Home Improvement : Make Your Own Bed With Plywood Sheets

If you were lucky, your mother taught you how to make your bed. If not, it was your drill sergeant. Be that as it may, I’m going to teach you all over again.

But I’m not talking about hospital corners and bouncing quarters. I’m talking about making a bed--with wood, glue, screws and nails.

It’s a very simple project, really--little more than a simple plywood box with the sleeping platform set down two inches into the frame. You can make it in any size to fit any mattress. In fact, it’s best to buy your mattress first, then size the bed to fit. That’s why I haven’t supplied any dimensions in the sketch.

Start by cutting out the sides and ends. Make them 20 inches high, unless you prefer a bed higher or lower than normal. Cut the end pieces about an inch longer than the width of your mattress, and make the sides about an inch longer than the length of the mattress.

Material? Your best bet probably is birch plywood. It takes paint well, and also looks good--stained or unstained--under a varnish finish. It’s also smoother and more uniform than ordinary fir plywood.

For the framework, use ordinary fir 2-by-3s. But sort through the pile to get the straightest pieces you can find. Start the frame by cutting out four corner posts, and two center posts, each 14 1/2inches long. Using 1 1/2-inch flat-head screws and yellow glue, fasten these posts to the sides and ends. Drive the screws through the plywood into the frame, countersinking the heads below surface.

Note the corner detail in the sketch. The ends and sides do not overlap each other. They join corner to corner, creating a pocket. Later you’ll fill this pocket with a quarter round molding, giving the bed nice soft corners.

After the corner posts are in place, glue and screw in the center posts. Center these end to end on the side panels. Next, cut a center cross brace, the same length as your end panels. Place this on edge atop the center posts and secure it with a pair of screws, through the sides of the bed at each end.

Now finish off the framework, cutting the side and end rails to length, placing one edge atop the posts and securing them with glue and screws.

You are now ready to cut and fit the sleeping platform. Unless you are making a single bed, you will have to cut the platform out of two sheets of plywood, running a seam directly over the center brace. You can use half-inch plywood for a single bed, but for larger beds, three-quarter-inch plywood will produce a stiffer surface.

Cut the platform about a quarter inch undersize. This makes it easier to fit it. After the pieces are cut, lay them on top of the framework. Using a frame square, check to make sure that the bed is dead square. If it isn’t, you can force it true without much effort.

Once it it square, fasten the platform down with several screws driven into the frame. This will lock the bed rigidly in position and it won’t be able to move out of square.

Finishing up. Now you have to cover the top edges of the plywood. You can use iron or glue-on wood tape for this, but I like to use half-round moldings. Cut these the same length as your side and end panels and fasten them down using yellow glue and small finishing nails. Then cut four pieces of three-quarter-inch quarter round 20 1/2 inches long and glue and nail them into the corners of the bed as shown in the detail. Using a rasp, finish off the top ends of these quarter rounds so the blend in with the half-round moldings on the side and end panels.

Fill over all screw and nail heads using wood dough or polyester auto body filler. Let set, then sand and finish. Your best bet is probably three or four coats of a good semi-gloss oil base enamel. Sand lightly between coats with 220-grit paper. If you want a natural finish, use a good alkyd or polyurethane varnish instead of enamel. Stain before varnishing if you like.