"The Grand"

By Michael J. Egy

About a year ago, my wife and I decided that we would build a new house. Of course with the plans for a new home comes new furniture. As my wife, Debbie, and I started thinking how we would decorate our future home we started looking on the internet for ideas and for furniture.

Our taste lean towards the contemporary in furniture design. In the past we purchased our living room set from an internet company and have been quite pleased. Our investigation of furniture, especially the high end designer type, were far out of our price range and to be honest the designs were not that impressive. Having graduated from art school years ago I thought I could design better furniture.

I started off working designs on my computer in a basic drafting fashion. Debbie had a hard time completely understanding my design concepts especially when I was describing using diamond plate aluminum and red oak as materials for our bed.

When we started the work on the bed (a king size of course) we were living in a small 1000 SQFT home. The only work space we had was the center island that separated our kitchen form the living room. With my plans in hand we sat off for the local lumber yard to purchase the materials we would need for our new bed.

I had no idea what materials would cost because I never purchased finished red oak before. I was a little take aback when the materials topped over $900.00. Debbie looked at me and all I could say was, "Don't worry, it will be beautiful." .

When we returned to the house we started. My total tool arsenal consisted of a Skill Saw, Hand Drill , and a Chop Saw. Most of the cuts took place out on our deck but the assembly and finish work happened on the kitchen island. Each board was cut to measurement and then holes were drilled, screwed, assembled, checked for fit and then disassembled. This went on for a period of weeks as the only time I had to work on the bed was on the weekends.

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Finally came the time when it was ready for glue and final assembly. I had taken the measurements to a local steel fabrication company and they sheared the diamond plate for me. As the bed came together Debbie finally saw the headboard and foot board assembled. She could not believe the size of the two pieces. The head board measures 6ft high by 102 inches. The foot board measures 4ft high by 102 inches. There is diamond plate inlaid in the four corner post as well as the side rails.

Most of the king size beds that I have seen need a center support under the box springs to keep the bed level and together. I designed this bed to have a free span support so no center leg would show. This was accomplished by using standard 2x4's, joist hangers, and placing them on a 14 inch center. Total number of 2x4 laths - 5.

The bed was almost finished. Unfortunately our home was still 6 months away from being built. The beautiful bed we build would have to wait for final assembley in the new house. There was not a room in our current house that had the size to accommodate the bed so it sat in the living room consuming most of our living space.

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Finally the day came when our new house was built and we moved in. The first piece of furniture that was moved was the bed. I had never had the bed completely put together and was excited to see if everything would match up. Everything went together like a dream.

We put the box springs and mattress on, made the bed and stood back to see our dream become a reality. I can't tell you the feeling that we both had when we saw "THE GRAND" completely assembled.

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We have been in our new house for about a month now and when friends stop by they love our house and the way we have decorated it, but when they see the bedroom, most of them simply say "WOW!".

We have carried the diamond plate theme throughout the house in other pieces we have made but that is a another story.

I’ll be sending pictures of the “Superman” bar I made out of old lab tops (slate) that to is another great story.

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