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Our youngest daughter moved into her own apartment in June and asked Mr. DIY to make her a Queen size Farmhouse bed.
He stopped everything
and got right on it.
This bed requires a moderate level of skill to make and not for beginners.
This Farmhouse bed is a platform bed, which means you only need a mattress and don't need a box spring. We also built this bed higher than usual because our daughter wanted to store containers underneath.
Here's how we made our queen Farmhouse bed:
To make the legs:
Stack 3 pieces of 1 x 4 for the legs.The front board is 1" x 4" x 12". The two longer boards in the back are 1" x 4" x 15 3/4".
Glue and nail the pieces together.
Oops, he nailed the front of the leg, instead of the back, by mistake. Easily filled with wood putty.
I wanted a curve, instead of a straight leg, so we made a cardboard template and cut the leg accordingly.
Make the footboard
Here, the leg was attached to the foot board, which consisted of 2 pieces.
The front piece you see is 1" x 6" x 61 1/2".
The back piece of the footboard is a 1" x 4" x 52 7/8"
(this pic was taken after painting) You can see here that the cleat behind the foot board rail and is raised 1/4" from the bottom (which leave 1 3/4" from the top). This allows the mattress to sit 1" down in the rail once a piece of 3/4" plywood is placed inside the frame. (you'll see this later)

Make the side rails
The side rails are made in the same fashion, with a 1 x 6 and a 1 x 4 cleat, but are cut to 80" (measure your mattress and make the side rails to fit accordingly)
The Headboard
Make the channels that the center boards of the headboard fit in
This photo below shows one of the channels that the boards will set into.
Insert planks into the channels
9 of these planks from Lowe's were used for the center part of the headboard and fit between the channels. They are cut to 61 1/2"
Insert planks in one of the channels. Planks will be vertical inside the horizontal channel, which will be on the ground.
Place the other channel on the planks - use a mallet or hammer and block.
Here's a photo of the left channel with the planks in place. The planks are beadboard on the back of the headboard, but we liked the wider side, so that's what we used for the front.
2 pennies were used for spacing between boards.
Use blue tape to hold the pennies in place until the boards are screwed together. There are 9 plank boards cut to 61 1/2".
Screw the channels to the boards
This is the back of the headboard. (notice the beadboard).
1 screw was used per board.
Here's the headboard with all the boards in place, but without the top of the frame and the top cap.
To make sure the headboard is perfectly square, measure it diagonally in both directions and make sure the measurements are the same.
Add the top frame of the headboard
The top frame of the headboard at the top of the boards matches the side pieces (the 2 arrows point to this piece). The front board is a 1 x 3 ripped to 2 3/8, the back piece is a 1 x 4 and both are cut to 56 5/8" in length. Add the top cap
The top cap (black arrow pointing to it) is a 1 x 4 ripped to 3 1/4", cut 63 3/4" long. These front and back boards were glued and nailed from the back. The top cap was glued and nailed from the top.
Add the cleat for the head of the bed (on the headboard)
On the bottom part of the headboard, there is a matching rail made of a 1 x 6 and a 1 x 4 sandwiched together in the same fashion as the side rails and was cut to fit the space.
Assemble the bed The side rails and foot board are attached to the headboard with brackets/no-mortise bed rail fittings
purchased from Amazon. 2 1/2 sets are needed for the side rails and foot rails. You'll need more depending on how many cross rail supports you decide to use.
No-Mortise Bed Rail Fittings- (note that the pic shows the brackets upside down- they should be installed the opposite way so the large part of the hole is at the top)
After the bed is assembled, the rails extended past the leg, so a filler was added to the leg. (see pic above) Here the filler is dry fitted to see how it looked. The piece is a 1x 3 ripped to 2 1/4" x 12" long.
Add the cross rail supports
Since there are no center legs, three 1 x 4 cross rail supports were cut to length and attached with the same brackets.
Add the platform support


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Disclaimer: The above post is how we made our farmhouse bed. We don't take any responsibility for any errors or results obtained from using this information. When using power tools, use safety equipment.
That's amazing! You guys did a wonderful job on it- love the design! I bed your daughter loves it a lot. Can't wait to see it finished!
ReplyDeleteWow--truly amazing!! People would pay a lot of money for a wonderful bed like that; she's a lucky girl :) Thanks so much for the visit to my blog today and the sweet comment--
ReplyDeleteLove it!!
ReplyDeleteDo you have measurements to make it a full size
ReplyDeleteKelli, we made our farmhouse bed for a Queen, which is 60 wide by 80 long. A standard Full mattress is 53" x 75". It's always best to measure your mattress and adjust accordingly.
DeleteLove it! This will go in my, DIY want to build file.I have big ideas, but do not have all of the tools, or the room! Thank you
ReplyDeleteWhat size was your plywood in the middle? 3/8", 1/2"? Thanks
ReplyDeleteThe plywood that the mattress is set on is 3/4"
Delete