King size bed plan
Bill of materials
The list below assumes all the lumber is of clear of knots and defects. You should buy extra wood to be able to cut around pieces with defects in them, as construction lumber is usually full of knots and other defects. Its best to buy wider pieces of lumber and then rip them to the right width. You end up with higher quality lumber that way, because the larger trees that the wider pieces are cut from tend of be of better quality.. It may be better to buy seven 2x8x8' instead of the pieces marked with a star, and rip the appropriate sized parts from these.
| Part | Quantity | Used for
| 2x10 x 8' | 3 * | For headboard top horizontal, and footboard top horizontal
| 2x8 x 12' | 1 * | Bottom horizontal for headboard and footboard.
| 2x8 x 8' | 2 * | Side rails
| 2x3 x 8' | 3 * | For the posts
| 2x2 x 8' | 2 | Supports for slats
| 3/4" dowel | 6' | For cutting dowels from. Get 6' worth
| 2.5" #10 wood screw | 24 | To mount side rails
| 2.5" #10 wood screw | 10 | To screw slat supports onto side rails
| 3/4" dowel | 6' | For making the dowel pieces. Buy enough lengths to get 6'
| Wood glue | 200ml | At least 200 ml of wood glue.
| |
Overview
Cross section
Note how the slats rest on the ledge on the inside of the side rails.A rabbet in the end of the slats ensures that they rest lower so as not to add too much height.
Headboard
The holes for the dowels are best drilled by clamping the horizontal part and the post together, and then drilling the hole through both pieces at once from the outside, as illustrated below.
Footboard
The foot board is almost identical to the head board, just lower. If you who prefer to stick your feet off the end of the end of the bed, leave out the top horizontal part, and make the posts just 18" long.
Bed rail
The bed rail has a series of blocks on the ledge that supports the slats. The purpose of these blocks is to hold the slats in place laterally.Its best to glue and screw the 1.5"x1.5" support rail for the slats onto the main part of the rail, as all the weight is transferred through that rail (the screws are not shown in the diagram)
Slats
Cut the slats from 2x4 studs. Make 13 slats, 77.75" long.
Final assembly
The side rails are screwed into the posts when setting it up on site, and are meant to
come off again if the bed needs to be moved to a different room.
The slats are placed between the bed rails, and are not physically attached to the bed frame.
Also read my Building a bed article for a description of how to build a twin size version of this bed.
See also
-
Queen size bed plan
Other Bed plans
