We ordered a new memory foam mattress recently because our old one was very much on it’s way out. We decided after two years of marriage we needed an actual bed, instead of laying the mattress on the floor! In addition to generally being more comfortable, Lauren will really need the extra height after a minor surgery to make it easier to get in and out of bed. I decided to build one instead of buying because nothing I could find for under $200 looked worth the money. I designed it in Google SketchUp in about 6 hours and we got the wood for about $70, pus a couple dozen screws and wood glue I already had. It took me three days to finish it, maybe 12-14 hours of work. It worked out better than any project I have done before because I did the design in Sketchup, which allowed me to see all the pieces put together in 3 dimensions and see any problems ahead of time, as well as being able to print dimensioned shop drawings and cutting diagrams.
From left to right: The completed design in Sketchup, an “X-Ray” view of it, the finished frame without platform, and the finished bed with the bed skirt.
Left to right: The exploded view of the design, the boards I bought to build it and the boards cut to length.
The first cut for removing some waste out of a large large joint. Since it was stopped (not going all the way to other side of the board) and the saw blade is curved, after cutting out to the line with the table saw I had to remove the rest with a chisel. This bed involved some of my first real chisel joints. The second picture is partway through the chiseling, the third is how the joint fits, and the last is the other part of the joint (done on the table saw).
Final assembly of the bed and finally getting the mattress set up and bed made. Also, Baelli had do the final quality control testing; she approves.
Our Adventure 