Easy DIY Bed Platform (with plans!) | How To Make

Today I'm going to show you how I built this easy but awesome bed platform with materials from your local home store. I'm going to start this project by building the outer frame. I got four pieces of 2x12s from my local home center, and I started by making a small cut off the ends of the boards to give them a fresh edge. I then cut them all to length with a circular saw. This gives me the two sides, the headboard and the footboard. I also cut one additional board that's going to be the center support. I then took the boards over to my table saw and I cut them to width. This also took off the rounded edge that a 2x board normally has. You could also do this with a circular saw and a straight edge. If you'd like to build this bed platform yourself, I have a set of plans linked down below which includes a material list and a cut list. These boards from the big box stores often come with factory stamp markings and scuffs, so I used my belt sander and gave the outside pieces a good rough cleanup sanding. I designed the frame to come apart when it needs to be moved, and because of this I decided to join the boards together with pocket holes and no glue. Pocket holes are a great way to join boards together without fasteners being seen from the outside. I then took one 2x4 and I cut it right down the center to create the two side rails that will eventually support the slats. I cut them to length with my circular saw and then I pre-drilled the holes where I'll attach them with screws. These rails can permanently attach to the side boards, so I used glue here and then I screwed them to the two side boards of my frame. I then gave all the pieces a final sanding with 220 grit before applying a finish. I like to use a water-based finish on light woods because it dries clear and it doesn't cause the light wood to yellow. At this point the cuts for the frame were finished, so I could move it into its room and start assembling the platform. I worked my way through the corners and screwed them all together with pocket hole screws, making sure to keep everything super square. Boards often shift when assembling with pocket hole screws, so I clamped the corners to my squares to hold everything tight. With the outside assembled, the center support could now be added, again using pocket holes to secure it. This board is only as tall as the side rail supports and this is so the rails will sit flat all the way across when I add them. The slats were really simple to create. I used 1x4 boards and set up a simple stop block at my miter saw to quickly cut them all to length. I then laid them out across the platform, leaving space in between so the mattress could breathe. This worked out great and it was plenty strong. To secure the slats, I pre-drilled and countersunk holes and then I screwed them to the rails. Sinking in the screws will help avoid any snags on the mattress. And with the rails in place, this easy bed platform was done! So that is it! Thank you so much for watching and I hope you learned something from this video. If you were into it, hit the like button, make sure you're subscribed, and hit the notification bell, that way you're alerted when I post new videos. If you'd like to keep up with what I'm making in the meantime, make sure you're following me on Instagram, I'm at Maker Grey. And again, thank you so much for watching and I'll see you on the next video!