DIY Mid-Century Modern Bed Frame From Old Boxspring

It's been a long time since I shopped for a new mattress and box spring and had no idea that the standard thickness was so deep! For me, that meant the combination of mattress and box spring on a standard metal frame was too tall. As someone who is short, it was hard to comfortable get in and out of bed.

So, I set out to create a bed frame that would hide the box spring with legs short enough to lower the bed to a comfortable height.

A while back, we found a bunch of really high-quality shelves that had been set out for trash pickup. We picked them up not knowing what we would ultimately make from them.

When the shelves were turned upside down, they reminded me a of mid-century design. I decided to design a bed frame around them and old stripped box spring.

Supplies

Links to all supplies can be found at MotherDaughterProjects.com

Found or on-hand Supplies

Queen-size box spring (plus an extra deconstructed box spring to cut apart to use as parts)

Shelving (The shelves I used were 34” long, and 10 3/8” wide with about a 3/4” overhang. The shelves were about 3/4” thick.)

4” Hairpin legs 

Wood Glue 

Rust-Oleum gloss spray paint 

Rust-Oleum gloss paint 

Zinsser BIN primer 

T-Rex Tape

Tools for Construction

Ryobi Brad Nailer 

Kreg Pocket Hole Jig 

Rockler Clamp-It 

Makita 10” Sliding Miter Saw

Makita Cordless Drill 

Tools for Deconstruction of box spring

Ryobi Bolt Cutters 

Bernzomatic Torch 

Osborne claw tool 

Double Rock Staple Remover 

Dremel SawMax

Step 1: Watch the Video

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Step 2: Deconstruct Box Spring

Deconstruction of the box spring starts with the removal of all the textiles. There are lots of staples holding everything in place that need to be removed. The Osborne claw tool and Double Rock Staple Remover helped to remove all the staples.

The metal parts are attached with staples that need to be removed. We then used a Ryobi bolt cutter to cut apart the metal for easier removal. Watch your fingers as the cut metal is sharp.

This is the box spring wood base all cleaned up. We torched those little bits of textile fluff in the upper right-hand corner rather than try to remove them by hand.

My new bed frame will replace an old king-size bed. This is one of the box springs from that bed. I'm cutting sections from the sides to use in the new build. The cuts are easily made with a Dremel SawMax

Step 3: Construction of the Bed Frame

I wanted to add additional support on the sides of the bed. This is where I'm using those pieces I cut from the second box spring. In hindsight, I should have placed these new pieces just a bit off the edge to make the frame a bit wider. When the new box spring was put into the new bed frame, the fit was just a bit tight. Even a quarter of an inch on each of the sides would have helped.

Prior to construction, I cleaned all the wood shelves and legs with Krud Kutter cleaner. I also spray-painted the legs at this point.

The side pieces are connected to each other with pocket holes.

I wanted the two front corners to beveled which I cut on the miter saw.

The corners were glued and secured with brad nails. This Rockler Clamp-It Clip and T-Rex tape helped to keep everything tight and in place until the glue dried.

While the parts were up on the table, we used wood fill on the corners and other connection points.

Step 4: Attaching Sides to Bed Frame

We dry-fit the sides to the bed frame to determine where to cut the shelves. We found it easier to turn the bed frame over to secure the frame to the sides with clamps and then glue and brad nail the sides to the bed frame. The bed frame was painted with Zinsser BIN primer.

Step 5: Finishing

Once the frame was attached to the sides, we moved it to our work tables to finish painting and added the legs. When it was dry, we moved it inside. We dropped in the box spring and mattress and discovered it was a tight fit, but it ultimately worked. We dressed the bed and we were done!

For more detail, please visit our website, MotherDaughterProjects.com