Lay out all of the bed pieces that came in the box, including the headboard and footboard. Lean the headboard against the wall.
Slip the long screws into the holes in the headboard. Place a washer on the end of one of the screws sticking out of the backside of the headboard toward the wall, and tighten the nut over the screw. Repeat the process on all four screws on the headboard.
Place another washer over the end of the screws that are sticking out facing away from the wall. Place the rails onto the screws. Slip a washer onto the screw and tighten a nut over the screw on all four screws.
Slip four more screws into the other end of the bedrails. Place the washers over the ends of the screws that are facing the headboard and screw a nut over each of them. Slip one washer over each screw facing away from the headboard.
Hold the footboard up to the bedrails. Slip the screws through the holes in the footboard and place a washer and nut over the end of each screw that sticks out of the footboard. Tighten the screws in place.