My son needed more room in his bedroom...and to be rid of the very girly furniture he inherited when he moved into his "big boy-ish" bedroom. At 10 yrs old, it was high time he got a bed that wasn't pink-tinged, white washed pine with 4 posters and enough curlicues to choke a forest. He also needed a desk which I couldn't really fit in his room with the armoire and chest of drawers that came with the Queen sized bed.
So off to Ikea we went and I saw a black loft bed for $300, but it was really, really high which meant I would have to cut it down and it was not sturdy at all. I looked at PB and saw the $1800 bed. Um, no - that wasn't happening. So, off to Ana-White I went and I'm so happy I did!
I built the full sized version of these plans and, to keep costs down, used wood I had on hand. This meant I had to work a bit at the cuts, but it all worked out.
Mods:
1) I modified the railings to have the ladder at the end of the bed to keep away from the ceiling fan.
2) Because I put the ladder at the end of the bed, I got very nervous about having a soon-to-be teen climbing on to a ladder secured to a 1x10 that was only connected to the side railings with glue and screws. So I sandwiched extra 1x3s over the bottom rails and attached them to the top railing.
3) I was very nervous about making sure that the bed was adequately supported so I put a 2x4 down the center instead of the 1x2.
4) I went a wee-bit overboard screwing things together to the point where it's a bit embarrassing and now I have to paint over the screw heads.
5) I made the ladder treads with 2x4's, modifying the inside spacer board cut lengths.
Because I had quite a bit of lumber on hand, the bed only ended up costing me about $90.
For the bookcase, I did end up buying the 1x12s and the adjustable shelf railings. I made the book shelf the entire width of of the bed and split the two sections based on width of the 1x24 board I bought for the desk. I only put the backer board up half way so that the daylight could get underneath the bed and make it not so cave-like.
The book case cost me about $70.
The desk was the easiest...but most costly item. A 1x6x24, 4 table legs and the table leg mounts ran me about $80. The plexiglass top that I had cut for the top cost me about $80.
Time wise, this would have taken me a lot less time than the 4 months it took - but I worked on it as I could and when I could, by myself. I got some friends to help me bring it upstairs and put it back together, but it was mostly done when I could fit in some time.
My son LOVES this and it really does give him so much room!!! Thanks Ana - I really appreciate it!
Comments
Pam the Goatherd
Mon, 04/15/2013 - 09:17
Love it!
Love it!
hponce28
Sat, 09/20/2014 - 16:06
Thank you!
Thank you!
melimew
Sat, 07/26/2014 - 07:37
Beautiful !
Looking forward to do one like this !
Do you still have the measurement for the back you have raised ?
Really nice !
Thanks :-)
hponce28
Sat, 09/20/2014 - 16:33
Thanks! The height of the
Thanks! The height of the back and sides is 28 inches.
jdaybama
Tue, 11/18/2014 - 17:38
Great plans and easy to follow!
We made the bed and it looks awesome! Thanks for making the plans easy to follow and providing the picture, which was a fantastic reference. I do have a question for you in regard to how you hung the beg. We would like to hang this from our porch, but can see that we simply have 2x4 roof trusses. We are concerned that the weight of the bed (pretty heavy) plus mattress and support plus a person may be too much. Any additional information you could provide on how you hung the swing would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!