Murphy Bed

rnt80

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Joined
Mar 30, 2008
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I finally finished up this Murphy Bed built in a while back.  Some of you may remember that I screwed up the finish on the larger middle doors.  I ended up taking the doors apart, reusing the panels and cutting new rails and stiles.  It was a pretty costly mistake on my part.  The customers are pleased with the final product so that means that I'm pleased.
 

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Stunning!

Although, i would choose another design, your work is awesome
 
Very nice professional work! Do you have any more photos you could post? Is the bed located adjacent to the kitchen?
 
rnt80 said:
I finally finished up this Murphy Bed built in a while back. 

Russell:
Looks great. Thanks for posting.
Did you figure out where the color shift occurred - stain, seal coat or finish coat?

rnt80 said:
It was a pretty costly mistake on my part.

Curious but do you mean based on the time and materials, against a budget or the loss of other business? How are you calculated "costly", I am not so interested in the specific numbers but isn't making sure you are delivering a product the client is happy with worth the cost.

rnt80 said:
The customers are pleased with the final product so that means that I'm pleased.
That's the main thing. I forget sometimes how much time and effort goes into actually acquiring a customer. I dislike loosing them because of something I can control like the quality of the product I deliver. Sometimes I get frustrated with how long it takes to make something to my standards, but that is what people are paying me vs. someone else for. I think the loss of a client as a reference, goodwill or reputation for small business is huge.
Tim
 
Absolutely gorgeous.  I didn't realize you could make butcher-blocked panels look so good.  I've been wanting to try to do some mitered frame and panel doors myself -- what's your process, if you don't mind me asking, for getting the profile on the frame members?  Do you do it before or after the frame is assembled?

I've always had trouble getting the cut even with those larger architectural moulding bits since it takes so much off from the board.  The workaround I've used in the past is to make the frame member at least 1/2" wider than final width, raise the bit 3/16" to 1/4" up from the table, and so when I run the board through the router there will be a thin strip of uncut wood at both the bottom and the top which can rest flat against the outfeed side of the fence.  But this take longer (have to trim later with table saw) and is wasteful of wood.
 
duc996 said:
Very nice professional work! Do you have any more photos you could post? Is the bed located adjacent to the kitchen?

Thanks.  The bed is next to the kitchen.  This is in a one room, one bath guest house.
 
Tim Raleigh said:
rnt80 said:
I finally finished up this Murphy Bed built in a while back. 

Russell:
Looks great. Thanks for posting.
Did you figure out where the color shift occurred - stain, seal coat or finish coat?

rnt80 said:
It was a pretty costly mistake on my part.

Curious but do you mean based on the time and materials, against a budget or the loss of other business? How are you calculated "costly", I am not so interested in the specific numbers but isn't making sure you are delivering a product the client is happy with worth the cost.

rnt80 said:
The customers are pleased with the final product so that means that I'm pleased.
That's the main thing. I forget sometimes how much time and effort goes into actually acquiring a customer. I dislike loosing them because of something I can control like the quality of the product I deliver. Sometimes I get frustrated with how long it takes to make something to my standards, but that is what people are paying me vs. someone else for. I think the loss of a client as a reference, goodwill or reputation for small business is huge.
Tim

Thanks, Tim.  I didn't spend time trying to figure out what went wrong.  I'm on such a break neck pace that I didn't bother.  In saying "costly" I meant in terms of time and money.  All told it ended up being about a $1000 mistake. 
 
Edward A Reno III said:
Absolutely gorgeous.  I didn't realize you could make butcher-blocked panels look so good.  I've been wanting to try to do some mitered frame and panel doors myself -- what's your process, if you don't mind me asking, for getting the profile on the frame members?  Do you do it before or after the frame is assembled?

I've always had trouble getting the cut even with those larger architectural moulding bits since it takes so much off from the board.  The workaround I've used in the past is to make the frame member at least 1/2" wider than final width, raise the bit 3/16" to 1/4" up from the table, and so when I run the board through the router there will be a thin strip of uncut wood at both the bottom and the top which can rest flat against the outfeed side of the fence.  But this take longer (have to trim later with table saw) and is wasteful of wood.

Thanks, Edward.  I buy the door material from a local supplier.  It's a lot more cost effective for me to do so.  I do that with all of my moldings as well.
 
Tim Raleigh said:
...
That's the main thing. I forget sometimes how much time and effort goes into actually acquiring a customer. I dislike loosing them because of something I can control like the quality of the product I deliver. Sometimes I get frustrated with how long it takes to make something to my standards, but that is what people are paying me vs. someone else for. I think the loss of a client as a reference, goodwill or reputation for small business is huge.
Tim

Some sage thoughts in there
 
rnt80 said:
In saying "costly" I meant in terms of time and money.  All told it ended up being about a $1000 mistake.

Well, not a cheap mistake, and I would sure want to know what happened. While I am aware of the extra time a mistake takes I never calculate the "cost" for my time. Materials yes, but never time.
I always make a point of figuring out what went wrong, because when I make a mistake I figure I'm responsible to never have it happen again. I owe it to myself to invest and learn from it so the time spent fixing the error is really learning something new.
There is a lot to learn, and I make plenty of mistakes.
I finished sanding one of three frames for some cabinet doors and dropped one on the floor and it basically exploded. The stub tenons were too tight and the joint was starved of glue and there wasn't enough strength to absorb the impact. Good thing I hadn't painted it yet.
Tim

 
Wow, absolutely stunning and a high quality job. Any further pictures of the build itself?
 
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