Sandblasted Oregon Low-Line Double Bed

I've been needing a bed for our spare room for a while now and it turns out anything I liked was waaaaayyy out of my budget. . I've seen a few sandblasted Oregon beds around that I like the look of and finally found one in a shop that was pretty close to what I was after, but at $4000AUS it was definitely too expensive. So I thought I'd make one.

All up I think it cost me ~$500-$600 so it's still not super cheap. I'm sure with some good scouting you could do it for a lot less with found timber.

I jumped on Google Sketch-up and mocked up a rough template for what I was after, and ended up with this.

You'll need to get this program if you want to really look at the model in depth. I've included the .SKP files so you can see exactly how it's been modeled. There are measurements for everything on the models and they are all drawn in the size they needed to be when built.

From the model I worked out that I would need:

Oregon:
(240 x 45 x 2480) x 4 - For the top and sides of each side
(240 x 45 x 1360) x 6 - For the bed head and the foot
(195 x 45 x 610) x 2 - For the sides of the bed head

I wanted the bed to sit a little off the ground just to make cleaning easier and thought I was a slightly better aesthetic than straight on the floor. You can see underneath where its raised for the shadow line which is 45mm deep (the depth of the Oregon) and 16mm high (the thickness of the MDF core)

The model for the LHS section

For building both sides you'll need

Oregon:
2 x (240 x 45 x 2480)
+ end cuts to cover the foot of each side, trimmed to 45 x 45 x 240 (make sure that the grain is running the correct way to make it look like the whole side is made of solid lengths of timber ie. end grain facing out)

16mm MDF:

2 x (159 x 2419) top plates
4 x (240 x 2419) sides
2 x (191 x 2419) base plate
2 x (195 x 256) end cap to glue/screw the off cuts onto

the numbers for the boxes might not look right but it's so that the top plate of oregon has 4mm overhand on the inside to help hide the construction when a mattress is sitting on top.

The foot of the bed

You'll need -

Oregon

2 x (240 x 45 x 1360)

16mm MDF

2 x (240 x 1360) front and back
1 x (163 x 1360) top plate
1 x (195 x 1360) base plate

This is the model for the bedhead.

Oregon -

3 x (240 x 45 x 1360) - top and upper front
1 x (130 x 45 x 1360) - shorter cut that goes at the bottom front (note in pics on step 9)
2 x (195 x 45 x 610) - go on the sides of the head

12mm MDF -

2 x (620 x 1270) front and back
1 x (167 x 1270) top plate
1 x (191 x 1270) base plate
3 x (167 x 608) sides plus one for the middle that you'll see in the photo's later

You need -

MEASURING TAPE - THIS IS YOUR MOST IMPORTANT TOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!


Drop Saw for cutting oregon
Circular saw for cutting MDF to shape (You'll also need a scrap piece of MDF to cut on and a straight piece of MDF thats roughly 2500mm x 300mm to use as a guide for the circular saw cuts.

It's much easier if you use 2 drills-
One for drilling with a suitable sized bit for you're chosen screw length, and one for screwing in screws (I used a drywall bit to make sure the screws stayed flush with the surface and didn't go too deep)

Screws - As many as you think is necessary
MDF/Wood glue - Buy a big bottle and go crazy!

A sandblaster (if you want that weathered/textured look) - Make sure you get tests done first. I took a piece to get tested at a big sand blasting place and they went way too heavy half shredded the test piece. They seemed to have no interest in trying to work with me on my 'small' project to get just the right look and feel.
So I took it to a much smaller sandblasting place where they actually showed a bit of interest in my project. They charged me $100 to blast all the Oregon and I got exactly what I was after.

Danish/Scandinavian Furniture Oil - I chose this so it would have a mostly Matt finish to fit in with the organic/rustic look and feel of the timber, but still provide decent protection from red wine spills.

I assembled each section in the same order

1. Glue and screw the MDF Top Plate to the Front MDF face
2. Glue and screw MDF End Plates (if needed)
3. Glue and screw the Oregon Top, then the Oregon Front, to the MDF you just assembled
4. Glue and screw MDF Back Plate
5. Glue and screw MDF Base Plate

Note: Don't put your screws too close to the corners as you'll split the MDF!

More pics of putting stuff together.
I worked on the end first, then built the sides, and put the head together last.
I also attached the support for the slats on after I had fully assembled the bed to make sure I had the right depth for the mattress I had.

All that needs doing now is to put the rest of the pieces together.

I used 200mm x 25mm x 25mm steel angle to hold all 4 sections together from the inside corners as well as small bits of plate behind the head to help stop it skewing.

Note - This bed is REALLY heavy. It's completely over engineered and I'm sure that it could be done with smaller/thinner sizes of everything. However I'm happy with how it turned out and I don't think I could have achieved the look I was after without going for the chunkier bits of Oregon.

If anyone ever decides to build this, send me some pics!!! I'd love to see someones interpretation of it.

Also, I noticed that wile putting this instructable together how much of it is planning with a only a small section devoted to construction. If you go ahead with this one, my advice would be to plan, plan and plan again. Don't take all the measurements in here as 100% accurate as they might be not spot on. Make sure you do your own measurements and when you've done them.... measure again!