Miniature Bunkbed

My partner and I were going to do a miniature house like everyone else, but we thought that was boring and unoriginal. So through some extensive research, aka scrolling through our phones for a couple minutes, we found the perfect idea, a bunk bed. Our design is modelled after several real bunkbeds we found online. In fact, it is an exact 1 inch=1 foot scale model of the average bunk bed.

To make this project, you need balsa wood, hot glue, paint, foam boards/Styrofoam, colored paper and/or fabric, and cotton balls. During this process, we used a hot glue gun, scissors/razors, a paint brush, and a ruler.

Cut out four 5.5 inch pieces of balsa wood and glue them together in a 2x2 pattern like the picture shown. Repeat this 4 times.

Cut out three 8 inch pieces of balsa wood and glue them together in a right angle pattern like the picture shown. Repeat this 4 times.

Using one of the pieces from Step 2 and glue, connect two of the 5.5 inch 2x2 pieces together with 1/2 inch clearance from the ground, as shown in the picture. Do this two times.

Cut out three 5.5 inch pieces of balsa wood and glue them together in the same pattern right angle pattern as Step 2, as shown in the picture. Do this four times.

Using two of the pieces from Step 4, connect the two parts made from Step 3, with a 1/2 inch clearance from the ground, to make a rectangle, as show in the photo. Make sure all of the right angle parts are facing up and inwards, this is important for later steps.

Cut out ten 5.75 inch pieces of balsa wood as shown in the picture.

Glue 5 of the pieces from Step 6 across the longer right angle parts, sitting on the grooves, to create a base for the mattress to sit on, they should be about 1.25 inches apart but this number could differ if you're trying to get perfectly even spacing. It should end up like the picture shown.

Cut out four 8.25 inch pieces of balsa wood as shown in the photo.

Glue two of the pieces from Step 8 across the shorter right angle parts and under the pieces from Step 8, it will have to bend a little but the balsa wood shouldn't break. The pieces should be about 1.25 inches from the edges of the shorter right angle pieces and 2.5 inches from each other. All of this is seen in the picture.

Glue two of the longer right angle parts from Step 2 across the top above where we glued the other parts from Step 2. Once again make sure the right angles are facing inwards and up, also it should be flush with the top as seen in the photo.

Glue the shorter right angles parts from Step 4 across the top above where we glued the other parts from Step 4. Just like the previous step, make sure each right angle is facing up and inwards, should be flush with the top. The photo shows this step on one side, it should be done on both sides though.

Glue the last five 5.75 inch pieces from Step 6 across the top using the grooves from the right angles, just like in the step Step 7. Also like in that step, the pieces should be glued about 1.25 inches apart. This step in completely shown in the photo.

Glue the two leftover 8.25 inch pieces from Step 8 across the top two shorter right angle parts and under the product of Step 12, 1.25 inches from the edge and 2.75 inches from each other. This should end up like results of Step 9 and the picture shown.

Cut out two 2 inch pieces of balsa wood along with three 8.125 inch pieces.

Starting at the top of the 2 inch pieces, glue the three 8.125 inch 0.5 inches apart from each, this should create a rail like structure. We didn't take a specific photo of this step but this photo of the next step finished shows what it should look like.

Glue the finished rail from Step 15 onto the top of the bunkbed, how high you glue it depends on how you want it to look. The picture of ours shows it glued with about 1.75 inches above the top.

Cut out 4-6 sheets of foam to create 5.75 inch by 8 inch squares. The amount you cut out depends on how thick you want it to be, we did 4 to start and then switches to 6 later.

Glue 2-3 of the sheets on top of each other to create a thicker mattress. Do this twice.

Glue the two products of Step 18 on top of each bunk. The picture shown is of 2 sheet thick mattresses.

Cut out six 1 inch pieces of balsa wood and two 6.5 inch pieces.

Start gluing the 1 inch pieces from Step 20 in-between the two 6.5 inch pieces from the same step, starting 0.5 inches of the ground/bottom with 1 inch between in step. The picture shows it glued against the side of the bunk bed but you can keep it separate.

Paint the exposed wood around the bunkbed. This step is completely optional but we recommend doing it now if you're going to do it.

Glue 2 cotton balls on one end of each mattress to create pillows.

Cut out two pieces of paper and/or fabric that are about 6.5 inches by 8 inches, this should be just slightly bigger than the mattresses.

Glue the papers and/or fabrics on top of the mattresses. We recommend folding the top so the pillow are exposed and draping the side over the mattress to make it more realistic.

If you followed all of these steps, you should end up with a bunkbed that looks like this picture. We did sand it and repaint it to make it look a little better but these steps aren't necessary at all. Thanks for viewing our project!