Headboard

I built a headboard for my guest room. It's my own design. Check it out!

Here's what you need to create a queen-size headboard just like mine.

Materials:

• 3 3/4 yds of upholstery fabric (54" wide). I used very dark brown vinyl, almost black
• Thread to match
• Batting, at least 66" x 50"; I took apart an old comforter and re-used the batting inside
  
• Four 2" x 3" eight-foot boards
• About twenty 1 1/2" drywall or multi-purpose screws to construct wood frame
• 1/4" hardboard, lauan, or plywood, 61 1/2" wide x 31" long (the length was arbitrary...see step 2)
  
• About fourteen 1" drywall or multi-purpose screws to attach the hardboard/plywood to the wood frame
  
• Four 1 1/2" lag bolts, 1/4" diameter shaft, used to attach the headboard to the bed frame
  
• Eight 1/4" washers, also used to attach the headboard to the bed frame
• Lots and lots of staples

Tools:

• Scissors
• Tape measure, straight edge, and framing square (or a really good eye!)
  
• Circular saw
• Drill with a countersink bit (or get creative with a big bit and a small bit, or use a pocket holer), a screwdriver bit, and a bit for the lag bolt pilot hole (try a 3/16" bit)
  
• Staple gun (this project was a good excuse to use my awesome pneumatic one, but a manual one would work just as well)
  
• Ratchet and socket for lag bolts

Step 1. Cut the upholstery fabric or vinyl. You'll need 24 pieces of 16.5" x 16.5" to cover the front and back, 10 pieces of 16.5" x 3" for the top and sides, and 8 pieces of 16.5" x 2" for the bottom, and two small pieces so that you can tuck the sides into the bottom (approx 3" x 2"). Sew them together into a "sleeve". Use 1/2" seam allowances.

Step 2. Build a frame. The side rails are 46" each (cut from a single board). The top, bottom, and middle stretchers are 56 1/2" (cut from the remaining three boards). Toenail a pilot hole using a countersink bit (or use pocket holes) so that the screw heads don't stick out on the edges.

I made the two short pieces by cutting in half one of the 39 1/2" waste pieces from a stretcher, but you can make them longer if you like. Since only the top part will be leaned against, you only need to reinforce that portion. I originally planned to reinforce the whole thing, but I soon realized it would not only be unnecessary but also incredibly heavy.

Screw the hardboard on top. Again, only the top part of the headboard will be used, so you only need to cover that part.

Step 3. Place the batting on a flat surface. Lay the headboard frame, hardboard down, on top. Staple the batting around the edges. Here's the back side. All done.

Front side. Tada!

Step 4. Wrestle the sleeve down over the top of the batting-covered frame. Tug and stretch the vinyl until the corners and edges are taut. Mine fit like a glove! Finish it off by closing the bottom. Tuck the small pieces from the sides in first (like flaps on a cardboard box), then staple down the flaps from the front and back. The flaps should overlap.

Step 5. Attach to bed frame. (I hadn't actually done that when I took this picture. It's slightly taller when attached.) Line up the holes and mark them on the headboard. Carefully cut the holes in the vinyl so the screws don't tear it apart. Put one washer on the bolt, then slide it through the oblong hole in the frame, then add another washer (to keep the vinyl from tearing). Ratchet it down tight into the wood.

Looks pretty good, doesn't it? I got the vinyl on sale, I already had the hardboard, and I got the batting for free. So, all together, I invested less than $20! What a deal!

Time to build the ark?

Remember all that snow we got a couple weeks ago? It's almost totally gone.
In addition to the recent snow melt, it's been raining all day. That spells flood.

And what does Mother Nature have on tap for tomorrow? More snow.

Water + Cold = ______

I went out to shovel this evening (yes, it snowed again today) and discovered big happenings right in front of my house.

Hey, guess what happens to water mains in cold weather?

The north side of my street was filled with water. It was also clogged with several dump trucks, a straight truck, and an end-loader-backhoe thingy. About a dozen guys in reflective vests and galoshes were hanging around.

One of the guys stepped over and told me that the water would be shut off for several hours. So, I quick went inside and filled a jug. Just in case.

And then I watched the show. Ringside! They started by removing all the snow from the lawn across the street.

...and dumped it on Jun's sidewalk. Jun's sidewalk wasn't shoveled. I don't think it would have mattered to the workers if he had shoveled, but it made me chuckle to think he's not going to see that portion of the sidewalk until spring.

Much of the water along the north curb is not draining away, and it's mighty cold out there. (Lows in the single digits tonight.) That side of the street is going to freeze solid.

Oh, and did I mention it's trash night? Well people, you've got two choices. One: wade through the water and retrieve your bins now. Or, two: let 'er freeze solid and chip them out tomorrow.

I've got nothing to worry about. I don't live on the north side of the street, and I don't put my trash out unless I absolutely have to. And, I've got plenty of water for the night.

Oh, and an all new Castle is on in a few minutes! What a great day!

Super Bowl Champs!

Wow. Wow. Wow. Great game!

'Nuf said.

Enough already!

Yup. More snow last night. And we're expecting even more.

Where am I going to put it all?

Mother Nature, you gots lots of 'splaining to do!

It started snowing yesterday afternoon. And it kept going for 24 hours straight. On top of that, the wind whipped it all around. They're calling it Blizzard 2011.

O'Hare got 20.2" of snow. That's a lot for this part of the world. In fact, it's the third biggest snow storm on record for Chicago.

I went to work today. Yeah, yeah, I know. That's not the smartest thing I've ever done. I spent an hour digging out my driveway this morning...just enough to get the car to the street. To my surprise, the street was freshly plowed. I figured if my piddly street was plowed, it would be no sweat getting to work. Hmm. Morton Grove was really good. Skokie was not so good. But I did manage to get to work without incident. My coworker James was the only other team member who made it. He lived four blocks away and walked.

Then I came home and shoveled the driveway for another hour.

It's looking really good now though. Neatness counts?

See how high the piles got? The shovel is 51" long. I'm 63" tall. Clearly I was lifting the snow over my head...

I gave up shoveling the sidewalk. It was like digging through concrete...at least two feet deep.

The wind made some fascinating snow drifts. Right next to my garage (right) it was practically bare. But it was several feet up the wall of my neighbor's house.

Nobody lives in this house across the street. The snow is up to the windows.

The front of that house was somewhat like the back of my house. The drifts are at least waist high.

Objects tended to have a swale around them, like the air conditioner and the small tree in the foreground. Also check out the "wall" in front of my basement windows (under the overhang). Weird, huh?