Standing Daybed

 This one I built for a friend at work, she absolutely loved it. The cool part was that I built it pretty much in a day. I started with rough cypress and pine, built the frame, then wrapped everything with the cypress so I had to size and mill one piece at a time. 

The raw lumber, some pine and (3) 1x6x12' cypress rough cut

Built the frame in the molds

the working setup, planer, table saw, miter saw, nail gun

At this point, I have to mill the cypress one piece at a time. The boards are rough cut 1x6, which means they are actually 1" thick and 6" wide, not the nominal dimensioned 3/4" x 5 1/2" boards you normally buy at the store, this stuff is air dried straight from the sawmill. So I need to first cut a square end on the board, then cut to length for the piece that I need, cut around any defects, rip it to the 2.5" width that I need from the table saw, then feed it through the planer to get all of that exterior graying ripped off. Then I can nail that board to the frame.

This is WAY more work than if you could just buy clean 1x3 cypress boards at the big box store. But you're going to pay about 12x as much, this cypress was only $2.50/boardfoot and most Lowe's/Home Depot's don't even carry it. The most comparable thing they carry is oak for around $15 per bf, and I get it rough cut from this sawmill for about $2/bf. No way I want to pay big box prices for that. And I sell these beds, so I'm not even the one footing the bill.

Start with the legs, be sure the most broad side of the joint faces out

Add the arms next

Formed the back and added a vertical member

Finished the woodworking.

Detail of the side pieces

That cypress is beautiful!

Man that cypress is beautiful! It is a naturally oily wood, but starts out very light then can gray over time if you leave it natural. I prefer to stain or seal it.

Sealed with a Thompson's Timber Oil outdoor protective coating. This has a cedar color stain mixed in.

Came out really clean, I thought

Lisa's cool balcony in the hip, young part of Raleigh

Enjoy! This was an easy install.

This was the easiest install yet, my daughter and I just had to carry it up the stairs. Lisa wanted a shorter back on this one, I thought it turned out absolutely fabulous. It's a clean look with a long lasting finish that will give her some outdoor comfort for a long time to come. Most importantly, she absolutely loved it!