DIY Bed for Aiden’s Big Boy Room

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Last week I shared my design plans to my son Aiden’s big boy room here, and today I’ll be sharing how I built the new bed in his room.  Please believe me when I say this was one of the easiest things I’ve ever built.  I know the thought of building a big, huge bed can sound intimidating, because I was intimidated too.  But I was shocked at how quickly it happened.  ONE nap time friends.  Yes, in one nap time (2 hours) I cut and assembled the entire headboard.

Let me show you how.

I first selected what kind of bed I wanted and I knew I wanted something very simple with clean, straight lines.  I searched Shanty-2-chic’s website for some of their beds, but nothing was screaming at me.  I then went to Ana-white’s website and found a bed that was super close to what I wanted but not exact.  It was still a little too much.  I read through the plans in detail and decided I would just stop at a certain point and not add some of the extra stuff on it to get the simple, clean look I was going for.

I decided on the reclaimed wood headboard plans found here and that I would stop at step 4 of the plans.  These plans are for a queen bed which is what we have in Aiden’s room and I went through and wrote down how much wood I needed with stopping after step 4 of the plans.  I bought select pine at Lowe’s.  The wood is a little pricier than whitewood for example but it doesn’t require any sanding or prepping prior to finishing it.  Seriously saves so much time and is worth every penny to me.

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I won’t be explaining every single step of the build because the Ana white plans are really good and you can follow more detailed steps there.  I didn’t alter these plans at all and used the exact dimensions given in her tutorial.

I started by assembling a 1×3 and a 1×2 in the picture above to create the sides of the headboard.  Nail gun and glue to attach them together.

Then I cut the boards that would go across to create the back of the headboard.

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The plans called for just attaching the boards to the sides I just made in the previous step by nailing them on each side.   I decided to add my own step and attach all the boards together FIRST before attaching them to the sides.  I did this because the boards were slightly wonky and the back of the headboard wouldn’t have been completely flat, or flush and you would see ridges between the boards.  I didn’t want that.

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So thats why you see all of these pocket holes in the boards that I drilled using my kreg jig.  Then I attached them together with kreg screws.  This part took by far the most time and was a step I added myself.  If you chose not to do this and just follow the plans, you could build this bed even quicker than I did!

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So now that I had one big piece, I attached it to the sides from the first step.

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Already looking like a headboard, right?

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I added another 1×3 to each of the back sides.  This makes the legs really chunky and sturdy.

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Then flipped the headboard over to the front, added trim to the top and bottom, and wah-lah!

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That’s literally it!  I immediately got to staining.  And like I said, I didn’t have to do any sanding or prep work.  The wood was ready to go.  I used minwax special walnut stain and gave it 2 coats.

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The big boards you see at the bottom of the photo above are the boards I used for the bed frame.  My main goal was to cover the box spring which was about 9.25″ thick.

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I bought three 1x10x8’s to make the frame.  I drilled pocket holes using my kreg jig at both ends of the two side rails.

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In the picture above you can see the original brown bed frame.  I actually turned it around backwards (as seen below) so that I could first attach the foot rail to it using a nut and bolt.  Then I was able to use the kreg jig holes to screw the side rails into the foot rail.

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Here you can see the general assembly idea.  Foot board bolted to the bed frame, then side rails screwed into the foot rail and eventually into the headboard.

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Above is an up close of the joinery on the edges.  And yes, boards were temporarily being held up by toy trucks during the process.  You just gotta grab what you see.

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I kreg screwed the side rails into the headboard the exact same way I did to the foot board.

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And somehow I did all of my measuring correctly because the box frame fit like a glove!

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And here is the finished product!

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You’re getting to see a little sneak peak of the amazing pine tree decals on the wall next to his bed.  I can’t wait to show you how it all looks together soon!

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Here’s a reference picture for where the bed sits in the room in relation to the door.

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Yes, the wheels from the bed frame are still visible from some angles, but it doesn’t bother me.

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Here’s the bed with our little guy’s bed rail so he doesn’t fall out 🙂

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What do you think of his new bed?  It was such a easy build, right?  The total cost for the headboard was $123 and the cost for the side and foot rails were $78.  All in all, I absolutely love it and think it’s perfect for his new woodland bedroom.  Comment and let me know what you think, or if you have any questions.  I love hearing from y’all!

Sneak peak of his rug can be found here.

Sneak peak of his pine tree wall decals can be found here.

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7 Comments

  1. Looks awesome! My only recommendation is to try pre stain wood conditioner, it helps make the wood take the stain more evenly and you don’t get the splotchiness. However, if you are going for that more rustic look, please disregard! Either way, I am just so impressed with your work!! It’s just amazing!!

  2. Beautiful job! I am about to embark on my fifth DIY headboard and am poking around looking for something new to try. Love how your son’s bed came out, such a great build!

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