Bed house frame

[Scott Welty]

I have a client who would like me to build one of these for their child.
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She says these are NOT connected to the walls. I can only imagine how shaky a structure like this might be. Also, I'll have to assemble it on site as this will not fit through doors. I'm to build a 'box' for the mattress with slats on the bottom and sides just below the top surface of mattress. My thoughts so far...
1. make out of oak 2x2 (actual 1.5 x 1.5) that I'll make by gluing up regular 1 by stock. Box out of oak veneer 3/4 plywood.
2. I can build the ends in shop and attach the long pieces on site
3. I can maybe attache the verticals with hanger bolts (like building an upside down table) or with pocket holes to the box.

Any suggestions for strength and stability most welcome!

Scott

[lowell holmes]

Metal or wood plates on the corner joints would stiffen the structure. Without them,
I suspect it will be a bit wobbly.

[Jamie Buxton]

You're building the bed, right? Why can't you connect the frame to the bed? That would stabilize it a great deal.

[lowell holmes]

You're building the bed, right? Why can't you connect the frame to the bed? That would stabilize it a great deal.

I also concur.

[Scott Welty]

As I said (but not well) I do plan to connect the frame to the bed via hanger bolts or pocket screws. I too think that will help.

Thanks,
Scott

[Dave Richards]

Evidently that image came from Etsy. If you search there, you can find lots of images of similar beds and I think enough detail to see how it would need to be built.

[johnny means]

I've got a lot of experience with children's furniture. First off, you may need special insurance on such a product. That being said, I would make sure my 215 pounds could do gymnastics on that thing before I dared deliver it.

[Cary Falk]

I wouldn't make it out of wood. Only metal will hold up.

[Marv Pelkey]

Scott,

I actually built a very similar bed frame for my grand-daughter about a year ago. I don't have the exact specs handy so some of this is from memory.

I used 3 inch ash legs about 7 feet tall (3 inch square at the base up to about 2 1/2 feet, then tapered to about 2 inches at the top). These were made from thinner stock that was glued up to 3 inch square. The side rails were 8 inch wide, 3/4 inch thick plywood (with 1/2 x 3/4 hardwood on the edges) , with a hardwood 1 1/2 square stock along the inside to support the slats and 1/2 inch ply bed platform. The head board was the same plywood and edging/railing, but was about 3 feet wide and the foot board was a bit narrower than the head board.

I built a removable frame around the top, with rails along the sides as well as the head and foot, then an A frame at either end. This frame is attached to the top of the legs with those screw/bolt things (screwed down into the top of the legs and bolted through the wrap around frame). When she gets a bit older and wants to remove the frame, I included some turned finials to replace/bolt to the top of the legs.

I used metal bed "hooks" at the end of each rail to connect to the legs (not sure what they are called but they are mortised into the rails as well as the legs and the pieces at the end of the rails hook into slots on the metal in the legs. The weight of the platform (and persons on the bed) force the hooks into the slots and keep the bed secure and steady. I would recommend this method and not the use of pocket screws. If I recall, I think I got them from Lee Valley (I'll try to confirm this).

To top it off, the wife fabricated a canopy and sides (with a roll up door and windows and roof vent). Also easy to remove for when she grows up.

The entire structure is very skookum and sturdy ( for safety and peace of mind, I went overboard in the building of it) and didn't even consider using metal as has been suggested. It has been a few years, has held up extremely well and it is in the same shape it was when delivered (built it in BC Can. and drove it down to Denver Co.).

I have a couple photos that I will try and attach (never tried attaching photos before so hope it's fairly easy). They show the bed with the canopy attached, but don't have any without the canopy. Unfortunately, as a result, they don't give an unrestricted view.

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Let me know if you need any further info.

Cheers,

Marv

ps, sorry for the sideways format, couldn't figure out how to flip them.

[Marv Pelkey]

Just checked the Lee Valley site and the hardware is "mortise bedlocks". They have three sizes available and I used the largest size. Reasonably priced and good quality. I'm sure they are available elsewhere. And I mentioned two timeframes in my initial post, 1 year and a few years. Just to clarify, the bed is now just about three years old (time flies) and holding up well.

Marv

[ray grundhoefer]

as Johnny Means said, [ looks like a lawsuit waiting to happen ]