This beautiful farmhouse bed can be made for just a fraction of the cost to buy - all from standard, off the shelf lumber! You won't need a pocket hole jig or any special tools to build.
This bed has been built thousands of times and is a reader favorite. You can also find the twin version, king version, and all our farmhouse bed plans here.

Preparation
12 - 2x4 8 feet long
2 - 2x6 8 feet long
2 - 1x10 8 feet long
2 - 4x4 8 feet long
1 - 2x2 8 feet long
6 - 1x6 8 feet long
4 - 1x4 8 feet long
100 - 1-1/4" long brad nails
75 - 2-1/2" long self tapping wood screws
HEADBOARD CUT LIST
2 - 4x4 @ 54"
2 - 2x2 @ 30"
11 - 1x6 @ 30"
2 - 1x4 @ about 60-1/2" - measure and cut to fit
1 - 2x4@ 67-1/2" - measure and cut to fit
1 - 2x6 @ 69-1/2" - measure and cut to fit
FOOTBOARD CUT LIST
2 - 4x4 @ 21"
2 - 2x2 @ 8"
2 - 2x2 @ 3"
11 - 1x6 @ 15"
2 - 1x4 @ about 60-1/2" - measure and cut to fit
1 - 2x4@ 67-1/2" - measure and cut to fit
1 - 2x6 @ 69-1/2" - measure and cut to fit
MATTRESS SUPPORT FRAME/SIDERAILS
3 - 2x4 @ 83-1/2"
1 - 2x4 @ 60-1/2"
2 - 2x4 @ 12-1/2"
2 - 1x10 @ 80"
20 - 2x4 @ 32" - can be as short as 30" if you need to burn up scraps
Cut all boards except as noted to measure and cut. We recommend using a compound miter saw for the straightest cuts, but you can also use a circular saw and a carpenter's square - just make sure your cut ends are nice and straight.
Instructions
Step 1
Step 2
Layout the 30" 1x6 boards flat, side by side. Measure the overall width of all the 1x6 boards. Cut two 1x4s to this measurement.
Nail the 1x6 boards with glue to the 1x4s. Apply glue between the 1x6 boards as you go.
Make sure the panel is built square by measuring opposite diagonals (outside top corner of 1x4 to outside bottom corner of opposite 1x4) and adjusting so the opposite diagonals match.
Comments
Jen (not verified)
Wed, 03/03/2010 - 10:35
Hi Ana, thanks again for
Hi Ana, thanks again for sharing your plans! We went to our Lowe's and purchased our lumber, only a sales associate told us they do not make 4 and a half in screws:(
Was it a lag bolt or a different kind of screw? We can't wait to build this but just don't know which screw to get for that part of the list. If anyone else knows will you email us? girlxmom@yahoo.com
THANKS a million!! love your work!
Melissa (not verified)
Thu, 03/04/2010 - 10:05
Hi Ana, love your blog!
Hi Ana, love your blog! Forgive me if someone already asked this but would this attach to a simple metal frame, or would I have to adjust the plans? We already have one and in the interest of time and energy I would just as soon attach our metal frame to the head and footboards.
Thanks!
-Melissa
Christopher (not verified)
Sun, 03/07/2010 - 14:01
For everyone who has asked
For everyone who has asked about 4 1/2 inch screws, forget Lowe's or Home Depot. Go to Ace or True Value, walked in this morning and in 2 mins i was walking out the door with my nails at .25 a piece.
Jennifer Wilcox (not verified)
Mon, 03/08/2010 - 04:57
Does anyone know what the
Does anyone know what the plans for the Farmhouse bed are for using a boxspring and mattress? I can't seem to find this anywhere and the plans appear to not use a box spring which I do not want to get rid of.
Jen (not verified)
Sat, 03/13/2010 - 15:21
Just an update on our bed, we
Just an update on our bed, we find that the center panels when using the measurements given you will come up with a missing gap that is 1 and 7/8ths inch, we cut a piece that small to fit, also, we couldn't find any 4x4 posts that were not treated, so our only option was to get expensive douglas fir which cost 78 bucks for all 4 posts. Total in lumber the actual cost was 151 in the white wood pine at lowes (the cheapest they had) and the 78 bucks added to that. After materials and paint / stain it will prob. come in right under 300 bucks, which still has saved us a TON:) We are so happy with how it is coming out, minus the short measurements that were easy to fix. Just wish we would have seen another posters comment about 1 x 10 boards instead of the 1 x 8's because we would have had a more uniform center panel with out adding in that small peice where the gap was hehe:) I can't wait to stain it when all is said and done. Still have not found a 4 and a half in. screw, even ace hardware told us they only have lagbolts or nails in that size, so we did a 4 in. screw which worked just as well:)
I think we are doing the toddler bed next:) Thanks agian for your plans!
Kristin (not verified)
Wed, 03/24/2010 - 10:38
Hi Ana! I love all of your
Hi Ana! I love all of your plans! I am planning on surprising my husband and building him a farm bed for his 30th birthday. Just wondering how you put the headboard and footboard together if you do have a box spring. Sorry, maybe a dumb question, but I am really new to this:) Thanks for all of your great plans!
Anonymous (not verified)
Thu, 03/25/2010 - 06:13
I'm planning on building this
I'm planning on building this bed for my wife, I'm wondering though about the optional frame you built. I do have a box spring can you either illustrate or explain the difference in building this if I am using a box spring? Thanks!
Anonymous (not verified)
Sun, 04/04/2010 - 04:53
I started building this bed
I started building this bed yesterday and I have finished the panels. Thanks very much for putting the plans together. Just a suggestion, perhaps let people know about nominal dimensions of lumber so that they know that a 1x8 is actually 3/4 x 7 and 1/4 to 7 and 1/2 depending on where you buy and in what country. I was fortunate to find one local lumber yard dumping off 1 x 12's (6 foot lengths) for $4.50 per board. All in good shape with no twisting or checks. These work out to 11 and 1/4 inches each. In order to creat a 60 inch panel, I used 4 pieces of the 1x12 and 5 pieces of 1x4 (I had to cut the 1x4's down to three inches each). I hope to post a photo but what the final panels look like is alternating 1x3 inch boards with 1x 11 and 1/4 boards and I really like the pattern. It truly looks "farmhouse" in the sense that someone in the country might just utilize whatever boards they have laying around... Cheers!
The Klauers (not verified)
Sat, 04/10/2010 - 09:18
My husband and I are building
My husband and I are building the bed right now. I am actually sitting in the garage..ha! Just cut out 1x8 for the headboard. They came out too short. Ana, please let everyone know they should look for 7 1/2" wide boards. Ours are 7 1/4" so it's too short. To compensate for the difference of 2 1/8" we are inserting a piece in the middle. Hopefully comes out alright! Thanks for the plans Ana. You rock!
drax0r (not verified)
Sun, 04/18/2010 - 07:08
I'm building this with and
I'm building this with and for my wife for Mother's Day.
We got the lumber yesterday and did all of our cuts.
Just to demonstrate the fruits of all of her cuts, I laid out the pieces for the foot board. That's when I discovered the discrepancy.
My 1x8 are 7 3/16" wide. That comes out to 1 5/8 short of 60".
I thought about just cutting out a sliver to try to hide in the end, but then I stumbled on the idea of alternating panel sizes.
5 * 7.1875" + 4 * 6" = 59.94"
So where X = 7.1875" and Y = ~6.07" my panels will look like:
X|Y|X|Y|X|Y|X|Y|X
When it comes together in reality, I expect I'll have just a touch of overhang which I'll just sand down to square it up with the 1x4x60's.
I'm new to woodworking, but the engineer inside of me says lumber is an excellent use case for the metric system.
And if we won't go metric, let's at least bring back parity between "dimensional" nomenclature and nominal measurement. Innit?
* 6.07 effectively equivalent to 6 1/16