I Built a Headboard- Part 2

Yesterday I left you with the super dramatic cliff hanger on the new headboard I built for the Master Bedroom.  Here she is, duh, duh, duhhhhhhh!

Ok, it's not that exciting, unless you're me and get totally jacked about building stuff.  I can't explain it, it's a sickness.  But hang with me, because it's starting to get better.  Once my piece was put together, I smoothed wood putty in all the nail holes and sanded the entire piece first with 100 grit and then 220 grit for an extra smooth finish.  Once I was confident that all the imperfections and roughness was gone, I wiped  down the entire surface with tacky cloth to remove all the sawdust.

Next, because I was using pine which is a very soft and porous wood, I covered the entire piece with a thin, even coat of pre-stain.

Pre-stain makes sure that the stain adheres evenly to the wood, instead of being streaky or blotchy.  It's a quick extra step, and definitely worth the extra time.  Trust me.  An hour later I grabbed the leftover bucket of stain from the Bath Crashers remodel, a pair of rubber gloves and a old, clean rag to wipe on the stain with.  It took three coats (with about 4-6 hours of drying between coats to get the even, dark color I was looking for. 

Once my final coat dried, I flipped over my cardboard to give myself a clean, dust free surface and got to the business of applying polyurethane using these tips.

I waited 24 hours from the last coat to make sure it was good and dry, and then hauled it up all those steps to the Master Bedroom.  While in reality, attaching this headboard to the bed frame is a relatively simple process, as we've learned here at OPaaT, nothing around here is ever easy.  By the time I made it to the top of the steps I was already breaking a sweat, and after taking the mattress off the bed, the box spring out of the frame, and pulling the bed frame away from the wall,  I was offending myself with the smell.  Luckily Ry was enjoying the furniture rearrangement. 

Next I drilled a hole through both the headboard and the bed frame with a 3/8" bit.

Ignore  the unstained portion of the bed frame- you didn't see that.

Then I threaded a 2" long machine screw we had on hand through the hole, with a washer on either side, and tightened it with a nut.  Attaching the headboard this way instead of screwing them together will make it easier if, God help us, we ever decide to move again and need to get this bed out of the room.

A few more struggles and grunts later, we have this:

The first thing I discovered... the bed is still to high.  This bed is intended to be low and modern, with just a mattress and not a box spring.  We tried to make it work with our box spring though to make it more comfortable.  Clearly I have to work harder.   Grr.   I also need some better pillows, and some white sheets... but there I go again.  I can never just enjoy finishing a project, it always leads to an immediate need for more projects.  I guess that's what the weekend is for.  Happy Friday!