this post was submitted on 17 May 2026
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I searched for a bed like this but didn't find anything I liked that was well-built and affordable. So, I'm building this one out of solid wood for about $450. (Except I had to buy a new miter saw, because my old one was stolen out of my garage about two years ago, so that was another $250.)

Edit:

Here's the Blender 5.1.1 file

You'll need the Measure It addon installed and enabled to see the dimensions. The gray boards are the blank stock pieces I bought. It's in inches, because I'm a stupid American.

Here's a screenshot of the blender file:

Edit 2:

I have most of the pieces cut to size. I've already made a small mistake, but it wouldn't be my project if I didn't. Nothing a little wood filler won't fix. The side walls of the headboard with the angles I'll need to cut with my circular saw. Or, maybe I could do it like this. I'm not sure my table saw is big enough. (Also, it was either woodworker or piano player for this guy, I think he made the right choice.)

Edit 3:

I'm stuck waiting for the Vevor pocket hole jig I ordered, and the bed rail hardware. I didn't get the Kreg, because it's plastic and more expensive than the more versatile Vevor jig.

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[–] cubism_pitta@lemmy.world 47 points 4 days ago (7 children)

ahh, the ol' trap of "It will save money to DIY" :)

Give us some pictures of the wood working!

[–] HotsauceHurricane@lemmy.world 19 points 3 days ago (1 children)

i agree with cubism_pitta@lemmy.world, WE DEMAND PHOTOS OF YOUR WOOD, OP!

We all want to see their wood

[–] Leviathan@lemmy.world 8 points 3 days ago (1 children)

We do these things not because they will save us money but because we thought they would save us money!

[–] Mpatch@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago

Him " I need a new miter saw. " wife "no you fuckin dont" him "we need a new bed frame" wife "good idea"

[–] Rooster326@programming.dev 9 points 3 days ago (4 children)

I mean isn't it?

You just have to compare apples to apples.

If you're trying to compare an IKEA bed to what OP makes. Op would DIY this out of cardboard.

Actual wood furniture is expensive af

[–] Valmond@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 3 days ago

True.

I bought an expensive as shit handmade bed (extra long) and it isn't showing a single weakness after over 25 years and at least 10 moves (it's M13 bolts, you could have a tank for sleepover).

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[–] phant@lemmy.world 10 points 4 days ago

Hopefully OP can achieve the "design I like and well built" parts. 2 outta 3 aint bad. And if it is well built it should last a life time and then it's cost-schmost.

Agreed on build pics!

[–] Shameless@lemmy.world 8 points 3 days ago (2 children)

As with any DIY project, I think the extra cost is worth the knowledge you gain... Unless you're doing DIY tree removal next to your house.

[–] Rooster326@programming.dev 6 points 3 days ago

Pro: I did my first tree removal

Cons: I did my first demo work

[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

Funny you should mention tree removal next to my house. But, no way I'm trying that job myself. I love that tree, but ever since I noticed it's leaning a bit toward my house, and the wind we have around here... I can't wait to get it gone. I'm looking for something short to put in its place.

[–] Mpatch@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago
[–] thevoidzero@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago

No worries my back remembers all the cutting and staining

[–] whatiswrongwithyou@lemmy.ml 13 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Op you absolutely need cross boards/slats.

You should not use a flat plywood platform to accomplish the same outcome, it will be more expensive, less stable over time and contribute to eventual mold in your mattress unless you live in like Death Valley (and maybe even there too depending on how you humidify your house!)

Again, you without any qualification need to use slats or cross boards to support the mattress and will be unhappy if you attempt to use ply for that.

If you want the “clean look” of a plywood platform, use an overlay of decoratively cut (50%+ negative space) 1/4” wallboard (freedom ply here in the us!) on top of your slats. When someone asks for a plywood platform over their slats, which has happened twice now, I usually set the saw in a jig and rip a bunch of four or five inch strips off some 1/4” and put them an inch or so farther apart than their width (so a bunch of 5” strips would be 6 + inches apart each) and join the whole thing together with a thinner strip across the top and bottom underneath held together with countersunk screws that have either acorn nuts on their bottoms or something else. You need countersunk so stuff can not get caught on the top and acorn nuts on the bottom so hands and cats don’t catch any strays fishing around under that thang. You can’t use glue because you need the whole apparatus to go parallelogram when the bed frame does.

E: oh yeah, if you can tolerate it, check the dump/your local listings for a busted ass metal frame with rails long enough for your design (or close enough not to matter). Those steel L brackets are a super good way to make sure the wood doesn’t pop apart over time. Use some kind of a poly product where wood supports metal to make it even better.

E2: reclaimed metal parts look really sick when you sand and repaint them a loud color that no one will see until they take the mattress off.

E3: if you bake enough slop into your overlay strips you can actually glue them in the case that you trust yourself to glue square and true. Okay I’m really done this time.

[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

I live near Death Valley--New Mexico. I'm not at all worried about mold, in the summer humidity is typically about 10%, in the winter it can rise up to 60%--yes, it's backwards from most places--and it only gets really high on rainy days. (EDIT: I just checked humidity is currently 10%.)

Also, the mattress is approved by the manufacturer for a solid surface.

Finally, I already bought the plywood and cut the pieces, I'm not buying more wood.

[–] whatiswrongwithyou@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I hope I’m the wrongest I’ve ever been.

It’s a very cool design! Did you use some kind of a plugin or panel to do woodworking measurements in blender? I never used it for cad in any serious way.

[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I use the Measure It addon. It adds dynamic dimensions between two vertices, just for visualization for the cut list.

For this simple bed, I just add a cube, enter the dimensions, and then rotate and snap each piece into place. Vertices, faces, and meshes can be selected and moved any arbitrary distance along any axis as needed to tweak the design.

I've used FreeCad and Fusion 360, but I don't really need either for what I do, I'm comfortable in Blender as I've used it for ~15 years now.

[–] whatiswrongwithyou@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 days ago

Ever used one of the sheet goods addons for a cad package? There’s an ominous zcode router in my near to middlin future…

[–] Dalkor@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Sorry to barge into the chain, but does it add fractional measurements? Its one of the things I miss most about using 3dsmax. Its not the worst, but i do hate converting decimals to fractions on the tape measure when measuring lumber.

[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

No, just decimal, I think. I'll check.

Nope, just decimal.

I used to have down to 1/16" in decimal memorized. Got me within 1/32, which was enough. I only have 1/8" decimal still memorized, I don't need it as much as I used to.

  • 0.0625
  • 0.0125
  • 0.1875
  • 0.25
  • 0.3125
  • 0.375
  • 0.4375
  • 0.5
  • 0.5625
  • 0.625
  • 0.6875
  • 0.75
  • 0.8125
  • 0.875
  • 0.9375
[–] whatiswrongwithyou@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

You can use your cheap piece of shit $2 calipers to convert d>f and vice versa. Just dial your measurement and push the button till it becomes the measurement you want.

Or you can use a tape measure with tenths (decimal) on one side of the first foot or so and use that side to find your near fraction so you can mark over or under it.

[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This is a good tip, but now I have to find 51/64ths on my tape measure. LOL.

[–] whatiswrongwithyou@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 day ago

Get a load of this guy, doesn’t even have a vernier tape measure!

[–] owenfromcanada@lemmy.ca 28 points 4 days ago (3 children)

Looks good! Don't forget to add a mattress on there.

[–] rem26_art@fedia.io 17 points 4 days ago (1 children)

sleeping while balancing on a 2x6 builds character

[–] saltesc@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago

I have a recurring dream I'm bivvied and balancing on a ledge with no anchors/rope, then I wake up petrified and disorientated.

Rock climbing and mountaineering has given me many joys, though bad safety setups has apparently become my nightmare fuel.

[–] Rooster326@programming.dev 10 points 3 days ago

And my slats

[–] Aitolda@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago
[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 11 points 3 days ago

For a bunch of dull people y’all do some cool shit.

[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 15 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I left the plywood platform out of the render to show the structure.

I'll post some progress pics. All I've done so far is cut a few sticks to length.

The red bit is a foam pad covered in corduroy upholstery. I'll be sewing the cover too.

[–] Rooster326@programming.dev 11 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (3 children)

Make sure the mattress you're buying can use a platform.

More than half require slats because they must breathe

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[–] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 10 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (4 children)

For a moment was wondering how the hell you're pulling off somethingthat big... I thought I was reading from the 3dprinting community.

[–] Hadriscus@jlai.lu 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Would need a big bed for such a big bed

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[–] PixeIOrange@lemmy.world 5 points 3 days ago
[–] Leviathan@lemmy.world 5 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Maybe it's the angle but it looks like this is woefully lacking in box spring/mattress support.

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[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 6 points 3 days ago (2 children)

What do you think of Blender as a design suite?

[–] Obi@sopuli.xyz 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I'm not OP but it's not the best. Like, it's possible to use it for this purpose but a proper CAD tool will work much better.

[–] AdrianTheFrog@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Blender seems like a decent fit for this project, as the geometry is fairly simple and there shouldn't need to be a ton of precision anywhere. Anything where geometry doesn't need to match any already existing hardware particularly well, it is usually much faster to prototype in Blender in my experience. For certain things though, especially when you get curved surfaces involved, blender becomes the much harder option. Parametric obviously has many other advantages, but the stuff you can do with curved surfaces, booleans, and bevels in CAD tools is often extremely difficult to recreate in Blender.

[–] Obi@sopuli.xyz 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yeah that's pretty spot on in my experience. I'm not designing as much these days but booleans in particular were a nightmare in blender and something that's really handy for making parts that fit together. And of course parametric.

[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Blender has been improving booleans, but they still aren't perfect. So, yeah, that's often a hang up.

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[–] CookieOfFortune@lemmy.world 6 points 3 days ago (6 children)

What kind of wood and joinery are you using?

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[–] zartemie@lemmy.world 5 points 3 days ago

Totally awesome to do something properly like this yourself. Good luck with the build!

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