We move. Alot. Its gets old. Even though we do Dity (I guess the Army calls them PMMs now) and make money off our moves - they are still… just… ugh. I don’t look forward to them. 

That said, I am slowly  but surely replacing all the furniture in our house with what is called “Nomad Furniture” on sites like instructables.com. I love that site. Basically, the idea behind nomad furniture is that it is easy to take apart, it is sturdy, and will fit just about anywhere. A few years ago, with the help of Fr. Ray (Kopec), I took up woodworking. The point of doing this was (back then) getting to a point where I could confidently build a boat. As yet, there is no boat - what exists however, is more and more furniture. I’ve built a few things with and without help for our house. Most of it I can be proud of and is in use. Most of it. Somewhere in my stacks of scraps are the shards of projects that trigger my ugly-tear-it-apart-start-over-or-abandon-completely side. This bid was inspired by a storage bed I saw on Anna White’s DIY site. If you are looking for free, easy furniture plans - look there! 

This bed was something I’ve been thinking about for some time. A bed that gets the mattress off the floor (we use an open-celled mattress we got off an Ebay store - very comfortable) and would have storage underneath. We looked for some proper plastic tubs (I would build drawers but again, the point here is practical above all) and build around them. I built a bed that will hold six 29 quart tubs on a side and 5 (that’s right - 5) 66 quart storage containers. Thats alot of storage! 

Basically, the bed is composed of four boxes build study with 1x8 sides connected to 3/4 ply using my favorite joint - pocket holes. (I use the Kreg Jig, which, makes flawless joints every time. When they don’t work, it’s usually headspace and timing…) I capped the ply for a nice edge and re-used some ceder from a bed I made last year for our queen sized mattress. (We’ve since moved up to king - its awe-some - read that in a sing-song voice) The bed is solid and when we move, it’ll take down and move out - without having to repack clothing! 

Eventually, after the baby is born (any day now), Sara will pick out some curtains and I’ll hang them inside the boxes and cover the plastic storage tubs. 

…so, not the prettiest arts and craft-mission style bed, but I’m pleased with how it turned out.