At a glance
Finished dimensions
Overall sizes
- Mattress (example, measured)
- 39 × 75 in
- Inside the frame
- 40 × 76 in
- Outside
- 46 × 82 in
- Rail top
- 14 in from the floor
- Slat top
- 12-1/4 in from the floor, 1-3/4 in below the rail top
Materials
| Item | Quantity | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Hardwood or straight softwood, surfaced | About 32-1/2 board feet of finished parts | Example size; buy extra for waste |
| Bed bolts with barrel nuts | 4 sets | Hole sizes and positions from the hardware's instructions |
| 3/8 in dowels | 8 | Alignment only, not glued |
| Glue and screws | — | Ledgers to rails; slat locating screws |
Cut list
| Part | Qty | Dimensions | Material |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corner leg | 4 | 3 × 3 × 14 in | Hardwood, or two 1-1/2 in layers glued |
| Side rail | 2 | 1-1/2 × 5-1/2 × 76 in | Straight-grained |
| End rail | 2 | 1-1/2 × 5-1/2 × 40 in | Straight-grained |
| Ledger | 2 | 3/4 × 1-1/2 × 76 in | Glued and screwed to the side rails |
| Centre rail | 1 | 1-1/2 × 3-1/2 × 76 in | On edge |
| Centre leg | 3 | 3 × 3 × 8 in | Under the centre rail |
| Locating block | 2 | 3/4 × 1-1/2 × 3-1/2 in | Screwed to the end rails beside the centre rail's ends |
| Slat | 14 | 3/4 × 3-1/2 × 39-7/8 in | Example count; see spacing |
Tools
- Saw for long rips and crosscuts
- Drill with a guide for straight bolt holes
- Clamps
- Drill/driver
Sizing the frame to your mattress
- Measure the mattress, not its label: sizes differ by maker and country.
- Inside of the frame = mattress + 1 in each way, so it drops in without binding. The example's 39 × 75 in mattress gives 40 × 76 in.
- Side rails and centre rail = the inside length (76 in). End rails = the inside width (40 in). The legs sit outside them, so the outside is the inside plus 6 in each way.
- Slats = inside width less 1/8 in (39-7/8 in). With n slats 3-1/2 in wide, the gap is (inside length − 3.5 × n) ÷ (n + 1): fourteen slats in the example leave 1.8 in gaps. Many mattress makers state the support and maximum slat gap their mattress needs; follow yours, adding slats until the gap meets it.
How it goes together
- Knock-down corners. Each rail end meets a leg with one bed bolt through the leg into a barrel nut in the rail, and two unglued 3/8 in dowels to stop it twisting. The bed comes apart for moving; drill hole sizes and positions as the hardware's instructions give them.
- Rail height. Legs are 14 in; rails are flush with their tops, so the rails' bottoms are 8-1/2 in from the floor.
- Slat support. A ledger glued and screwed along each side rail's inner face, its top 2-1/2 in below the rail top, carries the slat ends. A centre rail on edge, its top level with the ledgers, rests on three 8 in legs and carries the slats' middles.
- The mattress's lip. With 3/4 in slats on the ledgers, the slat tops sit 1-3/4 in below the rails, which keeps the mattress from sliding.
Building it
Frame, supports and slats
Cut and mark the parts
Cut rails, legs and the centre rail to the cut list, choosing straight-grained stock for the rails. Label each corner so the bolt holes match on reassembly.
Drill the corners
At each corner, drill the bolt hole through the leg into the rail end and the barrel-nut hole in the rail's inner face, as the hardware maker's instructions set out, then drill the two dowel holes with a doweling jig.
Fix the ledgers
Glue and screw a ledger to each side rail's inner face, its top 2-1/2 in below the rail's top edge, using how to use wood glue for the glue's open and clamp times.
Assemble the frame
Bolt the four rails to the legs where the bed will stand, with the dowels in place. Check the inside is square by measuring the diagonals.
Set the centre rail
Stand the three centre legs under the centre rail — one at each end, one in the middle — with its top level with the ledgers, and screw its ends to blocks fixed to the end rails so it cannot shift.
Lay the slats
Space the slats evenly, as calculated, and fix each with one screw at each end so they cannot walk. Sand edges smooth before the mattress goes on.
Safety— Not for cribs or bunk beds
In the US, full-size and non-full-size cribs are regulated children's products (16 CFR parts 1219 and 1220), and bunk beds have mandatory requirements for guardrails and openings (16 CFR parts 1213 and 1513), set by CPSC. This plan is for an adult bed at floor height and gives no crib or bunk bed design. No load rating is claimed; cutting long parts follows woodworking safety rules.
Before cutting
- Mattress measured, not taken from its label
- Inside, rail and slat lengths worked out from that measurement
- Mattress maker's support and slat-gap requirement checked
- Bolt and barrel nut instructions in hand for hole sizes
- A route to the bedroom wide enough for the longest rail
All the furniture plans are listed in the coffee table plan; long, straight cuts are covered in cutting wood straight.
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Sources
A BenchRoot design for an adult bed; the worked example's dimensions are on the drawing and in the cut list as final sizes. Mattress sizes differ by maker and country, so the frame is sized from a measured mattress. Slat spacing and support should follow the mattress maker's requirements. Bolt hole sizes come from the bolt and barrel nut maker's instructions. The design was not built or tested for this page, and no load rating is claimed.
- 1.
Full-Size Baby Cribs Business Guidance (16 CFR part 1219). U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Used for: Full-size cribs as a regulated children's product under 16 CFR part 1219, with set interior dimensions and a Children's Product Certificate — why crib plans are not given.
- 2.
Bunk Beds Business Guidance (16 CFR parts 1213 and 1513). U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Used for: Bunk beds regulated under 16 CFR parts 1213 and 1513, with guardrail and entrapment requirements — why bunk bed plans are not given.
- 3.
Chapter 4: Moisture Relations and Physical Properties of Wood. USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory — Wood Handbook, FPL-GTR-282, 2021.
Used for: Wood moving across its grain and very little along it; the rails' and slats' lengths stay stable.
About this project
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