How to Build a Daybed, Twice.

We've been working from home so what use to be a guest room is now an office/classroom. We've also ruined a few couches while at home during quarantine so we started the search for a new one. Hopefully something deep and comfortable to lounge on while watching tv or just taking a nap. My wife found one she liked on Wayfair but it was close to $500. I looked at it and said out loud to no one, "I can build that for $100. It's just 2x2s and 1x6s with a little paneling." I knew there was a left over twin memory foam mattress hanging around so I set out to the local Home Depot with my very detailed plan (pictured). Bought 12 2x2X8s, 6 1x6X8s, some wood glue and 2 1/2 pocket hole screws. I already had on hand saws, drills, clamps, Kreg jig, an orbital sander, a handful of different length screws lay around in a drawer, a sixer of Blue Moon, and a dream. A few hours later I was admiring my work.

Mistakes were made. All power tools were used correctly, then beer, then sitting...then falling. Things I learned before building it again in order of learning them:

Tall legs are wobbly. My wife is an architect and told me about a slenderness ratio. Tried to explain it and then told me to just cut 5 inches off the legs and it'll help not wobble.

Don't attach the slats to the ledger. When the ledger breaks, because you flop down too hard, everything attached to it will split.

Thicker is better. More screws are better. Levels help.

Sand each piece before you attach it so you can just assemble and stain or paint.

I drove back to Home Depot and bought 4 2x6x8s and 2 more 1x6x8, more regular screws and more pocket hole screws. Pulled the drawing out.

I took the back panel off and sanded, which I had skipped previously. It's a simple box shape made only out of 2x2s with butt joints for the cross pieces with one screw and some wood glue at each joint. I tried to get pictures of where I hid all of the pocket screws. The top is a piece of 1x3 I had in the garage that is just glued on. The arms and cross pieces are also pocket screwed to each other. I cut the newly acquired 2x6s to the correct lengths for the sides (37") and front/back (73 3/4") and laughed to myself that it was so close to a palindrome. Then I ripped the 3rd 2x6 in half, because a 2x4x8 was $10 and a 2x6x8 as $11 and I like to save money when I can, to use as ledgers. I used three pocket holes on both the front and back making sure to mark which side should be the unseen side before drilling. I attached the back first to the salvaged back of my first attempt. Then I attached the sides while the back was laying flat. Then I measured down 1 1/2 inches from the top of the back and screwed the ledger with a 1 5/8th" screw every 6 inches. The order of operations is important here as I did this 3 times (including the first build) because you cover some of the pocket holes with the ledger. Always double check what you're doing and which way it should face so you don't have to do it 3 times.

Then I attached the front legs to the side pieces. The front legs ended up being 21 inches tall with the bottom of the 2x6 legs and front piece 9" off the floor. I don't have pictures of doing this because it changed many times. Then I attached the front to the front legs in the same way I did the back.

I reused as many of the 36 1/2" slats for the seat as I could from the first build and cut a few more to replace ones that were too split to use.

After I put all of the slats on, I put the mattress on with a top sheet and flopped myself down again. Success! My guess is it will hold 7-800 pounds. Or at very least me, my wife, a 4 and 6 year old, a happy German Shepherd, and all of these throw pillows and some blankets. Not quite finished but I'm waiting on finish opinions for the back fillers and arm types. Then I will ship it off to the paint and stain department (my wife, I'm terrible at painting for some reason and nobody likes drips). Hopefully this helps someone try to build something even if it fails the first time!