{"id":778,"date":"2012-06-16T10:10:11","date_gmt":"2012-06-16T15:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tenonandspline.com\/?p=778"},"modified":"2012-06-16T10:24:22","modified_gmt":"2012-06-16T15:24:22","slug":"778","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tenonandspline.com\/blog\/archives\/778","title":{"rendered":"Building the Stairs and Installation"},"content":{"rendered":"
This entry is part 6 of 6 in the series X-Men Bunk Bed<\/a><\/div>

Building the stairs<\/strong><\/p>\n

With the main bunk bed complete, it was time to turn my attention to the stairs. For safety reasons, mom insisted the bunk bed have stairs instead of a ladder. The original design featured drawers on the end and paneled sides. Upon further reflection (and measuring) it was clear that this placement wouldn’t work – there simply wouldn’t be enough room to access them. Many commercial beds feature drawers under each step, so I figured this could work here. The final design was based heavily around what materials I had on hand. The stringers and back would be stained cherry ply. I’d always intended to treat the treads with the same faux concrete finish as the “X”es. I decided to use concrete-finished OSB for the side basically because I was out of cherry plywood and the left-over OSB has been taking up space in my shop since it’s construction. One more sheet gone!<\/p>\n

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Building the stairs<\/p><\/div>\n

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Assembled with drawers; treads ready for shaping<\/p><\/div>\n

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Drawer pulls<\/strong><\/p>\n

I really wanted to make custom X-Men logo drawer pulls. After much searching and a discussion with my very talented and craft-y sister-in-law, I made a run out to Hobby Lobby and picked up a box of Sculpey III polymer clay. This stuff is very cool. You can sculpt or mold it like Play-Dough, then bake it for 15 minutes and it hardens nicely. Armed with some metal commercial pulls, I formed the “X”s, applied them to the tops, and baked ’em. A quick coat of paint and some clear acrylic top coat, and they were ready to go.<\/p>\n

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The Sculpey III X-Men logo added to the pulls<\/p><\/div>\n

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Baking the polymer clay drawer pulls<\/p><\/div>\n

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The finished pulls<\/p><\/div>\n

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Faux Concrete<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is the fun part! I repeated the same steps as with the earlier pieces. Dry-brushing on the paint and stain is a blast. For the stairs, I let some stain run down the side and pool on a step. The results are very cool and it’s difficult to screw this part up. I thought it might be fun to carve Wolverine’s claw marks into the side…I think he may have slipped while climbing the steps or something.<\/p>\n

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Wolverine was here!<\/p><\/div>\n

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Stairs complete!<\/p><\/div>\n

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Awesome!<\/strong><\/p>\n

I installed the bunk bed and let them at it. Happily the results did not disappoint. The most heard comment was “awesome!”<\/p>\n

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Attaching the back "X"<\/p><\/div>\n

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Finishing the assembly<\/p><\/div>\n

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Ready for unveiling<\/p><\/div>\n

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"Awesome!"<\/p><\/div>\n

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Next up…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Next up, a backyard Tree-house Playhouse<\/em>, and then “A Midsummer Night’s Bunk Bed”<\/em> featuring butterfly fairies and tree-trunk posts for the girls.<\/p>\n

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