Building a daybed - halfway there

A few months back I saw this Ana White Plan for a storage daybed.

Photo from ana-white.com

I decided I wanted to try to build it for Babe Jr. as opposed to buying one. The bed she previously used was a platform, which I handed down to my niece, so we did not have a box spring for her mattress. I checked prices on a cheap frame and box spring in our area, and I couldn't have purchased those alone for less than the cost of my materials. 2 weeks ago I finally bought the lumber and got started.  So far I have about 80.00 invested. I already had tools, sandpaper and wood filler, so those didn't need to be purchased. I may have to buy a can of primer, but even so this is looking like its going to be a really smart project financially.

For Ana White's more popular projects, she provides a cut list and layout for how to get the most use out of your  lumber.  I sketched those out and had them cut the plywood sheets for me at Lowe's.  There are pros and cons to this.  The positive, I didn't have to do it and then I was able to fit the plywood in my car.  This meant I didn't have to take Mr. Backwoods truck and worry about the wood getting wet if it started raining on the way home.  The negative, they do not practice what I would call "precision cutting" at Lowe's.   I'm not going to go into huge detail about the issues this caused, or how I built it, because the tutorial on Ana's site is awesome and tons of other DIYers have already shared their experiences there as well.

Here's where we are currently.

I put the plywood boxes almost totally together the first day.  I had bought screws that were too short and didn't have enough longer ones on hand at home.  A few days later I got a handful from a friend that he had leftover from a project.  I finished the boxes an evening after that.  Then the following weekend we got the trim on - I had Mr. Backwoods help since I had never used a miter saw.  Now I'm in the midst of sanding and wood filling stages.  The lack of a garage or covered area outside is really slowing this process down.  I can't do a lot of sanding at once because of the mess it makes, and these things are too heavy for me to carry, so carting them in and out of the house frequently is not an option.  Also, wood filler takes time to dry, then it shrinks, so you have to sand and apply more in some areas.  My living room has had these sitting behind the couch in various stages for a while, and I've probably got at least another week before I'll get them to the paint/prime stage.

I'm thinking I'll probably wait a while to paint them.  I need to touch up Babe Jr's dresser and we have a desk that was given to her that needs something done.  My next 3 weekends are full of wedding and pre-wedding activities for our best couple friends' upcoming nuptials.  So, Babe Jr may just be stuck with mismatched furniture until Spring.  Or, rather than tackling it all in one nice weekend outside, I might try to work inside on one piece at a time throughout the winter.  It all depends on how ambitious/bored I get.