Make This Easy to Build Rustic Platform Bed

Today I'm going to show you how to make this easy to build platform bed.

Check out the video above for the build! If you like it, please subscribe to my YouTube channel and checkout some of my other projects while you're there!

Now, lets start making some dust fly! Grab the plans here and follow along as I walk you through how to make this easy to build rustic bed!

Supplies

Materials

Lumber of choice
Glue
Pocket hole screws - 1-1/2"
Surface Mounted Keyhole Bed Rail Brackets
Center bed rail fasteners
Osmo PolyX - Oil

Tools

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Step 1: Rough Cuts

Making the rough cuts and laying out your material always takes longer than one might expect especially when you’re working with reclaimed lumber.

I like to pick the best boards to make the framing pieces from. This makes the joinery more solid and allows for use of the boards with more character to be utilized where strength isn’t as necessary.

Step 2: Make Headboard & Footboard

The first thing to do is to start milling lumber and gluing up what will become the headboard and footboard panels.

Once the glue is cured, a few trips through the planer bring us to the proper thickness.

With the headboard and footboard panels to final thickness, I cut them to final size using my table saw and Kreg ACS.

I then milled the legs and top caps to size using the same process as above.

After sanding all of the parts to 220 grit, I was ready for assembly.

I referred to my plans for the proper panel inset and used a combination of plywood scraps to achieve this distance. Next I screwed each set of legs and panels together using pocket hole screws.

With that finished I centered the top cap, clamped it in place, and secured it with screws.

Step 3: Make Bed Rails

The bed rails are pretty straight forward to build for this design. Once stock has been selected and milled to the proper dimensions a strip of wood is screwed to the inside of each rail. This piece will support the bed slats which will ultimately support the mattress.

Step 4: Install Rockler Bed Hardware

The Rockler bed hardware makes assembly of this bed quick and very secure. Simply position the hardware as needed, pre-drill with the Rockler center drill bit and secure the pieces with 1” wood screws (not included with hardware).

Before moving on to the other rails, test that the hardware allows for correct assembly of the pieces.

Step 5: Install Rockler Center Support Hardware

Since this is a queen sized I opted to add a center support between the bed rails. To keep the installation of this piece easy I used Rockler’s Center Support Hardware. It’s important to make sure the top of this support is coplanar with the bed rail supports. Otherwise the bed slats will not site flat.

Step 6: Finish As Desired

Before installing the bed slats it’s time to finish the bed. For this particular build the customer wanted to go with the natural color of the reclaimed southern yellow pine. I finished the piece with Osmo PolyX - Oil which is a very easy finish to apply and repair if necessary.

Step 7: Install Bed Slats

In the interest of expediency, I used 1x4s for the bed slats. However, these could certainly be made from dimensional lumber and milled to 3/4" thick by 4” wide.