Ethans Pirate Bed (the ship)

 I made to many entries for this bed because there are so many parts to it.  So there will probably be some duplicate photos through out my next few post.  I loved this idea for a bed a pirate ship.  My son's Ethans room is pirate themed a little less now he tears it up but pirate theme all the same.  I've wanted to make this bed for a while now and seeing his old bed was getting banged up because of the style I thought it was about time I made it.  i am horrible at remembering to take photos so there are gabs were it skips forward or alot at once.  Well I guess I'll start with my design. My kids room has a really slanted ceiling so I had to keep that in mind for the design.  Second I wanted it one solid bed so it had to be able to go up a flight of stairs and make a sharp tight corners into his room(fun story for the end).  So I made a bunch of measurements and set to work on looking up beds pirate ships and everything in between.  Now there are really awesome pirate beds out there and alot of things I wanted to add to just make this bed the best but my kids room is not the size of a master bedroom and I did not want him to just have a bed in his room so I had to make it practical.  So after I had an idea of what I was going to do I went and bought some lumber.  I had a few ideas on the shape but was having a hard time drawing it out for some reason.  So Captain Jack (Traves) came in and free handed the shape(thanks captain).  So we cut it out made a frame out of 2x6's(I  know a little extreme but as I said my kid tears up his room).  We then attaches the side panels then made the inner panels and attached them.  That leads us to where I remembered to start taking photos.  Now I put them in order like so: the back, the inside, and the side.  Hope you enjoy.

So I was going to make the back panel higher so he could stand on the step and steer but it just looked funny so I made it short.  I should have made the step a hidden cubby but wasn't thinking of it and it was to late by the time I did think of it.

I wanted the decorative arch on top to hide the helm if you looked at it from the front.  I loved how it made the bed look  I actually busted the first one I made.  It wasn't up to par with the stand up to my kid idea so I made this much tougher one. 

I was going to do alot more painting on the back but I thought it a waste as the helm covers alot of it.  I'm still trying to come up with a name for the ship and once I do I'm going to paint or get a vinyl sticker and put it across the bottom of the step.  I liked how it turned out though and Ethan love steering his boat into dock each night before bed.

So as you can see the decorative piece did not quite hide the helm on my second attempt I didn't have as much wood.  I again had a couple of ideas hos I wanted it to look but this one fit this ship the best.

this is the inside.  This just fits his toddler bed mattress.  He doesn't have enough room in his room for a full mattress and pirate bed so he will only get to use this bed for a couple years. 

Just showing the inside steps of painting it.

This is the inside complete.  Didn't know how to hide the steering support without making the back thicker. 

Alright the bed.  So As I said earlier I spent alot of time looking at different pirate bed and pirate ships.  I saw lots of things I liked.  One thing I liked was a trim  boarder.  First it protects the bed edge from getting as hammered and it adds to the look.

Here it is all attached.  

At this stage I have it all built I'm just getting ready to fill all the holes and cracks.

All filled and sanded.  Propped up the port holes to just give me an idea of what they were going to look like.

 OK so picking a paint scheme. I thought a lot about it.  Funny seeing I'm color blind.  I thought about staining it, painting it solid black, painting waves on the bottom.  I looked at a lot of pictures, models, toys of pirate ships trying to figure it out.  I then stumbled across a pirate ship that just looked awesome.  It's bold and stands out over your average pirate ship.  I passed it off with Kelsie ( she gets say when it comes to colors as she can see them) and went and got paint.

Well now painting that's a project in its self.  I wanted it to look amazing so I had to picture it first. I started with the red first.

I then taped it off and painted the black.  I also added the insignia it will be in another post.

The back was looking a little plain so I added some windows.  I was going the cut out some frames and attach but at this point I was ready to be getting done not adding more time.  I just taped off a window frame and painted it.

 Sorry the photos dusty that's what we get in a wood shop.  Here it is though with all the black done.

This was a project in it self but as I have said I'm horrible with taking photos.  You can not have a pirate ship with out a cannon.  I just took a 4x4 blank and turned this on my lathe.  Ethan carried it around my shop the whole time blasting everything.

Just another photo of the cannon I think this is every bodies favorite part of the ship.  the design is simple and you can remove it and attach something else.  I have not made anything else to add yet.

After the black I went back and taped off for the white section. 

Here it is all done in my shop.  I was so happy it was done it took me about a month to build..  That was me only building when I could on the weekends and sometimes through the week.  Ethan asked me everyday from the time I started til it was in his room when his bed would be done. 

          At this point I needed to get it in his room.  So in the beginning I took all kinds of measurements so I knew how big it could be.  Right before I started I was in my shop talking to The Captain and said " I don't know if this will fit up the stairs and into his room".  At which point he goes into my house.  I assumed that he was checking as he came out about five minutes later and said it would.  Fast forward to going up the stairs.  Shawn(another friend of mine) was at the top and I was at the bottom carring the bed and he was telling me there was no way it was going in.  Traves was standing at the bottom and says to me " didn't you check before you made it?".  I then blunder at him how I thought he had checked before we started he then tells me" no I was going to the bathroom and getting some water".  So we come back done and set it in my kitchen.  You know when your mad but the fact that you can't believe what you heard its funny that's where I was right then.  So I go up the stairs and down about 6 times measuring and looking at the bed. I was sure I could get it in.  So we took it up a different way and had to shimmy it in but we got it in.  Of course The Captain says to me after "I told you it would fit".  

After we got it in I then made it and put all his pirate buddy's on his bed.  He was waiting out on the stairs for me to let him in.  He loved it he played with it for a couple hours after it was in.  He still talks to me about his pirate bed when ever I put him to bed.  I'm glad he likes it and I'm excited to build my nephews themed bed next.