Building a Bed
I’ve gotten a little more handy with woodworking in the past few years, and I recently made a king size bed that I’m really proud of.
The whole thing started when my wife and I got a king mattress and we were looking into options for the bed. After we sold our house, we tossed our queen bed and mattress. They were both pretty beat up and we were interested in getting a king size anyway because of how often the kids end up in the bed with us. Figured it’s one less thing to move and store. We got a king mattress (I’m not above sleeping on a mattress on the floor) and decided we would postpone the bed for a little while.
I don’t know if y’all realize, but beds are expensive. We looked at a couple of beds at a few different stores and none of them really fit what we wanted. They were either prohibitively expensive, they looked like they would break if I sat down on them too hard, or both. I’m a big guy and I’ve broken beds several times before. I want something that would hold up to plenty of abuse.
My wife threw out the idea of me building a bed myself: no kit or template, just following a guide and assembling it myself from lumber and screws. She sent me a few different guides and asked if I thought I might be able to make them. Sure enough, they seemed reasonably simple. One guide in particular had a raw wood look that goes with the modern farmhouse style of the house without looking unnecessarily difficult.
The problem (and I say this with as much respect as possible) is that the guide reads like a social media influencer writing a guide for a woodworking project. Yes, that is exactly what it is, but it isn’t as helpful as, say, a woodworking expert writing their own guide. Ananda gives a lot of photos and extraneous information, and the actual project details are sometimes confusing or potentially incorrect. For comparison, Rantz gives only a few helpful photos and diagrams, and explicitly lists instructions with clear detail. The site was still super helpful; I couldn’t have built the bed from scratch with just my own imagination for inspiration. However, I ended up using the guide more for rough suggestions than explicit instructions.
The original guide was written for a queen bed, but tentative steps were given to convert that to a king bed. Fortunately, one user Joe commented on the post with a cut list for the king size variant. Since I was also building a king bed, that made my life substantially easier. I went to Lowe’s to pick up the lumber and placed an Amazon order for the jig and mounting hardware.
I’ll go tentatively through the guide and give my own spin on the instructions. If someone else wanted to build a similar bed (or if I want to build another bed like this again in the future), I think it’s often helpful to read two perspectives on the same process. Without further ado, here’s how I built a bed.
Get your lumber. I have the king size cut list I used below, and I won’t go through the process of converting that to other sizes. I wouldn’t trust my conversion math, and there have been plenty of times that an idea looked good on paper only to have pieces not quite line up. Best of luck if you’re making another size! We used yellow pine, since it is readily available in the southeast, but use your own judgment for good quality locally available lumber.
Cut List:
After you have cut and sanded your lumber, install the the mounting hardware on the 4x4 posts and 6’6” side rails. I laid out individual sides just to make sure I didn’t accidentally get one of them backwards and allowed my wife to select what sides would be outward facing and visible. I then assembled the individual bracket sets, ensured that the slot apart properly and placed them at the appropriate place between pieces laying on the ground. I then marked the screw holes with a pencil on each board, drilled the pilot holes, screwed in the hardware, and slotted them back together on a per corner basis. It took a little more time swapping back and forth between drill and driver bits, but it allowed me to make sure I didn’t mix up the placement of anything.
With the interior side up, lay the 2x2 on top of the 2x6 side rail 0.5” from the top edge of the rail. This will leave just enough of a gap for the slats to sit flush with the top of the side rail. If you have some clamps available, clamp both ends so that the 2x2 doesn’t move around. If not, just have someone stand on the center. Drill pilot holes and screws at each end. With the whole thing steady, go along the length of the 2x2 drilling pilot holes and adding screws every few inches. This doesn’t have to be perfect, since it won’t be visible on the outside, but the side will hold most of the weight. Add more than you think you’ll need. We placed screws probably 6” apart, but you could add as many as you want.
With that done, you should have 2 full side pieces assembled. Leave those where they are and drill angled jig holes in your footboard. Our jig came with instructions, but it was pretty simple to use. If you’re worried about getting it right, test out a few holes on one of your scrap pieces of lumber. The original design used a pair of screw holes per end, but you could double that to 4 holes per end if you wanted to be extra sturdy. It seems solid enough as is, especially since the footboard doesn’t individually support a lot of weight, but the option is there. Screw the footboard onto each of the bottom posts and attach them to the sides again just to make sure everything still lines up.
Once the panel is finished, lay the 4x4 posts face down on either edge and attach the panel between them. With the mounting hardware creating a small gap between the 4x4 and the ground, you may have to use wood shims to line everything up properly. Just take it a corner at a time and ensure that the face of the panel meets the edge of the 4x4 at a pretty clean angle. After the panel is attached to the 4x4 at all points, you can go back and shift the position of the screws if anything doesn’t line up properly.
Stand up the headboard and attach it to the side rails. At this point you should have the full outer frame of the bed assembled. If the angles don’t line up properly, loosen the screws in the mounting brackets, attach them as if you are assembling the bed, and screw them back in. Congratulations, the hard part is done!
Since the height of the 2x4 supports needs to be flush with the underside of the slats and may not be at a consistent height on the headboard due to minor fluctuations in the gaps, there is a process to get the fit consistently right. Find the point ⅓ of the width of the footboard. For the king size, this is 2’ from the edge. Mark that point as the center of the 2x4 support. Measure 0.5” down from the top of the footboard. This is where the top of the 2x4 should sit. Measure 3.5” down from that mark, as this is where the bottom of the 2x4 should rest. THEN, find the distance between that bottom mark and the ground. This is the height at which you should put the support on the headboard. You can’t consistently measure where the 2x4 cradle should go from the edge of the headboard, but equal height from the ground will make it level and even.
Where those marks are, screw in ~4” lengths of the 2x2 scraps in the form of a U. This is an inexact science and simply ensures that the 2x4 sits stable. The gap between the two vertical pieces has to be at least 1.5”, the true thickness of a 2x4, but you could definitely make it 2” and leave a little wiggle room. As long as the gap isn’t so wide that the 2x4 can rock completely over, it should be fine. The top edge of the bottom piece should be level with the bottom mark you made earlier, allowing the 2x4 to sit right underneath the slats when you drop it in. In total, there should be four U cradles: two on the headboard and two on the footboard.
Drop the 2x4 supports into their cradle to ensure that they fit right. They don’t have to be particularly snug, but they should be able to hold weight. The slats will distribute weight across the supports, and the whole thing should settle some once the bed is assembled and the mattress is on top. Basically, just make sure that the 2x4 can’t slide out of one of the cradles and drop.
With the frame assembled, the last step is to attach the slats. Measure along the length of the side rail, marking every 3” on the 2x2 board. Once both sides are marked, place the plywood slats in every other space, leaving 3” between each slat and a 3” gap before the headboard and footboard. Screw in the slats and the bed should be complete.
One thing to note, the original source post was intended to be super portable. Our design is a little less portable, but a little more sturdy. Our slats were individually screwed into the 2x2 support, which resulted in a middle section that is fully interconnected. The headboard and footboard come off, but both sides and the slats between them come as a package. Little more of a pain to move but I don’t see it coming apart any time soon.
You can disassemble the bed by lifting on the side rail up away from the headboard and footboard. Be careful that you don’t let the headboard or footboard drop, as nothing will be holding them up when you lift away the second side rail. To reassemble the bed, place the headboard and footboard, add the 2x4 supports, and drop the side rails in place with the mounting brackets.
A wise man once told me, “if it doesn’t seem sturdy, put another screw in it.” Thanks, Bubba. Words to live by.
References:
Ananda. (2024, March 5). DIY BED Frame & Wood Headboard ($1500 look for $200!). A Piece Of Rainbow. https://www.apieceofrainbow.com/diy-bed-frame-headboard/
Rantz, J. (2021, August 25). DIY outdoor bench in 30 mins w/ Only 3 tools!: Plans by Rogue Engineer. Rogue Engineer. https://rogueengineer.com/diy-outdoor-bench-plans-with-back/
The whole thing started when my wife and I got a king mattress and we were looking into options for the bed. After we sold our house, we tossed our queen bed and mattress. They were both pretty beat up and we were interested in getting a king size anyway because of how often the kids end up in the bed with us. Figured it’s one less thing to move and store. We got a king mattress (I’m not above sleeping on a mattress on the floor) and decided we would postpone the bed for a little while.
I don’t know if y’all realize, but beds are expensive. We looked at a couple of beds at a few different stores and none of them really fit what we wanted. They were either prohibitively expensive, they looked like they would break if I sat down on them too hard, or both. I’m a big guy and I’ve broken beds several times before. I want something that would hold up to plenty of abuse.
My wife threw out the idea of me building a bed myself: no kit or template, just following a guide and assembling it myself from lumber and screws. She sent me a few different guides and asked if I thought I might be able to make them. Sure enough, they seemed reasonably simple. One guide in particular had a raw wood look that goes with the modern farmhouse style of the house without looking unnecessarily difficult.
The problem (and I say this with as much respect as possible) is that the guide reads like a social media influencer writing a guide for a woodworking project. Yes, that is exactly what it is, but it isn’t as helpful as, say, a woodworking expert writing their own guide. Ananda gives a lot of photos and extraneous information, and the actual project details are sometimes confusing or potentially incorrect. For comparison, Rantz gives only a few helpful photos and diagrams, and explicitly lists instructions with clear detail. The site was still super helpful; I couldn’t have built the bed from scratch with just my own imagination for inspiration. However, I ended up using the guide more for rough suggestions than explicit instructions.
The original guide was written for a queen bed, but tentative steps were given to convert that to a king bed. Fortunately, one user Joe commented on the post with a cut list for the king size variant. Since I was also building a king bed, that made my life substantially easier. I went to Lowe’s to pick up the lumber and placed an Amazon order for the jig and mounting hardware.
I’ll go tentatively through the guide and give my own spin on the instructions. If someone else wanted to build a similar bed (or if I want to build another bed like this again in the future), I think it’s often helpful to read two perspectives on the same process. Without further ado, here’s how I built a bed.
 |
| Source: Ananda |
Get your lumber. I have the king size cut list I used below, and I won’t go through the process of converting that to other sizes. I wouldn’t trust my conversion math, and there have been plenty of times that an idea looked good on paper only to have pieces not quite line up. Best of luck if you’re making another size! We used yellow pine, since it is readily available in the southeast, but use your own judgment for good quality locally available lumber.
Cut List:
After you have cut and sanded your lumber, install the the mounting hardware on the 4x4 posts and 6’6” side rails. I laid out individual sides just to make sure I didn’t accidentally get one of them backwards and allowed my wife to select what sides would be outward facing and visible. I then assembled the individual bracket sets, ensured that the slot apart properly and placed them at the appropriate place between pieces laying on the ground. I then marked the screw holes with a pencil on each board, drilled the pilot holes, screwed in the hardware, and slotted them back together on a per corner basis. It took a little more time swapping back and forth between drill and driver bits, but it allowed me to make sure I didn’t mix up the placement of anything.
With the interior side up, lay the 2x2 on top of the 2x6 side rail 0.5” from the top edge of the rail. This will leave just enough of a gap for the slats to sit flush with the top of the side rail. If you have some clamps available, clamp both ends so that the 2x2 doesn’t move around. If not, just have someone stand on the center. Drill pilot holes and screws at each end. With the whole thing steady, go along the length of the 2x2 drilling pilot holes and adding screws every few inches. This doesn’t have to be perfect, since it won’t be visible on the outside, but the side will hold most of the weight. Add more than you think you’ll need. We placed screws probably 6” apart, but you could add as many as you want.
 |
| Source: Ananda |
With that done, you should have 2 full side pieces assembled. Leave those where they are and drill angled jig holes in your footboard. Our jig came with instructions, but it was pretty simple to use. If you’re worried about getting it right, test out a few holes on one of your scrap pieces of lumber. The original design used a pair of screw holes per end, but you could double that to 4 holes per end if you wanted to be extra sturdy. It seems solid enough as is, especially since the footboard doesn’t individually support a lot of weight, but the option is there. Screw the footboard onto each of the bottom posts and attach them to the sides again just to make sure everything still lines up.
 |
| Source: Ananda |
The headboard is created as a full panel that is then screwed into the upper posts. Lay out a 2x6 for the bottom, followed by 10 of the 1x4 boards, and top it off with the 2x4. Each of these should be 6’ long, and form a pretty even rectangle when assembled together. To keep them justified to one side, line them all up and slide another piece of lumber up against one edge. This should square everything off and give you a very regular headboard. With the panels lined up, take your rear support boards and drill the jig holes. Without shifting the headboard too much, attach supports to each side. Then, attach the panel to the 2x6 on the bottom and 2x4 on the top. Finally, add the additional rear supports at even intervals. The original design had a single additional rear support in the center, but we added two supports at 2’ and 4’.
A quick and easy fix if any of your headboard pieces are slightly off, attach one of the rear supports to the even side and run a circular saw along the uneven edge. You don’t want to take off more than a few fractions of an inch, just enough to get everything lined up, but there should be enough play in the design that you won’t affect the fit for any other pieces. We had maybe a quarter inch difference between the longest and shortest panel, so cutting that quarter inch off gave us a much cleaner edge on the panel.
A quick and easy fix if any of your headboard pieces are slightly off, attach one of the rear supports to the even side and run a circular saw along the uneven edge. You don’t want to take off more than a few fractions of an inch, just enough to get everything lined up, but there should be enough play in the design that you won’t affect the fit for any other pieces. We had maybe a quarter inch difference between the longest and shortest panel, so cutting that quarter inch off gave us a much cleaner edge on the panel.
Once the panel is finished, lay the 4x4 posts face down on either edge and attach the panel between them. With the mounting hardware creating a small gap between the 4x4 and the ground, you may have to use wood shims to line everything up properly. Just take it a corner at a time and ensure that the face of the panel meets the edge of the 4x4 at a pretty clean angle. After the panel is attached to the 4x4 at all points, you can go back and shift the position of the screws if anything doesn’t line up properly.
Stand up the headboard and attach it to the side rails. At this point you should have the full outer frame of the bed assembled. If the angles don’t line up properly, loosen the screws in the mounting brackets, attach them as if you are assembling the bed, and screw them back in. Congratulations, the hard part is done!
Since the height of the 2x4 supports needs to be flush with the underside of the slats and may not be at a consistent height on the headboard due to minor fluctuations in the gaps, there is a process to get the fit consistently right. Find the point ⅓ of the width of the footboard. For the king size, this is 2’ from the edge. Mark that point as the center of the 2x4 support. Measure 0.5” down from the top of the footboard. This is where the top of the 2x4 should sit. Measure 3.5” down from that mark, as this is where the bottom of the 2x4 should rest. THEN, find the distance between that bottom mark and the ground. This is the height at which you should put the support on the headboard. You can’t consistently measure where the 2x4 cradle should go from the edge of the headboard, but equal height from the ground will make it level and even.
Where those marks are, screw in ~4” lengths of the 2x2 scraps in the form of a U. This is an inexact science and simply ensures that the 2x4 sits stable. The gap between the two vertical pieces has to be at least 1.5”, the true thickness of a 2x4, but you could definitely make it 2” and leave a little wiggle room. As long as the gap isn’t so wide that the 2x4 can rock completely over, it should be fine. The top edge of the bottom piece should be level with the bottom mark you made earlier, allowing the 2x4 to sit right underneath the slats when you drop it in. In total, there should be four U cradles: two on the headboard and two on the footboard.
Drop the 2x4 supports into their cradle to ensure that they fit right. They don’t have to be particularly snug, but they should be able to hold weight. The slats will distribute weight across the supports, and the whole thing should settle some once the bed is assembled and the mattress is on top. Basically, just make sure that the 2x4 can’t slide out of one of the cradles and drop.
With the frame assembled, the last step is to attach the slats. Measure along the length of the side rail, marking every 3” on the 2x2 board. Once both sides are marked, place the plywood slats in every other space, leaving 3” between each slat and a 3” gap before the headboard and footboard. Screw in the slats and the bed should be complete.
One thing to note, the original source post was intended to be super portable. Our design is a little less portable, but a little more sturdy. Our slats were individually screwed into the 2x2 support, which resulted in a middle section that is fully interconnected. The headboard and footboard come off, but both sides and the slats between them come as a package. Little more of a pain to move but I don’t see it coming apart any time soon.
 |
| Source: Ananda |
You can disassemble the bed by lifting on the side rail up away from the headboard and footboard. Be careful that you don’t let the headboard or footboard drop, as nothing will be holding them up when you lift away the second side rail. To reassemble the bed, place the headboard and footboard, add the 2x4 supports, and drop the side rails in place with the mounting brackets.
A wise man once told me, “if it doesn’t seem sturdy, put another screw in it.” Thanks, Bubba. Words to live by.
References:
Ananda. (2024, March 5). DIY BED Frame & Wood Headboard ($1500 look for $200!). A Piece Of Rainbow. https://www.apieceofrainbow.com/diy-bed-frame-headboard/
Rantz, J. (2021, August 25). DIY outdoor bench in 30 mins w/ Only 3 tools!: Plans by Rogue Engineer. Rogue Engineer. https://rogueengineer.com/diy-outdoor-bench-plans-with-back/
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