How to Build a Solid Wood Bed

One of the simplest ways to build a solid wood bed is to do away with all the complex carpentry involved with headboards, foot boards and even bed legs and opt for a chic and stylish platform bed. Depending on how you style it, a platform bed can exude an Asian vibe in dark tones or, if you paint it white or distress it, you can achieve a Scandinavian or even country French feel.

Things You'll Need

• 3 planks, 2-by-10-inch lumber, 75 inches
• 2 planks, 2-by-10-inch lumber, 40 inches
• 13 1-by-5-inch slats, 50 inches
• Sander and sandpaper
• Paint and paintbrush (optional)
• Carpenter's square
• Drill
• 3-inch flat-head bolts
• 1 5/8-inch screws
• Screw caps

Instructions

1. Sand all the wood for the bed and stain or paint them as well. Let dry completely before assembling.

2. Form two planks of 75 inches and two planks of 40-inch 2-by-10 lumber into a rectangle, with the ends of the 75-inch planks butting up against the sides of the 40-inch planks to make the corners. This is a single bed size.

3. Check with a carpenter's square that the corners are 90 degrees before drilling three evenly spaced pilot holes sized for 3-inch flat-head bolts through the 40-inch planks into the ends of the 75-inch planks. Secure the bed base together with flat-head bolts through the pilot holes.

4. Insert a third 75-inch plank into the frame in the center and attach it in the same manner as you did the frame.

5. Place two 50-inch 1-by-5 slats centered across the three 75-inch planks of the bed base, one at either end, flush with the edges of the 40-inch planks. Evenly space 11 slats between the first two.

6. Secure the slats to the bed base with one 1 5/8-inch screw driven through the slat into each of the 75-inch planks, for a total of three screws per slat.

7. Pop a screw cap onto the bolt holes on the bed base to finish the solid wood bed.

References

• Povernomics: Platform Bed Blueprints