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!

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

• ISOtunes Pro
• Table saw (new version)
• Planer
• Miter saw
• Drill pressSander
• Drill (new version)
• Rockler Self-Centering Bits
• Impact driver
• Bar clamps
• Kreg Foreman
• Woodpeckers square

Affiliate links are used on this page. See my disclosure page for info on affiliate programs.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Ready to build this knock down rustic queen bed? Grab the plans and be sure to tag your post on instagram with #woodshopmike

If you want additional details head over to my blog!

Find me across the web!

Instagram
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest

As always, if you have any questions, let me know. And until next time, have fun making something!