DIY: King Size Storage Bed Part 1
12:01 PM
PART 1
Engineer hubby and I have finally gotten around to this post. This post is not for the faint of heart and can take a lot of time and work depending on your skill level and the tools you have. Borrow tools from friends or family to save some money.
Our Bed
Cost around $500
Lets get to work.
Engineer hubby's drawings. Don't mind the dirt; this was out in the garage for a long time.
View Side
View Front
View Arial
The 6 smaller boxes are the side drawers. The two boxes in the center have lids that open with a piano hinge. Store things in there that you won't need to see for a long time such as baby clothes or high school yearbooks.
The next couple of pictures give you an idea of how much wood you will need to purchase. We used various grades of pine boards as well as OSB (oriented strand board) and plywood. Material shopping lists will follow as we get deeper into the construction of the bed.
Wood glue is our friend. Use it. You can also see in this pic that we use lots of screws, clamps, a piano hinge, and a circular saw.
We picked up this beast from the D.I. (my local thrift store). It cost $10. We stripped it of its drawer slides and hauled it to the metal recycling company and they gave us $17 for it. Made a little moola. This will come into play later.
We used the drawer slides for the drawers in our bed. After all was said and done we wished we just bought new slides from the Home Depot because these are noisy and a bit rickety. They work well though.
Now that you have an idea of the materials needed for this project, lets get started building the bed. We began with the center storage first as it seemed to be the easiest component of the bed to build. We were right, this turned out to be a good warm-up/practice piece. The center storage will essentially be hidden once the mattress is placed on the bed frame so don't worry too much if it doesn't turn out perfect. Here is a picture of the storage with the OSB sides and bottom and 1" x 2" wood frame. We used a 2" x 4" stud at the top center as this will eventually receive the piano hinges for the lids. Looks like a coffin. :/
Center storage compartment on it's side.
We bought a six foot long piano hinge and cut it with a hacksaw to fit our needs. The lids will have about 1-1/2" of overhang at the head and foot end of the compartment. Make sure there is about 1" between the two lids at the middle of the support. The 1" gap ensures that the lids don't hit or bind on one another when opening.
The overall dimensions for this compartment are 14" tall, 27" wide, and 77" long (80" long including overhanging lids).
I highly suggest that anyone who may attempt this project sketch out the bed and its components and create your own Cut/materials list. I am providing my list to be used as a "check."
Cut/Materials List:
Cut from pine boards:
4 - 1" x 2" x 76" (frame)
4 - 1" x 2" x 24-1/2" (frame)
6 - 1" x 2" x 10" (frame)
1 - 2" x 4" x 24-1/2" (frame)
Cut from OSB (we used 7/16" thick OSB as it is more available and cheaper):
2 - 1/2" x 13.5" x 26" (end)
2 - 1/2" x 13.5" x 77" (side)
1 - 1/2" x 26" x 76" (bottom)
2 - 1/2" x 26" x 39-1/2" (top)
Miscellaneous:
2 - 23" piano hinges
1 lb box of 1" long screws, used throughout the whole project
1 lb box of 2" long screws, some used now but most of which will be used later in the project
Wood glue at every connection so the bed feels extra solid
Part 2 is HERE
Stephanie
16 comments
This is so awesome. Haha you know husbands everywhere are going into hiding because I'm going to march right home...bat my eyelashes and beg my husband to build me something like this. He's a handy man too (building docks) so I think he could handle a few of my projects. Great job though. Giving you a shout out on my blog!!!
ReplyDeleteLove this bed. Ready to see part 2.
ReplyDeletePart 2 please
ReplyDeleteHi! I love this! My hubby is going to make one for us! We are military and moving to Germany in about 2 months. Hopefully, the cost will still be about the same for wood. What kind of mattress do you have? Do you have any kind of box spring or is the mattress right on the wood?
ReplyDeleteHi! I have no idea what kind of mattress we have but I know it is from Denver Mattress Co. We put it right on the wood, no box spring needed. Good luck with your project!
DeleteIt might pay to take a look at the wiki page with all the bed/mattress sizes from around the world. If you are buying a King mattress in Germany chances are it will be different dimensions from what the bed plans are. So you would want to adjust accrodingly before you build it. Best of luck.
DeleteThanks for the reply! I was seeing if you had a memory foam vs regular mattress because memory foams (I think) need a special type of box spring. And seriously, LOVE the tutorial! I didn't even realize you were members until I read through your whole post and saw "DI." Ha! Do you have a Pinterest I can follow?
ReplyDeleteIs it possible to see a better pic of your drawings on notebook paper we are thinking about trying to build this
ReplyDeleteI really wish I could, we lost the paper in our move... But if you follow the cut list it should still work out.
DeleteThe two boxes in the center have lids that open with a piano hinge. ... qbspring.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteHow much did this cost you in total?
ReplyDeleteI posted this a few years ago and so I can't remember exactly, but I think it was around $300...
DeleteIt was actually $500 to build this bed.
DeleteQueen Size - If you want to make a Queen size bed frame, it needs to be 16" narrower and the length stays the same. Some ideas - you could eliminate the center console or reduce the depth of the drawers 8". You would also have to reduce the headboard and footboard 16".
ReplyDeleteis the mattress size used 183cm x 203cm?
ReplyDeletewill this fit a 183cm x 203cm cause i live in australia and that is the size of kings here
ReplyDelete