James' Bed

I have been working on the boys' room and want to give them one that is not too "theme related" and something that would only last until their teen years.  What I mean by that is that if I had done it like train room or shark room, by the time they hit their teens, it will not be very cool any more. I was looking for something more grown up.

I saw this bed in the Lonny Magazine and was inspired.

I saw  these beds on Craiglist advertised for $100 each, I managed to bargain them down to $75. It is solid, made of maple wood veneer but it is ripped up and has marks in several places. I thought about restoring it to its original state but that is beyond me because some of the surfaces has gone below the veneer.

So I sanded them down and primed them over the weekend. However, when I went to paint them, I noticed the paint was wrinkling!!! I had to re-sand and repaint 3 times and thought it was because of the cold that the paint was not sticking. After all, the can did say, "Spray when temperatures are 50 deg F."  It was 32 F.

Then, I took the beds inside, lined the floor with a drop sheet and in front of the fireplace, spray painted the bed again. Did not help at all.

This is what the bed looks like, primed with gray primer. I actually like the colour of the primer more than the actual colour itself!

Now, I am beginning to wonder if it is due to the fact that I did not sand the whole bed. I could only sand the flat parts of the bed but found it hard to sand the spindle. I have to sand off the paint and reapply primer again to the bed. I also used latex based primer, which is a change from the oil based primer I used to work with. Oil based primer is an excellent primer for working with wood, you don't even have to sand the furniture to get the paint to stick on it but it is a pain to clean and very toxic.

Wow, this is hard work. I don't like working in the winter. The garage is so cold and what I really need is a well ventilated, heated work space.  Hint for Christmas, Matt!