Building a Wood Pallet Looking Bed Frame

Hello all and welcome to my project! My daughter had asked for me to make her a pallet bedframe for her room so after reviewing some of the complications of using real pallets from lumberyard’s or disposal sites. I had concerns due the chemicals that go in into the treated ones, mold, mildew, smell, and pollutants from products stored on the pallets themselves. Also in many I looked at the sheer amount of prep work to get a smooth surface seemed pretty crazy.

With all of that in mind I decided to use new wood for the project but still tried to keep the pallet look. The bed itself I created in three pieces for ease of moving around and weight. The frame ends up being right at a foot high and honestly could make a lot of storage in it as well but I had specific instructions 😁

Supplies

For this project here is a list of tools you should need : framing square, speed square, wood clamps, cordless drill (or two as I use one for drilling and the other for screw bits), wood bits, hammer, wood glue, nail set and some type of air nailer. Also for safety you should wear safety glasses, a mask during cutting, and gloves if needed.

For finish of the bed frame you’ll need some type of power sander or hand sand if you’d like. A few sand blocks because there is hand sanding involved either way. When I was staining I just used chemical resistant gloves and rags for finishing the surface after it was smooth. Between coats I did use steel wool as well to make the finish smoother.

On different size beds the materials will vary. For the supports I used 1x4s sandwiching the blocks with 4x4s on each and and double 2x4s for the center. To keep the rough pallet look I used rough 1x4 furring strips for the cross support. On the headboard I chose to use 1x6s with 2x4s as support.

Step 1: Assembling the Supports & Squaring

i precut my boards first so it made assembly easier. Starting with the baseboards sandwich the 4 x 4‘s and double two by fours between the one by fours. Then you screws to attach them all together. Keep in mind some wood may require pilot holes to avoid splitting.

Once all those supports are complete and you have the cross supports precut to the width of your bed. Use the cross supports to square up with the main supports. Take your time on this part as if it is out of square it will affect the entire project.

Step 2: Installing the Rough 1x4s

Because of the height of my bedframe I aligned both layers of support by drilling through them at the same time with a long wood bit. Once the holes were drilled I left the dowel rods in place and proceeded to install the rest of the rough one by fours. Then I use the dowel rods to align the second support and secure them together with wood glue and screws.

Step 3: Second Layer of 1x4s

Once the main supports were glued and screwed in place from below and then attach the final surface of one by fours. Then I sanded the edges rounding them slightly and removing all rough surfaces before applying the stain. Now it’s finally finished I hope you enjoyed the project.