Kinda Hackett's do-it-yourself bed for a good night's sleep

You’ve just finished renovating your bedroom or you just happen to be shopping around for your dream bed. But there’s just one challenge. Buying your dream bed is too costly.

Well, for Kinda Hackett that wasn’t too much of a problem.

Instead of breaking the bank to get her dream bed, Hackett decided to break out the building tools and build her own bed.

WMN recently spoke to Hackett about why she decided to build her bed, DIY-style, and why the project gave her a sense of fulfilment.

“I actually did start shopping around locally in stores (for beds). The cheapest one I saw was $2,000 and it was wobbly.

“And then, I saw the prices for beds starting to go up to $20,000 and I said to myself…I can’t afford that.

“I saw this YouTube tutorial of a girl building a bed in her living room. She was sanding it down and everything. I thought to myself if she can do it, as a girl, I can do it,” said Hackett.

After doing renovations at her Arima home, Hackett’s bedroom was one of the spaces that was upgraded during the renovations. To complete the space, Hackett wanted upgraded furniture including her dream bed. But buying her dream bed was just too expensive.

So, already having building tools available to her, because of the home renovations, Hackett challenged herself to build a bed using YouTube tutorials. Work on the bed started last March and finished two months later, in May. However, the building process wasn’t all smooth sailing. There were challenges and Hackett had her own reservations.

“The design for the main (bed) posts that I wanted was one that was straight and then taper inwards at the top. I was actually looking for a carpenter to do that for me because I couldn’t do it myself. But I couldn’t find anyone to do it for me.

“So, eventually, I decided to do away with the design. The bed posts were the first thing that took a while for me to get completed.”

Apart from aspects of the bed’s design being challenging to build, Hackett also had to get over her fear of using power tools which she wasn’t particularly fond of.

While her brother did give her advice on how to use the tools, she insisted on doing all the work herself.

With overcoming the fear of using power tools being the most challenging aspect of her bed building experience, she proudly recalled cutting the wood to build the bed and sanding it, for example.

Though there were challenges, Hackett acknowledges the process was still fun.

“The most fun part, of building the bed, was seeing it all come together.

“From the time I started looking at the footboard, got the boards joined together and then attached it to the main bed posts, I got excited.

“As I kept going along, I couldn’t believe I was doing it. So, as I kept seeing the bed coming together that was the most fun part. I felt proud that as a woman we can do anything.”

As Hackett expected, building the bed proved to be more cost effective than buying one. In total, building the best costed her an estimated $4,000.

The bed’s main cost came from buying mahogany wood which were sourced from a lumber yard a minute’s drive from her home.

The building cost also included smaller materials like screws, bed rail brackets, sandpaper, L brackets and the different types of stains to varnish the wood.

But the bed wasn’t the only furniture Hackett made.

Before even attempting to build the bed, she made a plant stand, in two days, using YouTube tutorials.

“Before building the bed I had never worked with wood and I at least needed to try to cut something with a saw before I started cutting wood for a bed.

“I built that plant stand with scrap wood that I had around the house”

With a bed and plant stand under her belt, Hackett isn’t stopping there.

She has decided to build all the furniture for her room and has already started making beside tables.

Not wanting to waste the mahogany wood she bought to build her bed, Hackett is also making serving trays using the scrap wood.

“I would 100 per cent recommend for people to build their own furniture just because of the happiness it gives you.

“You don’t understand how happy building this bed makes me feel, it gives me a sense of fulfilment.

“Every time I walk in my room and see the bed, I just feel a sense of fulfilment because I did it with my own hands.”

She encourages other people to take up a DIY building project, even if it’s not a bed.

If you do decide to a DIY project, and YouTube tutorials are your main guide, Hackett advises people to look at different videos to get different perspectives and not just stick to one video. She said others may even find the process therapeutic and eye-opening like she did.

A few years ago, Hackett lost her job and has been demotivated since.

But building the bed has now opened her mind up to the possibilities of even starting a small furniture building service.