Lauren's Bed - Part 6 - Final Assembly

We let the completed bed air out for a week in the house before moving it into Lauren's room.  Both Joshua and Lauren gave me a hand assembling the bed.

Once the bed was assembled, Rosemary gave me a hand moving the mattress into place, then made up Lauren's big girl bed for the first time!  Rosemary found a good deal on a polar bear comforter to keep Lauren warm.

Before Lauren could use the bed I finished up the install by adding some safety rails on the open side of the bed.  Nothing to exciting about the construction, just four boards with a 1/4" round-over on all sides.  They are held in place with 90 degree metal brackets that are screwed into the mattress support boards.  The safety rails are screwed together with 1 1/2" wood screws.

Lauren loves sleeping in her big girl bed!  At nap time in the afternoon she climbs in by herself when she gets sleepy.

I seem to have trouble finishing projects.  This one needs one more thing before it is really done.  I'm not sure when it'll get completed as I've already moved on to other projects!  The legs in the foot board don't have any end cap on them - I plan on adding some sort of removable castle decoration but didn't get around to finishing it before I assembled the bed.  Bed still works though :)

This bed was a fun and pretty simply project to do.  The curly maple wood I worked with was frustrating to work with at times, but we are really pleased with the final look.  My biggest regret is the middle panel in the top of the head board - it's colour does not match the rest of the bed.  I'm not sure how I missed that when I was assembling the bed, but it's what I notice every time I look at the bed.

One other improvement that I'll probably add to the bed is to add a lip to the top shelf of the head board.  Things keep sliding or rolling off to fall behind the bed and a 1" lip on the top would help a great deal.  I can still add it to the finished bed and I'll probably add that the same time I finish off the leg posts - any day now...