How to make a bed from timber at home: drawings, tools, step-by-step manufacturing instructions

Self-production of furniture and beds, among other things, provides many advantages: exact required dimensions, high strength, long service life. There are a lot of materials that are used to construct a bed. But it’s easier to work with lumber. One option is a bed made of timber.

Possible implementation options

Option 3. The classification is based on the height of the structure:

1. Floor, aka podium. This is a bed without legs. The supporting structure lies on the floor base and there is no free space under it. This is the simplest option for implementing a timber bed in terms of manufacturing and financial costs.
2. Standard model, height 50-60 cm.
3. High. Its height is 80 cm. Typically, such structures are built in small rooms where additional storage space is required. There is a lot of free space under the bed where you can build drawers on guides or on wheels.

These 3 models cannot be taken as a basis. These are simply the standards used by furniture makers. You can choose any height. In this regard, there are no restrictions, only common sense.

As for the design, the design can be standard, that is, with a headboard and footboard - these are 2 sides. It may be without them or without a foot. If a bed is being built for a children's room, then variations on the design theme increase significantly. For example, a model with an attic made of timber or bunk bed. The latter can be assembled with a regular staircase or a side one, which is made in the form of a chest of drawers.

But one point must be taken into account.A bed made of timber is a massive structure, so it is better not to install it in small rooms. In addition, it will not fit into all interior design styles.

A few recommendations from professional designers:

1. If the house uses a country style, then it is better to use a log, not a rectangular beam, to make a bed.
2. If this is a loft style, then it is better to use untreated timber. The furniture should be rough. Ideal if the room has a brick wall.
3. In the classics, timber can also be used, but it must be decorated with thin and graceful lines. For example, a headboard made of bent boards with an ornament. Here the standard model is selected.
4. Provence is also no stranger to a bed made of timber. You just need to paint it white and cover it with a bright blanket.
5. The timber does not fit into the Art Nouveau style. This direction has the main distinctive features - smoothness, roundness, fluidity and flexibility. A straight beam cannot provide this.

Step-by-step instruction

The entire assembly process must be divided into 2 stages:

• Preparation;
• assembly.

At the first stage, lumber is prepared, which is calculated taking into account the size of the bed. The timber is trimmed and prepared here.

At the second stage, parts of the bed are assembled, which are then connected into a single structure. Next, the issue of finishing is decided.

Preparatory stage

You need to sketch out a drawing of the bed and, in accordance with the number of elements, purchase timber.

Furniture makers recommend making a bed from 3 species: oak, beech or cedar. All three are characterized by increased strength, which guarantees a long service life of a piece of bedroom furniture.

Timber from these species is not cheap, so if your budget is limited, you can use lumber from other trees: pine, larch, ash, etc.

Drawing of a bed made of timber

You need to start by determining the installation location. This is important in the sense that many people want a large bed, but there is no space in the room for it. Therefore, it is necessary to measure the area of ​​the room with the area of ​​the bed. Because you need free space to move and install other pieces of furniture, for example, bedside tables, a wardrobe and others.

Next, you need to draw the structure as a whole and in detail on a blank sheet of paper. It is important to draw every detail and indicate the dimensions. This will simplify cutting to the required dimensions and further assembly into units and into a single structure itself.

If you make a bed from timber with your own hands for the first time, then problems may arise with creating a drawing. Despite its apparent simplicity, this is not so easy to do. Especially draw and accurately set the dimensions of each part. Therefore, you can take the finished drawing as a basis. For example, as in the photo below.

What tools and materials are needed

Here you will need a standard set of carpentry tools:

• a hacksaw, if you have a circular saw, it is better;
• drill;
• screwdriver;
• carpenter's square;
• ruler, tape measure and a simple pencil.

The materials used are timber and boards, as well as fastening materials:

• self-tapping screws;
• steel perforated corners for connecting parts;
• sandpaper;
• putty for wood;
• colorless varnish, stain - if needed.

The main structural element is timber. You can buy a section of 100x100 or 150x150 mm. Boards will also be needed, but only for making the headboard and lattice elements for the base under the mattress. Here you need boards 30-40 mm thick.The lattice must be laid on supports, which will themselves be attached to the internal planes of the frame. They can be made from timber with a section of 50x50 mm.

Manufacturing of elements

All elements of a timber bed are manufactured strictly according to the drawing. Some of them will be in pairs, which makes them easier to mark. You cannot make a mistake here, especially if the size applied is less than the required value. You can extend the timber, but in the case of a bed this is not necessary.

Frame

This bed unit is the main one. Its shape is a rectangle. Therefore, it has paired sides with the same dimensions. They are applied to the timber and cut with a hacksaw. Afterwards, the cut ends are processed to maximum precision. This is why cutting with a circular saw is better than using a hand saw. The cut is straight at an angle of 90º. There is no need to modify it.

Now about connecting all 4 beams into a single structure. Here are several methods on how to do this to ensure high strength and reliability. The most difficult thing is to make cuts at the ends of the elements being connected. It can be a half cut or a dovetail. Next, the 2 beams are connected using an adhesive composition.

Another not-so-easy option for making a frame is to use wooden pins or dowels. You need to file the ends to be joined in half and drill through holes in them where a wooden pin is inserted. In this case, both the pin itself and the contacting planes are treated with glue.

The simplest option, which is suitable for those who are assembling a bed from timber for the first time, is to use steel perforated corners and self-tapping screws. No sawing or glue, although the latter can be used to strengthen the fastening of elements.

This is done like this:

• joined 2 beams:
• placed a steel perforated corner in the corner of the connection;
• tightened the latter with self-tapping screws no less than 70 mm long.

Here it is important to accurately join the 2 elements at right angles. Therefore, it is recommended that the entire assembly process be carried out on a level surface. The joining surfaces can be coated with an adhesive composition. Although this is not necessary.

There is one method on how to correctly assemble a frame structure in terms of right angles. To do this, the beams are laid on the sides of the rectangle and the adjacent ones are connected to each other with one self-tapping screw. Here it is necessary that the structure does not move apart.

Now you need to measure the diagonals of the rectangle. If they are the same, you can proceed to installing the mounting angles and fastening them with self-tapping screws. If the lengths of the diagonals are different, then the rectangle will have to be aligned by shifting the corners.

For example, for a floor model, a rectangle made of timber is a ready-made base. You can subsequently lay a lattice on it under the mattress, and, in principle, the bed is ready for use. It turns out to be a sofa, and if you attach the headboard to it, you will already have a full-fledged bed.

From this floor model you can make a structure with legs. Raise it off the floor. And there are many options on how to do this correctly:

1. Cut 4 pieces from 100x100 mm timber, 20 cm long.
2. Install them vertically at the corners of the rectangle, and attach them to it using perforated tape and self-tapping screws.
3. Lay them not vertically, but horizontally under the short or long side of the bed structure. 100 mm – small height. You can increase it by stacking not one beam on top of each other, but 2-3.

The frame is formed differently, in which the base is the supporting legs. Their length depends on the chosen design.Because the legs usually additionally serve as the basis for forming the headboard and footboard. If the latter are present in the design, then the length of the racks is selected taking into account their height. They will either be the same, or the 2 at the head will be longer than the 2 at the foot.

Assembling such a frame does not mean connecting beams together to form a rectangle. This is their fixation to vertical supports - legs. Although there is an option when a rectangle is first assembled, and then support posts are attached to it. Their location is inside the corners of the rectangular frame.

The overall assembly of the bed is complicated by the fact that the legs will take up some space inside the frame structure. Therefore, the lattice of the lounger will not be rectangular, but with cut-out corners for the legs. And although this is also easy to do, this option is not always chosen when a timber bed is made with your own hands.

Since beds come in single and double sizes, there are some points that apply to the latter. Their frame-frame is assembled in exactly the same way - into a rectangle. But to increase the rigidity and stability of the double bed, another beam is added in the middle. It is laid lengthwise, attached to the transverse sides with the same corners and screws. The intermediate beam is attached to them on both sides. This will ensure maximum reliability, because the middle of the bed is often subject to heavy loads.

Base

The base of the bed refers to the lattice on which the mattress is placed. It is usually made from wooden boards. This can be a separate structure, then bars with a section of 50x50 mm are added. A rectangular frame is made from them.

It should be smaller than the bed frame.In this case, the external dimensions of the first should be slightly smaller than the internal dimensions of the second. The reason is so that the first one can fit inside the second one.

In order for the lattice to be laid inside the bed frame, you need to secure several 50x50 mm bars with a length of 20-30 cm every 10 cm along the inner surfaces of long beams with self-tapping screws. You can use not sections, but a solid long beam. Its location is 5 cm from the top edge of the bed frame beam. Essentially, these are shelves on which the grille will be placed.

How to build a lattice.

1. A frame is assembled from 50x50 mm timber in the form of a rectangle. The elements are connected to each other with self-tapping screws.
2. Boards 25-30 mm thick and 100 mm wide are mounted across the assembled rectangle. The distance between them is 100-250 mm.
3. Connection method: self-tapping screws.

There is a base option that will not be removable. To do this, the prepared boards for the grid are attached with self-tapping screws to the shelves on the frame frame. This simplifies the bed layout and assembly.

The disadvantage of this design is that if it is necessary to disassemble it, you will have to remove each board and number it so that the sequence of connections is not disrupted during assembly. Although this is not so important, experience suggests that it is better to put the board in its place.

Headboard

Before you make a bed from timber, you need to accurately imagine the final product. Will it have a headboard or not? On the one hand, this detail of the bed is not the most important. But it is she who makes the bed what it is. At the same time, the headboard is decorative. The more beautiful and unusual this detail, the more beautiful and unusual the bed itself.

Making a headboard is based on imagination. There are a huge number of variations. And the simplest one is 2 boards located crosswise.There may be a gap between them, or maybe not. Another simple option is narrow boards installed vertically. They can be processed or even unpolished.

The most common option for assembling a headboard is with attachment to the legs. The frame is assembled on legs, 2 of which are long. Their height is determined by the tastes of the owner of the house. The headboard elements are attached to them, for example, perpendicular boards.

The headboard can be added to the structure of a timber bed as a separate element, but already finished. Or the frame-frame is assembled separately on racks, and decorative elements are mounted to the latter.

If the bed is a floor bed, then the headboard can be attached to the frame as a separate finished element.

Step by step assembly

The instructions for assembling a bed from timber are simple. But here one point must be taken into account, from which individual parts and blocks it will be assembled. You can assemble a bed from individual parts in the form of beams and boards of different sections, using each part sequentially. You can assemble the parts separately and then connect them into a common structure.

It cannot be said that one option is simpler than another. But in terms of preparation, the second method is better. To do this, the details of each part are prepared separately. Of these, this part is collected and set aside. It is already ready, so its parts will not interfere with the assembly of other parts.

The finished parts of the bed are assembled into one structure:

1. The frame-frame is assembled from 4 timbers, which are pre-cut to the required lengths.
2. A lattice is assembled from boards and bars (also pre-prepared).
3. The last part is the headboard.
4. If the frame is assembled on legs, then the latter must also be cut to the required size.
5. All parts are assembled into one structure: the frame to the legs, bars in the form of shelves to the frame, a headboard is mounted, a lattice under the mattress is placed inside the frame-frame.

A bed made of boards is assembled in exactly the same way.

Finishing and decor options

The step-by-step instructions for assembling a bed from timber do not take into account finishing. Because wood is already a beautiful material. And it is not necessary to bring the surfaces of the beams to a ground or polished plane.

Sometimes it is enough to apply stain to simply change the shade. But more often the timber is coated with colorless varnish. At the same time, wood defects also do not have to be repaired.

But there are many wood finishing technologies. Here are a few that are often used:

1. Coloring. Acrylic-based paints are best suited for wood. The reason is that the paint applies smoothly, leaving no streaks, and the structure of the wood is clearly visible through the applied layer. By choosing a shade, you can decorate a timber bed to match a certain style of the bedroom interior. For example, cool blue will fit well with the Scandinavian style; yellow, sand or brown will fit into the classics. Peach or orange are for country.
2. Decoupage. This technology for decorating old pieces of furniture was invented by the French. Drawings are cut out from colored napkins and used to cover the surfaces of the beams. Ready-made pictures are sold in stores. Depending on the style of the room, they are selected.
3. Stencils. They are also sold in a wide variety in stores. Application technique - the stencil is applied to the surface, and the free areas are blotted with a sponge dipped in paint. You can use spray paint.
4. Upholstery.For this, fabric is used to cover areas that require decoration. This is usually how the headboard is designed. But it makes sense to consider the load-bearing beams of the frame, especially wide ones. Therefore, the blanket may not cover them completely.

A bed made of timber is furniture that, although massive, is reliable. It will serve more than a dozen years for more than one generation of home owners. Even if you make it yourself, it is original and will decorate your bedroom.

Has anyone made their own bed out of timber? Write in the comments how you did it, what design you chose, what difficulties you encountered.