The sleigh bed I made for the Victorianna’s little girl’s room is a kit I bought off eBay, and the instructions didn’t come with it. I went online looking for pictures and ended up on Karen Benson’s website. One piece from my kit is stamped HCC which I think stands for “Heritage House Collection.” I don’t know if they’re associated with Karen Benson in some way but it seems to be the same kit, and from the photo on her website I was able to figure out how it goes together. And once I figured that out, I promptly changed it!
[Clarification 11/29/15: I was poking around the Half Scale Yahoo group and found a post from 2001 that says Karen Benson bought the Heritage House Collection line. Mystery solved!]
Here are the pieces that came with the kit:
Something about the base bothered me. It doesn’t have a front and back piece — just side pieces — so the feet end up looking one-dimensional instead of having the bulk of many the sleigh bed feet I found on Google Images. I decided to leave off the bottom pieces and make my own bulky feet.
I started by assembling the frame. Easy enough.
These pieces were supposed to go together to form the headboard and footboard. Sleigh beds have curved tops so maybe I was supposed to sand the top of the skinny piece to curve it?
I had some quarter round of the correct thickness lying around, so I used that instead.
With the quarter round glued on the top was a little too tall, jutting out above the side pieces. The quarter round I used is the same height as the pieces I replaced, so this might have been by design?
Easily fixed! I used the disc sander to sand down the bottom of the piece until it fit well.
I cut the feet from 1:12 Realife spindles that were in my stash.
Nice and bulky!
I glued the feet on at the corners.
Finally, I added this embellishment to the bottom of the footboard and top of the headboard. These are from the SDK Gothic Dresser – I had ordered some extras to make a Cassidy Creations wardrobe match the other Gothic furniture, and didn’t end up using these. The toy shelf in this bedroom is also from the SDK Gothic collection so now the bed and the shelf match.
Finally I painted the bed. The feet wobbled off during painting and I had to glue them back on. That probably wouldn’t have happened if I’d waited for the glue to dry…
I haven’t dressed the bed yet, but I tossed on a foam mattress, blanket, and pillow to see how it’ll look. Suitably girly!
Emily is a freelance writer, miniaturist, and adventure game enthusiast.
Lovely bed! Pretty crochet quilt on it too – and yes, suitably girly. Had to laugh at your comment that the leg probably wouldn’t have fallen off if you’d waited for the glue to dry. That’s often the hardest part, isn’t it?
I got the quilt off eBay. It came with a not very impressive bedroom set… all I really wanted was the quilt! It’s delicate and very pretty.