Child's bed with reclaimed wood
In a small home where space is at a premium you sometimes need to make a plan. This reclaimed wood bed was designed for young twins... to big for their cot and needing their own bed.
When you need a bed for a small bedroom, it's going to be very difficult to find a ready-made bed. There are companies, such as www.Design-A-Bed.co.za, that manufacture custom beds for any space, but chances are you are going to have to make your own toddler or junior bed. That's exactly what Chad did, when his twins needed to move out of the cot.
Using reclaimed wood sourced from a local salvage yard it was possible to design a bed-for-two that would take up very little floor space and work for the kids for a few years. The reclaimed pine planks offer plenty of character that comes through in the finished bed.
YOU WILL NEED:
1 of 800 x 2300mm laminated pine shelving - back, long
1 of 800 x 152mm laminated pine shelving - back, short
2 of 800 x 844mm laminated pine shelving - ends
1 of 300 x 1500mm laminated pine shelving - front, long
1 of 300 x 700mm laminated pine shelving - front, short
5 of 22 x 67 x 1800mm pine, cut to length for frame
2 of 796 x 1496mm 16mm chipboard or plywood - base
Wood glue
TOOLS:
Drill / Driver plus assorted bit
Orbital Sander plus 120- and 180-grit sanding pads
Tape measure and pencil
OPTIONAL: Kreg Pockethole Jig or Biscuit Joiner
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Not responsible for errors or omissions
HERE'S HOW:
Making a corner bed like the one shown here is very easy. Even if you don't manage to find reclaimed wood, you can substitute with laminated pine shelving that you will find at any Builders Warehouse or timber merchant. The backs for this bed are 800mm high and you will need to join a 500mm and 300mm board together - using a pockethole jig or biscuit joiner - to achieve this size.
All sections are glued and screwed together, either from the outside or again using either a pockethole jig or biscuit joiner.
Once the frame is assembled you can add the base support sections. These are 22 x 67mm pine cut to fit. The base support is mounted 132mm up from the bottom of the frame to allow 16mm for the base and 150mm for the mattress. Adjust this if you have a thicker mattress.
For the base that support the mattress you can use 16mm chipboard or plywood, or put down reclaimed wood planks. Cut these 4mm smaller all round than the actual size of the beds, as shown in the diagram above.
The beds are narrower than a standard single, at 800mm wide, and each individual bed is 1500mm long. You can adjust this as necessary, depending on the size of the room and how big you want the beds to be. The finished size is 1544mm wide and 2344mm long, and the entire assembly fits neatly into a corner, leaving room to move around and play.
GOOD TO KNOW: It's also good to note that you can have foam mattresses made to almost any size at www.FoamFactory.co.za, or ask a local bed and mattresses supplier if they can have mattresses made up for you.
BELOW: In order to fix up cracks and still be able to use the pine planks, butterfly or bowtie keys were fitted. These add even more charm to the finished beds.
Butterfly or bowtie keys are a wonderful way to allow the use of cracked reclaimed timber, and they are reasonably easy to do. I have included links to a couple of videos if you want to learn how to make butterfly or bowtie keys.
BELOW: To increase stability and hide the joins at the corners, a scrap piece of wood is cut to fit the corner.
