Construct a Cozy Built-in-Bed
Use this hands-on know-how to build a one-of-a-kind bed.
December 2008/January 2009
By Steve Maxwell
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Construct a cozy built-in bed using this design and you can create space for bookshelves and convenient storage all at the same time.
LEN CHURCHILL
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Imagine waking up nestled in a snug alcove designed especially for sleeping. It’s a place where wood and fabrics come together to create a protective nook that’s also a great place to spend time reading, knitting, sketching or thinking. This is the allure of a built-in bed, and it’s a surprisingly easy feature to add to any home. It’s also something that you’ll never find in stores. True built-ins aren’t for sale — they’re one-of-a-kind home improvement projects, requiring site-specific woodworking and renovation skills. Sound difficult? It’s not. Follow the principles here and your built-in bed will make your home a cozier place, while also delivering some efficient storage space.
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Every built-in bed is like a tiny room the size of your mattress. That’s why it makes sense to begin planning with two things in mind: the size and shape of the space you have available for your built-in, and the size of the mattress you intend to use. Every other design detail orbits around these two starting points. During this project, you might even want to turn your bedroom into a temporary workshop. That way you’ll never have any doubt about the size of parts required. Simply cut them to fit the various openings and spaces. If necessary, you could cut parts outdoors or in a workshop, but this requires a lot more trouble carrying wood to your saw.
Success with a built-in bed involves three main phases: creating a rough framework, establishing a mattress support surface, then adding decorative details and storage features. Take a close look at the illustrations below. They show the universal construction details necessary to make your built-in bed a reality.
Step #1: Frame the Walls
This bed requires two walls — one at each end. You can create a built-in bed anywhere you like, though the work is easier and more economical if you make use of existing interior walls and corners wherever possible. This approach reduces the amount of framing required, while also making it easier to create a solid enclosure.
Consider locating your bed to include a window. Natural light, fresh air and even a bird feeder just outside are all big advantages that a window offers. Remember that the job of securing the walls and support structure is much easier if you locate your bed so it runs parallel to floor and ceiling joists, not perpendicular to them.
Begin by removing baseboards and quarterround on the wall where your bed will go. An effective — but expensive — tool for cutting existing trim while it’s still in place is the Fein Supercut . You also can pull entire lengths of trim off, then cut and replace it where necessary when your bed is done.
Start by framing the partitions that form the head and foot ends of the bed. Although you could use 2-by-4s or 2-by-6s, 2-by-8s are best for two reasons. First, they create walls with a more pleasing thickness for a project this size — narrower studs simply look too thin. Secondly, 2-by-8s offer the option of creating useful shelves within wall cavities. The illustration (found in the image gallery) shows how to arrange individual studs to create an open area in the middle of each wall for storage, plus the horizontal framing members you’ll need to work into your wall to support the mattress. Details shown on the illustration assume a top-of-mattress height of 25 inches above floor surface. You may need to tweak the design, depending on the thickness of your mattress and how high you want it to be. But before you get busy with any of this, you need to understand something fundamental about building a wall to fit between an existing floor and ceiling.
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