{"id":2172,"date":"2015-09-17T20:47:44","date_gmt":"2015-09-18T04:47:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cephas.net\/blog\/?p=2172"},"modified":"2020-05-27T07:38:41","modified_gmt":"2020-05-27T15:38:41","slug":"built-loft-bed-with-a-desk-and-some-cool-lighting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cephas.net\/blog\/2015\/09\/17\/built-loft-bed-with-a-desk-and-some-cool-lighting\/","title":{"rendered":"Built: loft bed with a desk and some cool lighting"},"content":{"rendered":"

I had a couple months off this summer and after doing some camping with the family, I got bored sitting around with nothing to do and figured that it was time to graduate the 10 year old from the Ikea Kura<\/a> (that we got for him probably 7 years ago) to something that would give him an area to work on homework, hang out with friends a little bit and generally last until he’s 15(?) or whatever age boys demand a regular bed. Actually, now that I remember it, my wife figured it was time for him to get a new bed and wanted to buy this loft bed on Ikea:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.ikea.com\/us\/en\/catalog\/products\/10247987\/<\/a><\/p>\n

which is relatively cheap ($149 plus $99 for the desk top) and would probably work but then, again, I was bored. I did a couple of Google searches for “diy loft bed” and came across this one:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/thatsmyletter.blogspot.com\/2015\/03\/l-is-for-loft-bed-with-lego-storage.html<\/a><\/p>\n

which looked easy, really sturdy, had storage for Legos (if you buy the Ikea stuff) and didn’t look very complicated to build. I got clearance from the CEO and started getting ready a week or so ago.<\/p>\n

The plans (PDF<\/a>) are really well done (includes a materials list and a cut list) and since I had the time, I figured I’d traipse on over to this wood store in Portland<\/a> (which I had discovered via a friend) to buy the wood for the bed. I arrived there thinking (naively) that it would be like Home Depot, where you buy 2x4x8’s and you’re on your merry way. Turns out there’s this whole world of stuff I still have to learn (nominal wood measurements vs. actual right?) and that the plans I had in hand (along with 3 kids) would not quickly convert to the correct cut list so I had to abandon the plan of getting the wood from there, although wow, cool store. Some day I hope to be doing fine wood working with beautiful wood and have a workshop like this<\/a> but for now… it’s wood from Home Depot. A couple hours later (after naps and stuff), I ended up at Home Depot and purchased the following list of goods (including the price here because it’s interesting to see how it all adds up compared to what you’d get from Ikea):<\/p>\n