Best Bed Frame...Ever or make a bed with storage out of milk crates

 So I have been moving around a lot and had accumulated a large amount of milk crates, but after unpacking had no where to put them and had my mattress on the floor.  So I combined the two making a really great place for storage and no clutter (i.e. milk crates lining my wall).

What you will need:
About 20 milk crates or other similar sized storage (I used a mixture of crates, boxes and plastic tubs)

Step 1 Arrange the crates

 Not all of my crates/boxes were the same size so I tried to put the larger ones at the head of the bed and used flattened boxes to raise the level of the others while also adding a little cushion.

Comments

[ArtsyFartsyGirl]

My entrance hallway is 9' long and 4 1/2'wide, and I considered it a major waste of space til I decided to make a "bookcase" out of crates! Along with an actual bookcase that is 6' tall, I can house a lot of "stuff" like books, books, and more books, also beading supplies, and sewing supplies. Fortunately, most of them are the same color, black, and the ones that are different colors, I have put in the center so they don't look thrown in. And I still have plenty of walkthru space since the crates are only 12-13" deep. What a wonderful, free resource!!!!!!

[sharonr]

If you move a lot, the cardboard boxes in the middle are now stored for your next move, way to reuse! Plus it saves having to search for decent boxes later.

[eghan]

If you use I sheet of plywood, you can also add shims, small blocks(pieces of said sheet of plywood), to raise the level of the bed a bit. This allows for more crates to be used as accessible storage under the entire bed. If both long sides of your bed are open, you end up with 100% accessible storage space. A bit of prioritizing may be desirable as the center crates require a bit of a shuffle. Also, if a your bed is set in a corner you can fairly safely stack two crates high providing for a much improved bed height, and easier storage. Best is to cut several 2x4's to the length of the bed and use them as both shims and as support for a thinner sheet of plywood.

[sway]

I did this years ago and it works great. Also if you have something important to hide away the center crates are great. The average burglar will only work "so hard" before skipping out. You can also use a bedskirt to disguise the fact that your using milkcrates for furniture. Plus it's prettier.

[vm11238]

If you add a sheet of ply wood to the top of the crates ,it makes for a smoother "feel".it levels it all off and then you can staple a dust ruffle around it to hide the clutter as well!  the crates have been used in my family thruout my life different relatives have used this idea- like when they first bought their houses and money was tight till they could get new beds for one or all . right now ,i have an autistic son who is jumping repeatedly on beds and he already broke one down- so guess what? Crates ! its done , wont be buying a bed till he grows out of it  either. takes about 6-8 crates to fill the size of a twin bed. I dont lay mine on the side becuz I see that they kind of collapse over time so  I have them in the original position and store tools and everything books you name it.just lift up the matress and get it when I need it,works for me:0)

[hawkfrost64]

 this is brilliant!

[kosmicslop]

I have often thought about this.  I'm running out of places to put books in my room and my mattress is on the floor.

Does anyone know how many milk crates it would take to sufficently support a twin, full, etc. bed.

[anknee]

 I am not sure on how many because some come in different sizes, but I just filled with spare boxes/tubs.  I thought I would tie it together too but after sleeping on it, it really isn't necessary.

[kosmicslop]

And I was thinking that maybe you could tie it all together with those plastic rip cord (or whatever they're called) that you wrangle cords with.

[adidame]

Where did you get the big crates? 

[anknee]

 I think they came from WaWa but I don't really remember...mostly I accumulated them one by one.

[lemonie]

I liked having the mattress on the floor, but this is a step up from that, nice job.

L