DIY Pretty Practical Platform Bed

When I realized that Sophia could get out of her crib at 18 months and she had a baby brother coming in a month who would need her sleeping quarters I went looking for a bed.  I wanted to find something that would not kill her if she fell out of it.  I needed to find something that had some storage possibilities since at that time she was in a room that was basically all dormers and very little “room”.   I only hoped I could find a full sized bed that a child could sleep in for a long time!  Turns out it is sometimes better to build it and get everything you want!

I found something I liked at Pottery Barn called the Store-It Bed (no longer shown below *wink*).  I think I did a good job on re-creating the concept and I got the storage I needed – not the storage that only fits the expensive bins they make.  Pottery Barn wants $799 for this bed in a full size.   I made this bed for a little under $200 – including the large plastic storage bins!

I know usually I take a bunch of pictures, but I was really pregnant when I built this.  I used 3 sheets of hardwood double sanded plywood that was luckily on clearance at Home Depot.  Each sheet was $30! Every once a while they have a stack of this clearance stuff and I almost always pick some up to build stuff.  I had a friend help me make the big cuts because using a circular saw for ling rips when you are that pregnant is not smart or safe.  I used my pneumatic nail gun for all joinery.  Overall the planning took the longest at about 5 hours and I will post a link to my plans in case anyone is interested.  It was not easy to “fit” all the pieces into only 3 sheets.  The bed is in 3 large pieces.

The overall height of the bed is 16″.  Since there is no box spring and a standard 5 inch thick mattress Sophia sleeps at under 2 feet of height.  The overall size of the bed was planned for a full size with about 3 inches of extra space around the sides and 5 inches at the bottom.  I wanted to make sure there was room for little knees to help get up and down.  In addition, this will fit a queen mattress with no extra room.  Alternatively, I will have space to rest a headboard on if I chose to go that route and build a bookcase headboard and attach it to those extra inches!  I planned the storage box sizes underneath to fit these bright pink plastic bins I found at Target and some of Sophia’s larger toys.  You can see one of the bins and the doll crib in the picture.  Neither of these would have fit in the smaller spaces in the Pottery Barn bed and with the custom bins this $800 bed would have cost almost $1000 at PB – way over my budget!  Altogether there are 9 large storage cubes!  Thinking ahead and taking the time to plan wil give you the best results when building anything!

I also designed the length of the two top pieces so that if I ever do not want to use this as a bed they will fit perfectly across the wall in my upstairs foyer to be used as benches with some cute cushions.  This was a very smart idea since if we don’t use it for Miles and the girls need twin beds in the room we will have a huge seating and storage area in the foyer playroom!  Yay!  More PB furniture we won’t need to buy!

I essentially planned and built 3 large boxes, trimmed them out with simple 3/4″ trim and then painted them!

F.Y.I. I used a twin size quilt so Sophia would be able to see the bed and be as safe as possible.  It works great and it doesn’t bother me to see the bins and her stuff…well not too much anyway!  You could easily use a full mattress and a bed skirt and then you would have hidden storage!

Here is one more pic from the bottom of the bed.

Happy Building!

I am participating in Kimba’s DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land.  Check it out!

I am also linking up to Shanty 2 Chic’s I made it without my hubby party!  Yay!

I am linking this to the It’s So Very Cheri Knock Off Knock Out Party!

Finally, I am participating in Shades of Pink Room a Month Makeover.

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