Welcome to week four of our Master bedroom makeover which is part of the One Room Challenge! If you’ve missed the last few weeks, lets catch you up! Week 1, I shared with you my inspiration for this makeover. Week 2, you finally got to see the dreaded “before” pictures Dun, dun, dun!! And last week, I shared with you a tutorial on how to build and install a simplified board and batten treatment on your walls! It’s been exciting folks!
This week, I’m excited to have partnered again with Home Depot to show you how to make a simple platform for your bed. If you haven’t caught on yet, we love SIMPLE! Yet, we love the look of haute design, because really, who doesn’t?! But not all of us can afford to have hire a company to come in and build these feature walls or bedroom pieces for us. So between last week and this week, we hope you will feel confident that you could tackle either of these projects with limited woodworking skills, limited budget and not a ton of materials.
Similar to last week’s post, we didn’t have our paint in yet, so I wasn’t able to share with you the finished look of the board and batten nor will I be able to show you to completed look of the platform with skirting and nice bed linens (although we will tell you how to complete the project below). But don’t you think that will make the final room reveal that much more exciting?!
So before we dive into the tutorial on how to build a simple platform for your bed, let me share one picture that I shared over on my Instagram this weekend. This was after our paint finally arrived and we finished the board and batten! Doesn’t it look incredible?! I can’t wait for you to see the whole space with it installed! Even our kids walked in and gasped, saying it looked like a brand new room! There’s also a few items that we’ve started collecting for the new room, including our first ever fiddle leaf fig tree! I am SO excited about that!
So, let’s get to building!
You might ask yourself why you would want to build a platform for your bed instead of just going the traditional route and using bedrails and a boxspring. That’s a fair question. All of my life, I’ve always have bedrails with a boxspring and mattress and you probably have too. Now think of all the times you’ve stubbed your toe on those evil bedrails!! Come on…you know you have! It’s like they are predators lurking in the dark just waiting for the right moment to great your toes with a hearty kick in the face! Ok, perhaps that’s a bit extreme. But they aren’t your friends, that’s for sure.
While that is reason alone to want to seek an alternative method to hold your bed up, there are others reasons as well.
When you go to purchase a bed, typically, the bedrails and boxspring are all separate from the mattress purchase itself. A good set of bedrails and/or frame can run you anywhere from $100 upwards of $1000+, depending on the type of frame you purchase. A boxspring is typically another $100-$300 on top of that.
You can build a simple platform bed like we are about to show you for around $100, depending on the types of materials that you use. So it really can be a cost saving solution when outfitting a bedroom.
Thirdly, it’s really solid! Again with those darn bedrails…they can become very squeaky and even start moving over time. With a solid wood platform like this one, you won’t run into those problems. They aren’t going anywhere and definitely aren’t squeaking every time you roll over.
So let’s get into it, shall we?!
How To Bed A Simple Bed Platform:
1. Measure Your Bed
Before you get started on this project, it’s important to measure your current bed so that you know exactly the size and amount of materials you will need. You are actually going to be building the bed frame one inch shorter than your mattress on all sides. This is so that the bedskirt can hang nicely as well as to avoid you stubbing your toes on the wood!
2. Select and Purchase Materials
When doing this project, there are many different kinds of materials that you could use. We chose to go with the simplest design possible for simplicity sake and therefore we chose dimensional framing lumbar. It’s affordable, readily available and easy to work with.
We have a low profile boxspring and therefore we chose large 2×10 planks. If you have a larger boxspring, you may want to choose 2×6 or 2×8 planks.
Materials Used:
– 2×10 Dimensional Lumbar
– Oriented Strand Board
– Heavy Duty 4″ Wood Screw
– 11/4″ Wood Screws – 2 boxes
3. Assemble Box
First, you want to cut two boards that are one inch shorter than the width of your boxspring or mattress (you are wanting the platform to be one inch shorter all around the bed).
Next, you will want to cut your boards to length. Measure the length of your boxspring/mattress and from that length, subtract one inch for clearance and then subtract the thickness of your two end boards that you’ve already cut.
Then, screw the top and bottom boards onto the ends you cut for length. And then screw them all together.
4. Build Interior Support
Measure the width of the inside space of the frame and cut a board fit. Place the board in the center of the frame, horizontally and screw into place.
Repeat this step, going vertically. Measure the height from the inside of the center support to the inside of the top of the box. Do this again from the center support to the bottom. This will mean that you will end up with two vertical pieces, each being attached to either side of the center support.
Screw both pieces into place.
5. Build Top of the Platform
Measure the full width of the bed frame. Cut your OSB to equal the width of the frame. Then measure from the outside edge of the top board, to the center point of the center support. That’s the length that you want your board to be.
You are going to want to repeat this step going from the bottom outside edge of the box to the center and cut the board to length. This means that you should end up with two equal size pieces of OSB that once placed on top of the bed frame, will meet in the center of the center support.
Screw into place with any type of 1″ wood screws.
6. Sand Down
As a finishing touch, you will want to sand down any rough edges with a palm sander. You could also paint the platform if you want to, but if you are planning on putting a bedskirt over it, which we are doing, that isn’t necessary.
Speaking of bedskirts, ours didn’t arrive in time for the picture! So you’re going to have wait to see what the finish platform looks like on reveal day…which is only two weeks away! For now, here’s a picture of it looking pretty bare, but with the mattress back on top of it!
Building this simplified bed platform is honestly so easy and a cost savor instead of getting a traditional bed frame and large boxspring. And you know you’ve stubbed your toe on that bed rails one too many times before to know that they HURT! You won’t have that problem with this platform!
Let me know in the comments below if you have ever considered building a bed platform for your bed or perhaps share a horror story about how one of those bedrails ate one of your toes!
That’s it for this week, my friends. But make sure to come back next week as I will have not one but TWO posts dedicated to this room makeover as I share with you the paint and finishes (including the most amazing pendant light) we’ve selected as well as the custom drapery and pillows we’ve had made! They are just gorgeous! You won’t want to miss it!
Love & Blessings,
