Modern House Bed
Modern House Bed | Post Details
Bedding // Elena of Avalor Doll // Cinderella Doll // Light // House Numbers // Mailbox // Gate // Mattress
Modern House Bed | It's Here
Last week on Instagram I shared the finished project of Jackie's house bed! I love how it turned out and a lot of you did too! While I was building this bed, I kept track of everything I did and wrote down all of the measurements so that I could make a build plan for you all! You can buy the plan here.
Modern House Bed | The Process
When a friend sent me the idea for this bed, I looked for build plans but couldn't find any. So I built the frame in Sketch Up and then what the final product would look like. That part changed a lot throughout the process as I was building. I decided to add and remove some things I had originally planned on doing. I am sharing the build plans with you today so that you can build one yourself. This did take a few weeks to build because I only had a few hours each day to work on it, and didn't do any work on it over the weekends. I also was building it from scratch so I did hit a few hiccups that I ended up having to work around.
This bed is split into 5 sections - 2 sides, front, back and top. I did this so that I could assemble the bed, take it apart, move it to my house, and then put it back together. We may move Jackie's room to another room in the house at some point, so I wanted this bed to be easy to move, without damaging any of the trim. I did end up having to rent a U-Haul to move the bed from my parent's house to our house, but it worked out! I was on a little time crunch at the end so I didn't end up painting the back frame of the bed. I will probably do that at some point!
Modern House Bed | A Few Details
There are a few things I want to mention before we get into the build plans. First, I added the shelves on the inside of the house because it's something I knew Jackie would love. She puts her toys and books on these shelves at night and they have been perfect for her. These are totally optional and don't impact the structure of the bed.
Second, is the gate. Jackie has had a mesh tent on her crib for more than a year now. At first it was to keep her from climbing out of her crib and hurting herself but as she got older and we received her ASD diagnosis, we realized this bed tent did a lot more than we expected. The tent gave Jackie a sense of security and helped her sleep better. So when I was deciding on the right bed for Jackie, I knew we needed something that would allow her to feel enclosed, but would also keep her safe. This house bed does that but there is still the door opening. After talking with several of Jackie's therapists, we decided that a mesh gate across the door opening, would allow Jackie to still feel secure, keep her in her bed, but also keep her safe. The gate allows us to take our time phasing Jackie into having full access to her room and the house. She actually LOVES the gate and asks to be closed into her bed at night. It is 100% safe and we can easily get her out if necessary.
Third, I used wall paper for the inside of Jackie's bed instead of painting it. This also helped with the amount of sanding I had to do. I chose the Disney Princess wallpaper because Jackie loves them! This isn't necessarily as cost effective as painting the inside but I wanted this to be a space that Jackie loved and the wallpaper was the perfect touch. I ran out of wall paper before I could finish the ceiling of the bed. I am waiting for another roll of wallpaper to get here so I can do that!
Modern House Bed | Supplies
Tools
Materials
Paint
Accessories
Modern House Bed | Building the Frame
The first thing you will need to do is create the bedframe. Like I mentioned earlier, this is a 5 piece frame. 2 sides, front, top and back. You will need to determine the height you want the bed. I made Jackie's bed as tall as the bottom of the windows along the wall that the bed is against. This will determine how much wood you will need. For this build plan, I will assume you will use the same height measurements that I did.
Modern House Bed | Adding the Plywood
In order to add the plywood you will need to put the frame together. Before you do this, lay one of the side frames on a piece of plywood and trace out where you will need to cut. You will need two of these, so you may want to trace it twice.
Once you have traced the side pieces, you can assemble to frames. This is CRITICAL to making sure the plywood is cut exactly the right way to ensure you can take the frame apart later on.
Once the frame is assembled, you can measure the front and top pieces so you can cut the plywood for those sections. The front piece is going to be too big for one piece of plywood, so do this in sections. Measure the left side, the space above the door frame, and the right side. You will want to have the plywood overlap the front piece of the side frames, in order to hide it. You can see how I did this in the pictures below. Cut the plywood to fit those areas.
Once you have all of the plywood cut, you can attach it to the frame. Be VERY CAREFUL that you are attaching the wood to the correct frame. Using wood glue, clamp the plywood to the correct frame. Then using the brad nailer, nail the plywood to the same frame.
Modern House Bed | Cutting out the Windows & Dormer
Now it's time to cut out the windows! I was so excited for this part and I was able to get a great deal on a corded jig saw on Amazon Prime Day. You can still get the same jig saw I used for a good price. I have linked it at the top and bottom of this post.
Measure where you want to place your windows. I wanted the top of the windows to line up with where the top of the front piece started. I liked how it looked and I knew it would be harder for Jackie to access.
For the dormer, I really did this by eye. I wanted the dormer to meet up with the flat part of the roof, so I played with it until the hole I was cutting would ensure this. I then used the piece that I cut out of the roof to make the dormer. This piece was the roof piece and I measured another piece of plywood to be the front. I used wood glue and brad nails to attach them. I then attached the dormer to the roof with more wood glue and brad nails.
Using the pictures below, you can add the trim to the correct sides. The only that is incorrect is the front piece. I had 6 pieces of 1x4 on the plywood above the door frame, not 3.
After you add the trim, you can paint it all! I used the same gray for the roof and the window & door trim. The rest of the bed was painted white.
I added the shelves to the inside of the bed on the front piece. They went between the door frame and the outer frame. This is where I used the 17" and 16.75" pieces. Each side had 3 shelves.
After the paint dried, I put the entire bed back together in Jackie's room. I waited to put the wallpaper on until I had put the house back together. This is also when I added the light, mailbox and house numbers! I would love to know if you end up making this house! Let me know if you do!
Modern House Bed + Free Build Plans | Shop
