Simple Bed (Twin Size)

Ana, I love your blog. I'm looking for some additional insight on how to screw the boxspring frame to the headboard/footboard. You say,"Screw into the headboard, and screw at an angle into the four posts." Is all the screwing done from the inside? How long should the screw be? I don't want to end up with a squeaky bed (like my current bed is). Any tips? Have you ever used bedrail hangers or lagbolts?

Lag bolts would be the way to go. The most important thing to remember here is that the legs support all the weight, which is then carried by the side rails. So you will want to fasten the siderails to the legs, and not just the headboard and footboard (although the headboard and footboard are also fastened to the legs and are very sturdy). The easiest way is to "toenail" your screws from the siderails into the posts, which basically means start by drilling at an angle from the inside of the siderail, drilling into the leg posts.

I just want to note that another reader built this bed, sent me photos, and commented that her bed was much stronger than the Pottery Barn bed they just broke. Zero complaints about the sturdiness of this bed.

Hope this help! Ana

Thanks Ana!!

Ana, Mikk just finished building our second bed from this plan. We used "L" brackets to hold the 2x6 side rails to the 4x4 posts on the headboard and footboard. The bed does not move a single bit. WE love this bed plan and making it for our boys. I will send you more pictures of the 2nd bed when we have a chance.

My husband and I are so excited to get started making our own furniture! Being that we're completely new to the process, we made our first pricing run to Lowe's today and I'm not sure we know how to shop for lumber! The only pine we found was MUCH more expensive than mentioned in a previous comment. The 1x6's alone were $13 EACH, and we didn't even SEE any 4x4's where we were sent to look - Were we looking in the wrong place? The pine we saw didn't have many knots, either - was it the fancy kind? lol - needless to say we felt pretty clueless. Should we be looking for something else or is Lowe's just getting pricey?

Angela, are you in the south? We're having the SAME problem. We made some benches that called for 2x12's, those babies were $19 each. Only one choice (at Home Depot) and they were pre-sealed. I thought that was fine but turns out the seal gums up my orbital sanding paper almost immediately. It was a disaster. We ended up buying 2x6 instead and spent another $44 on those ($11 each x 4 for two benches). My hubby was a little more than ticked.

I don't think it's your shopping, I think it's just WAY more expensive down here.

We're in OK, so, yes, we're south-ish. Aw, that makes me sad! I was really looking forward to building our own, but at rates like these we might be better off financially buying our furniture cheap until we can afford to build something for quality.

Anna (et. all), I love Knockoff wood and am building this simple bed for my first project. My father-in-law and I are building it for my 2 yr. old son and are 'stuck' at step 3. In this step, it says to predrill through the 4x4 and use the 4" screws to attach to the headers. My question is should this be counter sunk half way through the 4x4 or just predrilled? The reason I ask is that if you don't counter sink the 4" screw, then it only goes in 1/2 inch into the header. Counter sinking seemed to make more sense, but I wasn't clear from the directions. Thanks in advance for your help and keep up the amazing work.
Thanks,
pauL

Hi Ana, I love this bed! Do you have any suggestions on how to convert to a twin XL bunk bed?