Thursday, July 23, 2009

Five great years!

So, this year was Melissa and my fifth wedding anniversary.  It has been a really good five years.  I am so blessed to have her for a wife.  So, this year I decided to make her something.  The traditional gift for a fifth anniversary is wood (not sure who made that up).  Anyway, so I was trying to think up what I could make her.  After much contemplation I thought it might be cool to make her a headboard.  We’ve never had one and have wanted one for a long time.  I also thought it might be nice to have a matching footboard.  Well, then I figured if I make a headboard and a footboard I might as well add two side rails and complete the whole frame … see how these things get out of hand really quick. :)

IMG_4915I talked with my martial arts instructor, Dr. Kutz, because I knew that he is really good with wood.  I asked him for some help and he agreed.  I told Melissa that Dr. Kutz agreed to give me some one on one help.  She thought it was for my black belt test, but really it was for the bed.  So, on Saturdays I would go for two hours to work-out at Multnomah … or rather work out at Multnomah, where I was keeping the materials.  I also took three days off of work, but Melissa thought I just went in to work those days.  I even had to get dressed up in to work close before I came home so she wouldn’t suspect.  I also had the 3rd of July off of work as a vacation day, but Melissa didn’t know that. :)  Anyway, I worked a lot on it here and there.

Anyway, this is the fruit of my labor.  It’s the first time I have attempted something of this size.  I think it turned out well considering that.  Melissa likes it very much … I’m glad.  It took me about 50-60 hours to build and about two months.  I’m sneaky!  I do have to give credit to Dr. Kutz for helping me do the cuts and giving me lots of great advice, LeRoy Lee for helping stain and setting it up, Don Willert for helping stain and lacquer, and Shon TenKley for letting me keep the materials and tools at the Wilcox House.

Below is video of Melissa’s reaction and a slide show of me working on it and some pictures of it set up in our bedroom.

6 comments:

jacquelyn said...

davin, you are amazing! you put my husband to shame (: did you come up with the design yourself... it looks so great! congratulations you guys on five years!!
jacquelyn

Gastón Ruíz said...

So did you really get booted off the MAX by a fare inspector? Or was that all part of the charade?

Great work :-)

Beth said...

Way to go Davin! Nice work -- on the bed and the suprise!

Davin Studer said...

I based it off of this picture.

http://www.sugarplumoak.com/products/full/p12050191765513.jpg

Dave said...

Nicely done! Where did you learn that "wood" is a traditional 5th anniversary gift?

Davin Studer said...

I knew that there are traditional gifts, so I just looked up year five on the internet. I considered giving her a 2x4, but even I'm not that cheap!