Here’s a step-by-step guide to planning and building a built-in wooden bunk bed with a desk underneath the bed platform for your teen.
DIY Bunk Bed Planning
Bunk bed design is kind of like pergola design in a sense: There are no real rules. Bunk beds, like pergolas, can take just about an infinite number of forms and we all know one when we see one. Moreover, we know when they look right and when they, well, miss the mark. Still, there are two main forks in the road when planning your bunk bed:
Ceiling height Then, deciding whether to make your bunk bed free-standing or attached to the wall — like our TOH Beach House bunk room.
While this article focuses on a simple built-in design with a desk underneath the bed platform for a teenager, the components of a bunk bed usually have the same five main parts:
Ledger board Mattress box Mattress platform Rail Ladder
Designing Your Bunk Bed
Whatever you design, bunk beds are something that lend themselves to laying out in place rather than relying solely on paper. Blue tape and cardboard are two main items that’ll enable you to “see” how your bunk bed plan will work before cutting a single board. This is important because things like travel lanes through the room, door swings, furniture placement, even lighting, and electric, can all be affected by the addition of a bunk. The other—and maybe the biggest—concern is how much room you plan to allot between the top of the mattress and the ceiling. The “rule” is that your child should be able to sit up and reasonably move about while also being able to mount and dismount the ladder easily. A 9-foot ceiling is ideal for a bed like this.
Planning Steps:
Building Your DIY Bunk Bed
For a piece of furniture, this type of bunk bed has a lot in common with deck framing. Get started with a ledger board. The ledger needs to be cut to a specific length.
