Affordable Modern Platform Bed

By creede

Half inspiration and half "How To" this post will show you how I made an affordable modern platform bed for under $300.

Design. This is where you should spend a good deal of time. There are a lot of things that go into the design process, including, but not limited to: the space your bed goes into, your budget, your handyman skills, green products or not. You get the point. This particular project shown above was for a good friend. The budget was around $300, the space was small, I was fairly handy and had access to quite a few tools.

The actual bed is two separate parts, the top, and the base. We'll start with the base. I made the skeleton out of cheap 1/2" plywood. It eventually got covered with the nice walnut as show in the picture above. The base was made out of 4 separate pieces that were bolted together. I did this to maximize portability in case they ever moved and wanted to break it down into small parts. A sketch of the skeleton not bolted together is shown below.

Sketch of modern bed base

The top didn't get the mitered (45 degree) corners the base got. It was just a 90 degree but joint, which doesn't look quite as nice, but it makes putting the finished walnut on a lot easier. I made it out of four different parts as I did with the base which were then bolted together. I did this for the sake of portability in the future. The overall dimensions of the top are about 6" wider per side, and at the bottom to get the overhang I wanted. It sits flush at the top of the bed to save space in the room. (note, my sketches are not really to scale sorry)

top skeleton of bed

Next is the hardest part, using walnut ply (about $90 a sheet, ouch) cover everything that will be seen. This means using mitered edges where all the plywood joints meet. I used a tablesaw with the blade at a 45 degree angle, but you could use a circular saw with a straight edge clamped to the plywood. Take your time and think about everything three times before you cut. The space in the middle of the bed I spanned with multiple 1x4 pine slats.

To finish it I used a water based minwax polyurethane. Put a coat on, sand with 600 grit sand paper, repeat x 3. On your last coat sand with 1200 grit sandpaper for the glassy finish.

Enjoy.

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November 17, 2006

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sillygirl

May 10, 2007

I'm moving into a new apartment in June... totally going to build this bed for myself, but thinking of adding a headboard, maybe with floating nightstands. Anyone know how to build a floating shelf??

Chrisjob

January 25, 2007

If you do use a circular saw, PLEASE get a plywood blade before cutting into a $90 sheet of plywood. I learned this from experience. Also, cut with the finish side down (consider this when cutting you 45-degree angles). I've also read about using painters tape over your cut line, which works with a drill bit, so I reckon it would work with a circular saw.

sparkie

January 20, 2007

Nice looking....good job!

creede

December 19, 2006

No box springs at all. I just used pine slats to span the distance and put the matress on top of them.

Obstinatus

December 19, 2006

Did you recess a box spring into the platform?

Obstinatus

December 17, 2006

Wonderful. I've just added one of these to my project list!

LittlePinkStar

December 02, 2006

love love love it :) genious work~!

zenbeauty

November 20, 2006

great work!

Goody

November 18, 2006

nice...my honey wants a platform and this is one that i actually kinda like

creede

November 17, 2006

I glued the walnut ply to the 3/4 ply that the carcass was made out of, and then screwed them on from the inside to suck everything up nice and tight. That way nothing is visable from the outside.

bruno

November 17, 2006

How do you put the walnut ply on? Finishing nails? Wood glue?

urbanmom

November 17, 2006

I love that idea!

benmoore

November 17, 2006

Wow. that's really cool creede. Nice work.