Finishing the daybed

I had all of this cedar hanging on the roof gable ends that I've been building all summer, and Kelley really wanted to seal it before it grayed. I was on the fence, but she bought some Thompson's water seal Timber Oil that looked like really good stuff. It was cedar tinted, so she thought it was a clear coat for cedar, which is pretty different. I did end up sealing the cedar with this stuff, and it is great. One coat gives even coverage and you don't have to reapply for years. That's actually the most common problem, people putting on multiple coats.

I'm not a huge fan of the natural color of cypress. This timber oil stain means that I could also brush on one coat of the Thompson's and be ready to hang the daybed, so that seemed like a great plan to me!

All stained up!

The color really pops now, and you can see the grain prominently. This is a great way to finish cypress, and it's a lot less work than putting on 8 coats of wipe-on poly. Having said that, it dries with a gritty feel to it, appropriate for timbers but not furniture. The next time I make one of these I'll go back to the poly, it just creates a nicer texture.

To hang a daybed you have to have the right space and equipment. We figured the 8' width of the front porch would be good. Weight distribution is supposed to be equal, the weak points are the knots in the rope and the anchor hooks that go into the ceiling. I got J-style anchor bolts that were rated for 225 lbs from a local hardware store, and some 1/2" rope rated at 525 lbs from Lowe's. Also I ordered a twin mattress from Amazon for $80, memory foam with a water resistant fabric for outdoor use. Kelley found the rest of the decorations somewhere.

Drill pilot holes and insert the anchor bolts directly into ceiling joists. Since I just built that roof I had no trouble finding appropriate securing. Also being an Eagle Scout, I had no trouble getting the knots figured out. The trickiest part about installing is getting the bed level, so all of your knots in the rope have to start at the exact same length. We cut 4 10' sections out of the rope and taped/burned the ends. Then I put a double knot on one end, fed the other end through the bottom of the support and did a loop at the top. Hang the loops into the anchors and pray everything holds.

It hangs!

The anchors are secure

The knots on the bottom

With the mattress

Add some pillows

It even holds up my fat ass

This is amazingly comfortable

Kids like it too. that's about 450 lbs of human on top of the 75 lb frame

Wife approves

The whole setup on that side of the porch - with the rocking chairs and pine slab table

The other side of the porch, for reference. That rocking chair doesn't look right there.

This is what it's all about for us. Comfort and being able to enjoy the outside space that we created. Hanging daybeds are unbelievably comfortable. If you have the space and can put up one of these, I can highly recommend it. We thought about buying a swing, but I'm so glad I was able to build this instead.

In fact, I've been building a ton of beds lately. And I'm getting pretty good at it. There is so much interest, in fact, that I opened an Etsy store! - https://www.etsy.com/shop/HandyNorthCarolina with this bed listed as my only product. I looked around at Etsy, Wayfair,anywhere that I could find that sold beds to figure out pricing, shipping, all that stuff. I think this is going to work. I hope somebody wants to buy the hanging daybeds. I need to add a painted version slightly cheaper than this one because I can make it with pine, and some other products too. I also placed a craigslist ad for the bunk beds, hopefully I'll get some feedback on that. If I can figure out how to ship the bunk beds I'll put those on Etsy too.

This is what it's all about. Hanging out with the family relaxing on a great day. Building this daybed was one of the coolest projects I've done, and it is a perfect fit for this porch. I come home from work every day and take a nap on this bed, it really is that amazing.