How to Build a Bed Frame

To build a wooden bed frame, make a rectangular box about 1/2–1 in larger inside than the mattress, add a centre rail with legs for anything wider than a twin, and lay slats no more than 3 in apart, or a plywood deck, on cleats inside the box. That is a platform bed: it needs no box spring and holds any modern mattress. A headboard bolts to the head end.

Sizes

The height of the frame depends on how high you want the top of the mattress: see standard bed height and bed frame dimensions.

Step by step

1. Cut the side and end rails from 2x8 or 2x10 lumber, or 3/4 in plywood doubled, to the inside size of the frame.
2. Join the corners with glue and screws, bed rail brackets or corner blocks, so the frame can come apart to move.
3. Fix cleats (2x2 or 2x3) along the inside of the side rails, at the height where the slats or deck will sit.
4. Add the centre rail from the head to the foot for a full, queen or king bed, with two or three legs down to the floor.
5. Lay the slats, 1x4s no more than 3 in apart, screwed to the cleats and the centre rail, or a 1/2–3/4 in plywood deck in two or three pieces with a few ventilation holes.
6. Fit legs at the corners if the frame does not reach the floor, and the headboard at the head end.
7. Sand and finish, rounding over the corners of the rails so they do not catch shins.

Plywood or lumber?

A bed frame built out of wood, from 2x lumber, is cheap and quick. A plywood platform bed is flatter and quieter, and the deck can be cut from full sheets: one 4 × 8 sheet covers half of a queen. Our platform bed plan splits the deck into pieces that fit a standard sheet and puts a support under every joint: