Bunkbeds

demondeacon

Dave
Senior User
Grandchild number 5 is on the way, so it is time for me to build one twin bunkbed. My wife will want it to be nice looking and not have a theme like a F1 car, John Deere tractor etc. Does anyone have any plans they can share or can refer me to a website where they have seen something? I have done a Google search and was not terribly enthused by what I found. Much appreciated.
 

JimD

Jim
Senior User
Dave,

Congratulations! I built a bunk bed with a trundle under the bottom bunk about 18 months ago. I did not use any plans beyond a sketch I have since thrown away. The outer part of the trundle is made of 1x12s so it is about 11 inches tall. It rolls on casters screwed to the 3/4 plywood bottom. It's height determined the bottom rail height for the bottom bunk. I made both ends of the bunk bed like a ladder with glued up 2x4s for the posts and 2x3s dominoed in as steps. I used bed rail fasteners (the kind that are mortised in and don't show when the bed is assembled) to hold the rails to the two ends. It was a pain to assemble by myself but I got it done. More 3/4 plywood supports the mattresses for both bunks. The room they are in had a cathedral ceiling so I made the top bunk high enough I can sit on the lower one easily.

The lower bunk and trundle have been used once so far when my daughter, son-in-law, and their two kids visited last summer. My grand daughter was only barely 2 when they were here and their trip was the first time she slept outside of a crib. She fell out of a bed in a hotel on the way here. The trundle was perfect for her. Her brother, then 5, climbed into the top bunk unsupervised and fell getting out. Fortunately he was not badly hurt.

Hopefully this will give you some ideas.

Jim
 

demondeacon

Dave
Senior User
Dave,

Congratulations! I built a bunk bed with a trundle under the bottom bunk about 18 months ago. I did not use any plans beyond a sketch I have since thrown away. The outer part of the trundle is made of 1x12s so it is about 11 inches tall. It rolls on casters screwed to the 3/4 plywood bottom. It's height determined the bottom rail height for the bottom bunk. I made both ends of the bunk bed like a ladder with glued up 2x4s for the posts and 2x3s dominoed in as steps. I used bed rail fasteners (the kind that are mortised in and don't show when the bed is assembled) to hold the rails to the two ends. It was a pain to assemble by myself but I got it done. More 3/4 plywood supports the mattresses for both bunks. The room they are in had a cathedral ceiling so I made the top bunk high enough I can sit on the lower one easily.

The lower bunk and trundle have been used once so far when my daughter, son-in-law, and their two kids visited last summer. My grand daughter was only barely 2 when they were here and their trip was the first time she slept outside of a crib. She fell out of a bed in a hotel on the way here. The trundle was perfect for her. Her brother, then 5, climbed into the top bunk unsupervised and fell getting out. Fortunately he was not badly hurt.

Hopefully this will give you some ideas.

Jim
Thanks, Jim. Any chance you can post a picture. This sounds nice and also practical. I actually will need the trundle eventually with the 5th grandchild inroute.
 

JimD

Jim
Senior User
Sure Dave. These aren't great, room is small, bed is not, and I was using my phone but here is that bed from a couple angles.
 

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drw

Donn
Corporate Member
Dave, ten years ago I built a set of bunk beds for my son and daughter-in-law. She sent be a link to Ana-White.com (Simple Bunk Beds (Twin over Twin) | Ana White). While I liked the look of the beds, I wasn't impressed with the construction techniques. That said, I also had a set of plans from PlansNow, which didn't look as nice
CB7E2A24-F5D6-492B-BC79-C5FB26E31ABB.jpeg
as the Ana-White beds, but I felt the construction methods of PlansNow would be more likely to hold up over time. So, I blended the two sets of plans. At the time I build the beds, there were just two grandsons in the mix, they now have four sons and I have built a second set of beds following the same blended sets of plans. Her are a couple of pics. I am not sure if PlansNow is still around...as I recall I paid to download plans, but I recall the price as being very reasonable and well worth it.

B5FFA175-914C-4701-AF7A-861C10EB1B41.jpeg
 

zdorsch

Zach
Corporate Member
I built a very basic bunk bed for my daughter about 3 years ago after looking at pictures on google. I set the bottom bunk rails slightly higher for storage bins.

The ends serves as the ladder and I used metal bed rails screwed into the bed rails to support the mattresses. (Ignore the messy bed and lack of upper mattress!)

1653847544263.jpeg
image.jpg
 

demondeacon

Dave
Senior User
Sure Dave. These aren't great, room is small, bed is not, and I was using my phone but here is that bed from a couple angles.
Thanks so much for posting the pictures. The bed looks great and is what my wife will like. I also will do a trundle as we will need the extra bed when #5 is out of the crib. Best wishes,
 

demondeacon

Dave
Senior User
Dave, ten years ago I built a set of bunk beds for my son and daughter-in-law. She sent be a link to Ana-White.com (Simple Bunk Beds (Twin over Twin) | Ana White). While I liked the look of the beds, I wasn't impressed with the construction techniques. That said, I also had a set of plans from PlansNow, which didn't look as nice View attachment 210832as the Ana-White beds, but I felt the construction methods of PlansNow would be more likely to hold up over time. So, I blended the two sets of plans. At the time I build the beds, there were just two grandsons in the mix, they now have four sons and I have built a second set of beds following the same blended sets of plans. Her are a couple of pics. I am not sure if PlansNow is still around...as I recall I paid to download plans, but I recall the price as being very reasonable and well worth it.

View attachment 210831
Is that white pine? I notice there are zero knots so wondering what species of wood you used. These are really very well made. Thank you
 

drw

Donn
Corporate Member
Is that white pine? I notice there are zero knots so wondering what species of wood you used. These are really very well made. Thank you
I used hard maple, which has held up very nicely over the years of use and abuse. My son is in the Marine Corp, so they have moved often, which contributes to some of the abuse.
 

demondeacon

Dave
Senior User
I used hard maple, which has held up very nicely over the years of use and abuse. My son is in the Marine Corp, so they have moved often, which contributes to some of the abuse.
Very nice and the hard maple is a good idea, but not cheap! I don't want to use 2X4's and 2X6's from Lowes either, so was thinking of white pine. We are headed up to Maine on Friday so I may bring back a load of wood on the return.
 
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