Lumber, Composites & Moulding

[Chris_HD_CHI]

Hey Paul.

WOW!

That is the most awesome workbench I've ever seen.

.

[Chris_HD_CHI]

Hello Jill.  Welcome to the community.

I agree with Paul that the choice of wood is not at all set in stone, so to speak.  Lots of waterbed frames are made of pine, which is very inexpensive.  Since you want to paint the platform, choosing softwood will work just fine.  I would avoid using particle board or pressed wood though just for structural support issues.

You mentioned 2 things that are different from the original post that may go together quite well.

First is the desire for “cubby holes” under the bed and second is the need for slats using a memory foam mattress.

The designs shown directly above will not provide sufficient support for slats.  A solid piece of plywood is providing mattress support.  The plywood is not supported all along its perimeter, but slats will need to have that perimeter support as well as at least one main support down the middle from the head to the foot of the bed.  If you design the cubby boxes to provide support for the slats, then this should work.  Also see the slat designed bed on page 1 of this thread.  Another idea I had is for the plywood to be drilled out with many holes providing ventilation for the foam.  This gives more design flexibility.

Lastly, power tools in general are not a requirement for woodworking, but they do make the work go faster and with less sweating.

I hope this helps,

Newf.

[jsabo18]

Thank you both for your responses. Paul, I re-read my post and it does not seem confusing to me. In any case, obviously I am a novice so somewhat dedpendent on "sales Rep" advice. So your comment regarding who I was building the bed for is certainly not helpful. I appreciate the saw info. Good to know but I don't think I'll attempt bed building. Thank you Newt. Your comments were helpful. Jill

[SmittyRN]

Came across this design (the Ligne Roset bed on page 3) while researching on how to make a platform bed; building it like you have it shown will be much lighter and use much les material than the one I was about to try to build, with a huge box frame underneath. However, I have a question about the design.

I'm going to modifiy the design a bit and use 1x6's over 2x8's, giving me a 1 3/4" lip on the inside to hold the plywood support in the middle. This will be for a Queen bed, so the area of support will be 80"x60"; however, I won't be able to use a single piece of 4'x8' plywood for the center as shown in the picture, it just won't be big enough. Two pieces will be iffy to use with the supporting cross in the center; the edge of each piece will be resting along the top of the cross.

The two ideas that quickly came to mind to solve the problem were to make a 1'x2' box instead of a cross in the center, or to simply use 1"x4" slats instead of plywood, since I'll have the 1 3/4" lip on each side. How is my thinking on this matter? Am I missing anything?

[rmputnam]

I'm sure you've completed this project and don't need this anymore, but ... I saw a platform bed that was made out of different woods and stained...gorgeous. The edges/borders looked to be 2 x 4's laid 2" deep and 4" wide on top of the bed platform...so there was a shallow well for the mattress to sit and keep it from shifting on the base.

[Jay_HD_CHI]

Hey there SimttyRN,

Thanks for joining us on the community!~ I'm glad you found the post helpful! = )

Sounds to me like you've got most of your work already thought out, so there might not be a whole lot for me to really add on it it. The 1' x 2' box in the center sounds like it will give you the much needed support, but I'm still weary about having two pieces of ply used for it. If you can get the slat idea to work, that sounds like it would be a better fit.

If you can, post up pictures of your finished work on here so we can all take a look!~ = D

[Jay_HD_CHI]

Hey there rmputnam,

Thanks for joining our community!~

That sounds like a really neat sounding project! Do you by chance have any pictures to share with the community of it? I'd love to take a look and perhaps we can make a build out of it too! = )

[Inked_up_Mama]

I am for sure wanting to build this however i was thinking if it was possible to make the bottom into cabinets or drawers and maybe some sort of hinged pop up end table top, got any instructions on how i should go about this as this is the first time i am building ANYTHING. I figure go big or go home and besides i am an artist(painter n sculptor) n have an eye for creating stuff. Anyway, what do u think?

[Ochousewife1]

Hi can you help me how do I convert a king size platform bed with planks into a queen size?

[Jay_HD_CHI]

Hi there Ochousewife1,

Thanks for joining us on the community!~

Well, it's a bit difficult to say how you'd be modifying your current bed, because I'm not 100% sure what the layout of it is. As you can tell from the myriad discussions on here, there are a number of different bed designs for platform beds.

On average, king size beds measure out to 76" x 80" and queens are about 60" x 80".

That beings said, you'd only need to deduct from the width of your overall frame. However, I'd suggest double checking your actual mattress to be sure.

If you're able to post up a picture of the bed in question, we can help walk you through it a bit better and more accurately. At the moment, I can only tell you that you'll more than likely have to disassemble the bed and cut the planks along the width of the bed, and re-assemble it.

Reply back here if you're able to get us more info on this project and we'd be happy to help walk you through it better!~ = )