Double bed plans

Plans for a bed with standard double bed size mattress (54"x74", 137x190 cm)
Copyright 2009 Matthias Wandel

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These plans are in Metric units. You can generate imperial dimensions by loading the SketchUp model into SketchUp, and setting the units to imperial under "Model Info". However, the sizes are all rounded to be even millimeters, so the units will not work out to nice even values in fractional inches.

Bed posts

The bed posts are made by gluing two 2x4's flat against each other, and then cutting out a 6x6 cm section.

The knobs at the top of the posts are turned by putting the entire post into the lathe. If you don't have a lathe with a very long bed, you may wish to make the knobs separately, and glue them onto the posts. This looks almost as good. The illustration of the bed below is rendered with tapered posts instead of turned posts. You can explore what the bed looks like with tapered posts instead of turned posts by turning on the "sawed posts" layer and hiding the "turned posts" layer.

Headboard

The headboard is doweled together with 5/8" dowels. Do not cut the profiles into the edges of the pieces until you have dry fit. Once dry fit, cut the slots and the chamfers on the inside edges with a router, and carve the chamfers all the way into the corner with a knife or chisel.

To get the shape of the panel, just trace out the outline from the dry fit assembly onto a piece of plywood, and offset the outline by the depth of the slot cut on the inside edges of the panels.

Footboard

The footboard is made of two pieces of wood glued side to side. It is too wide to be able to make out of one piece of lumber.

Bed rails and slats

The bed rails have a hardwood ledge screwed and glued to the bottom edge, which is used to hold up the slats.

The slats are tapered towards the end to allow them to sit lower in the bed, giving more room for the mattress.

Bed rail clips

This view shows how the bed rail clips fit into everything. The bed rail clips allow for easy disassembly if the bed needs to be moved.

Alternatively, you can fasten the rails with large pocket holes, like I did when I built this bed.

Fasteners

You can also Download the sketchup model for this plan