, but Groff and Groff came through at a decent price delivered. The zebrawood is veneer on 1/2" walnut plywood, and for the trim I ebonized some scrap walnut. I tried ebonizing some oak I had laying around, but the heavy grain didnt look right to me. The walnut came out perfect; mostly black with a hint of the brown showing through.

Now she wants matching night stands. Back to the wood store...

[Pat Zabrocki]

That looks really cool! I like the way the zebrawood and walnut work together.
Pat

[Van Huskey]

Very very nice. Zebrano is one of my wifes favorite woods.

[Peter Aeschliman]

great job matching the grain on the panels! Looks awesome!

[Lex Boegen]

I really like the combination of woods. Of course, after the nightstands are built you'll have to make a matching dresser and mirror frame too. It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it! :D

[Matt Day]

Very nicely done! I like the two woods together.

Just a question - why did you veneer over walnut plywood instead of MDF or the like?

[Clarence Miller]

truly an heirloom masterpiece, fantastic.

[Derek Voigt]

That turned out great. I showed it to my wife and she told me to make one... maybe in my next house...

[gary Zimmel]

The walnut and zebra wood look great together.
Nice work Clark. Looking forward to seeing the night stands....
Can't beat when the boss is giving the thumbs up to buy more wood!

[Jeff Monson]

Very nice, I like the 2 woods together, nice design also. 16/4 walnut was a great choice for the legs, I dont like looking at glue-up lines on legs.

[Ted Calver]

Now that's a sturdy bed...and good looking too!! Can't tell how you joined the sides to the ends. Did you use brackets or miters or??

[Glenn Lewis]

great job matching the grain on the panels! Looks awesome!

I agree. That's one of those things I would forget to do, which makes me appreciate it more when people take the time to do it right... Beautiful.

[Clark Harbaugh]

Very nicely done! I like the two woods together.

Just a question - why did you veneer over walnut plywood instead of MDF or the like?


I wanted to make sure the back side had walnut, even though it isn't visible. Just one of those details I was picky about. The walnut ply was MDF core, though, to reduce any movement.

[Clark Harbaugh]

Now that's a sturdy bed...and good looking too!! Can't tell how you joined the sides to the ends. Did you use brackets or miters or??


For the rail attachment, I used the new hardware kits Rockler has. I searched the net for any method that I thought would be sturdy, and this seemed the best. For the bulk and size of the bed, I used three on each corner. It may be over kill, but it will never move or rock...

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=25449&filter=bed%20rail

[Clark Harbaugh]

great job matching the grain on the panels! Looks awesome!


Thanks. This was the only thing I wish I would have done different. I purposefully kept the grain consistant through the panels, however I wish I would have reversed one of the headboard panels. As it is now, both the top and the bottom sets are 'heavy' to the left side. Swapping one of them around would have made it balance visually a little better.

[Clark Harbaugh]

Thank you all for the kind words. I really do appreciate it!

[Steve knight]

very cool bed.

[Bryan Wuest]

I wish I would have reversed one of the headboard panels. As it is now, both the top and the bottom sets are 'heavy' to the left side. Swapping one of them around would have made it balance visually a little better.

I really don't like zebrawood so when I first read your post title I actually said out loud "why?!!" But after seeing it, I think it looks nice together. Unlike you however, I think the 'heavy' left looks good just the way it is.
Great Job!

[Dave MacArthur]

Great bed, love the two woods together and the heaviness of the walnut. Just like some others, I was going to ask why you used walnut ply--sounds like you wanted the part against the wall to have walnut back there.

I also thought about the grain directions on the panels, and the heavy look you mentioned, but I actually thought the footboard looks opposite the headboard, and so balances it... kind of "zooom" one way, then "zooom" the other is what I thought.

Really nice job!

[Jerome Hanby]

Wow, when I saw the title, my first thought is this is going to be weird. Now that I see it, I'm hoping my wife doesn't stumble across this post! Great job!

[Prashun Patel]

I made the mistake of taking the wife with me to the wood store one day. She was looking around and decided that she wanted a bed with walnut and zebrawood. Man I love that woman:).

Nicely played. Nicely executed.

[Phil Thien]

As it is now, both the top and the bottom sets are 'heavy' to the left side. Swapping one of them around would have made it balance visually a little better.

I guess it is just a matter of opinion (not sure if one way is right and the other wrong), but I find the current layout superior. My eye is drawn to the left side and then moves across the rest of the bed. I think if you swapped as you suggested, my eye would bounce back and forth.

[Joe A Faulkner]

The bed looks great. Very well done.

[Joe Shinall]

I guess it is just a matter of opinion (not sure if one way is right and the other wrong), but I find the current layout superior. My eye is drawn to the left side and then moves across the rest of the bed. I think if you swapped as you suggested, my eye would bounce back and forth.

+1 on that. I love it. Absolutely gorgeous Clark.

Made the mistake of taking my wife to the wood store with me one day too. She wanted end tables from Mahogany and curly Maple. Now if I can just get her into a store that sells Shelix heads for my planer!:rolleyes:

[Paul Snowden]

How did you rout the panels without exposing the ply?

[Clark Harbaugh]

How did you rout the panels without exposing the ply?
The panels are flat on the front, with a small 3/16" rabbit routed on the back. This allowed it to fit the grooves in the stiles and rails, yet kept plenty of wood left, both on the panel and on the rails/stiles, for strength.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Very nicely done Clark. I like the design and the wood combinations go together well!

[Wayne Morley]

Thanks. This was the only thing I wish I would have done different. I purposefully kept the grain consistant through the panels, however I wish I would have reversed one of the headboard panels. As it is now, both the top and the bottom sets are 'heavy' to the left side. Swapping one of them around would have made it balance visually a little better.

This is a very nice bed. The two woods look great together.

I agree about the grain in the headboard. After looking at it for a minute I had the same thought as you, so I did some photo editing to check it out. :D

[Don Bullock]

Great combination of wood and a super design. Congratulations.

[Bruce King]

Very nice!

Looks like lots of board feet $$$

[Hans Braul]

I'll pile on here - great job!

[Ben Arnott]

Very nice design and execution! I really like the contrast of these two woods. Thanks for sharing your labor of love.