In 2015, we upgraded from a full size mattress to a queen. Our Ikea bed frame, which pre-dated our marriage, was no longer able to hold our mattress. I had a good idea of what I wanted to replace it, but I couldn’t find anything that I was willing to pay for that looked like what I wanted. I looked for plans to build a frame, but I didn’t really like any of them, either, so I decided to do it on my own.

Here are my original plans.

I built my frame out of 2×4’s, 1×10’s, 1×4’s, and some scrap wood.

I based the 2×4 frame’s measurements on the dimensions of the mattress, with a little added width and length (1-2 inches) so that we could change the sheets without too much of a struggle.

Everyone helped.

(The circular saw by my kid’s foot was unplugged. Safety first.)

The frame was so big that I had to assemble it in place.

I spaced the 1×4 mattress support slats based on the mattress manufacturer’s requirements. Those are attached using smaller screws (my plans above say I used 2″ screws). Gentle reminder: if you try this at home, don’t forget to drill pilot holes.

I’m not a master carpenter, so I did everything with a circular saw, a drill, and some basic tools like a level, a square, and some clamps. For the main frame pieces and the legs, I used 3 in. wood screws.

We don’t do the family bed at our house, and I wanted to make the frame tall enough that small people would have a hard time getting onto it. I measured for that specifically when I was attaching my legs. I used a weathered 4×4 post that was kicking around our backyard for the legs – I lacked the muscle, and more importantly, the patience, so my husband cut it into four equal pieces for me.

I cut the 1×10’s I used to wrap the frame at a 45 degree angle (you can see that above on the far left) so they would look a little more crisp. I ended up putting the corners that weren’t as tight toward the head of the bed where they were less visible, and I caulked them so they would look cleaner. I painted and primed them outside.

When dried, I clamped them in place and screwed them on from the inside of the frame.

I initially painted the outside pieces turquoise, but hated it right away. Just a couple days later, I added some acrylic craft paints to the original paint color (mainly red) to achieve a matte greige, which I have kept.

Practical note? After three years, this bed does not squeak.

From the time I started cutting and assembling the main frame till it was in our room and painted the final grey color, it took seven days.

Quilt notes: I was inspired by this quilt from Urban Outfitters. It’s no longer available, which doesn’t really matter, because while beautiful, the quilt was getting terrible reviews. Apparently, it fell apart after one wash, and the seams ripped easily. There was no way I was paying for bedding that couldn’t stand up to machine washing. So using the photo in the link, I made a list of the general types of prints there were in the quilt, how many of them, and the colors, and then I started looking for good substitutes. I purchased 12 fabrics in all, and ended up using 11 of them. I backed it with a microfiber sheet. If I could go back, I would have used cotton and prevented a lot of headache during the machine quilting phase (the microfiber pulled and bunched), but the microfiber was the right color. The cotton sheets were not quite the right color, and much more expensive. Besides the difficulty with quilting with microfiber, the fabric is just slippery, so it tends to fall off the bed if most of it is on one side -AHEM – a side that is not my side. Nonetheless, it’s great as a summer weight quilt, and I still love the color scheme. It has been washed many times and still looks great.