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.

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.

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Beds