DIY Detailed Wooden Bed

You know those big wooden beds you see at Anthropologie or Restoration Hardware that look oh so dreamy? I am obsessed. The hand carved detail is so intricate. They are stunning beds. Which is why I understand why they come with a hefty price tag.

After dreaming of such a bed for a long time and knowing we REALLY needed a bed frame, I decided to do some more research on building beds. Thank goodness for Pictures and Pinterest. Then I turned my dream into reality.

Here’s a before picture of our bed situation. It wasn’t terrible, but it is insane how much a bed frame can transform a room.

Inspired yet? If you are, the first thing you need to do is measure your mattress. I also looked at the dimensions of the bed frame I was inspired by on their site. If you are basing the measurements on your mattress, I recommend adding 2 – 4 inches on each side. You want to make sure you have a little wiggle room.

For reference, we have a queen size bed and our mattress is 62 inches wide and 80 1/2 inches long. So I went with 65 inches wide and 84 inches long.

We have a box spring along with the mattress. The box spring has seen better days, but it’s still in working condition, so I decided to keep it, with the goal to hide it with the frame. Our box spring is 9 1/2 inches deep/tall. That measurement was my starting point for the footboard.

For all materials, we spent around $391. I know that sounds like a lot. Well, because it is! But it was a lot less expensive than the wooden bed frames I found that ranged from $2000 – $5000. You can DIY this bed for around $290 if you use less expensive wood, such as whiteboard, which is half the cost of the pine wood we used. If you use pine wood, it will cost under $400. Still way less expensive than purchasing a similar one at a store. Please note, this price is for a queen size bed.

When I started, I honestly had no idea what I was doing. I designed it as I went. It took a couple of weeks and multiple trips to Lowe’s. However, it was well worth it!

I used this bed as my inspiration.

The person that hand carved this bed is outrageously talented. The details are so insanely beautiful. So it’s no surprise the hefty price tag that comes with it. Which is why I decided to DIY it. 

My advice is to build the bed in stages. I started with the footboard. Then moved on to the headboard. I didn’t cut the 3 outer frame pieces until after I was done with the footboard and headboard. I say this, because you want to make sure the boards are the correct size to secure the frame to the outer edges of the footboard and headboard so it looks cohesive.

Below is the wood dimensions and cost breakdown, by section.

Bed frame
4 – 1 x 8 x 8’ pine $16.80 each
5 – 1 x 4 x 6’ whiteboard $3.36 each

Total frame cost: $84

Wood for footboard
4 – 3/4 x 8’ – Pine wood lattice moulding $8.24 each
1 – 3/4×4’ – Ornamental whitewood wood square moulding $3.08 each
2 – 1 x 8’ – White hard unfinished chair rail moulding $12.46 each
4 – 1 x 2 x 6’ – $4.42 each
1 – 1/2 x 2 x 4’ $3.16 each

Total footboard cost: $81.80 

Wood for headboard
4 – 1 x 12 x 6’ – $13.98 each 
2 – 4 x 4 x 8’ headboard legs $11.42 each
4 – 3/4 x 8’ – Pine wood lattice moulding $8.24 each
4 – 3/4 x 4’ – Celtic chair rail $5.18 each 
2 – 1 x 8’ – White hard unfinished chair rail moulding $12.46 each
4 – 3/4×4’ – Ornamental whitewood wood square moulding $3.08 each
2 – finials $2.98 (comes in a set of 2)
2 – Artisan round bun foot $2.78 each
7 – 1/2 x 2 x 4’ $3.16 each
1 – 1/4 x 8’ $4.98 each
1 – 1 x 2 x 6’ – $4.42 each
1 – 1 x 3 x 6’ – $3.98 each
2 – Maple coffee table legs $5.98 each

Total headboard cost: $225.68

Total cost: $391
RH cost: $4295

Here is a picture of the different types of trim I used.

Tools & accessories needed
Miter saw
Tape measure
Pencil
Level
Mask
Gloves
Safety goggles
Kreg Jig
Clamps
1 1/4” pocket hole screws
2” pocket hole screws
Drill
Drill bit set
1 1/2” finishing nails
Hammer
Wood filler
Putty knife
Caulk gun
Gorilla glue – fit for a caulk gun
Orbital sander
40 grit sandpaper
120 grit sandpaper
Lint free cloth
Miss Mustard Seed’s Antiquing Wax
Round brush

Before you make your first trip to the hardware store do these things:

1: Finalize the measurements
2: Make a list of all the wood you need. If you are building a queen size bed, you can work off my measurements, but double check it works for your bed first.

Tip: Once you have all the wood, I recommend staining all the trim before cutting them to size. Otherwise you’ll have 100+ pieces to stain instead of 1.

For the stain, I used Miss Mustard Seed’s Antiquing Wax. It’s actually not stain, it’s wax. CLICK HERE for details. I applied it with a round brush in a circular motion, then wiped the excess off with a lint free cloth. It dries immediately and there are no harsh fumes so you can do this in your house. 🙌🏼 I normally wait until the end of a build to stain/paint, but for this project I stained a majority of the pieces before securing them.

For the small blocks (because you have to cut 100+ for the footboard and headboard) use the measuring ticks on the saw to quickly get this part out of the way. I cut them to 1 3/4 inch and spaced them about 1 inch apart.

See below how I pieced the footboard together. You can also head to my Instagram and find the videos I did. I saved them to my story highlights named “DIY Bed”. 

Footboard wood cuts
1 – 1 x 8 x 8’ (this wood is from the bed frame list. Wait to cut the other three until you get down to the bed frame instructions. 
2 – 1 x 2 x 65″
1 – 1 x 2 x 62″
2 – 1/2 x 2 x 11 1/8”
74 – 1 3/4” pine wood lattice moulding (this will take approximately 1 1/2 pieces)
2 – 62” – using the remaining 2 pine wood lattice moulding pieces
4 – 11 1/8” using 1 of the ornamental whitewood wood square moulding pieces
2 – 62” – white hard unfinished chair rail moulding

For the shell of the footboard you will start by using a Kreg to make pocket holes on the 8 inch pine board.

Then you’ll secure the 2 – 1 x 2 x 65″ on the top and the 1 – 1 x 2 x 62″ on the bottom of the of the board where the pocket holes are. Then you’ll add the 1/2 x 2 x 11 1/8” pieces on each end.

I secured the 1 3/4 inch pieces using GORILLA heavy duty construction adhesive and a rod caulk gun.

Then I secured the pine wood lattice moulding pieces directly after the 1 3/4′ pieces with GORILLA glue. You can also use finishing nails. If you use finishing nails, I highly recommend pre-drilling all the holes before hammering. Doing that will prevent the wood from splitting. The last thing you want to do is split the wood.

Note, I flipped the footboard and added the same trim in the same order on the opposite side.

I added the chair rail directly after the pine wood moulding. Then glued the braided (ornamental) trim on top of the 1/2′ pieces on the ends. See below.

Once the footboard was put together, I filled in the pocket holes with wood filler, then sanded the back with 120 grit sandpaper.

To finish the footboard, I added the maple table legs to the bottom two ends. Below is a picture of the legs I used.

After the footboard was done, I started on the headboard.

I first cut the 4 – 1 x 12 x 6’ pieces to 62”. This is the backboard. Then used a Kreg Jig to make pocket holes along the long edges. I spaced the pocket holes roughly 6 inches apart. You’ll do this to 3 of the 4 backboard pieces. You’ll also need 3 pocket holes on both ends of each of the 4 backboard piece. 

The 3 pocket holes on the ends is to secure the backboard to the headboard posts.

Next you’ll want to cut the 2 – 4 x 4 x 8’ pieces to 6 feet. If you don’t want the headboard to be that tall, you can cut them to 5 feet instead. 

After the legs are cut, secure the backboard pieces to the legs. 

Once the frame of the headboard is secured, you’ll want to sand it so it is level and smooth. If some of the pieces are not completely level, use 40 grit sandpaper first, then 120 grit sandpaper to smooth the surface.

Then I started adding the trim. I applied the trim (starting at the top) in the same order as I did on the footboard. See picture below.

Stain the frame and backboards of the headboard before adding the trim. Doing this will ensure you get everything stained. You don’t want to stain after the trim is secured or you’ll run the risk of not getting the stain in all the nooks and crevices.

Before you cut the trim for the headboard, stain all the pieces. Once all the trim pieces are stained, cut them to size.

You can reference the picture below along with the headboard wood list above to see how I put the headboard together. See how I pieced the trim together for the headboard below.

I secured the headboard trim pieces with construction grade gorilla glue.

Bed frame cuts
2 – 1 x 8 x 84”
1 – 1 x 8 x 57”
5 – 1 x 4 x 62 1/2”

Use a Kreg jig to make 3 pocket holes on both ends of the 1 x 8 x 80 1/2” pieces and the 1 x 8 x 57” piece. 

Secure the outer frame to the headboard and footboard with pocket hole screws. 

Use the Kreg jig to make 2 pocket holes on each end of the 5 – 1 x 4 x 62 1/2” bottom frame boards.

Secure the bottom frame pieces to the outer frame pieces. The bottom boards act as the mattress support beams. This is how the frame should look.

The last thing I did was add the finials to the headboard posts. They came in a pack of 2 for $5. They were the cherry on top of this DIY bed.

What do you think? It might be my favorite piece of furniture I have ever DIY’d!

K was pretty impressed with it too. Can’t you tell? He was actually impressed with the tripod and the remote to the camera. Ha!

If you found the build a bit confusing, you can head to my Instagram profile page and watch my story highlights named DIY bed.

And that’s a wrap! I hope you enjoyed this post and find inspiration to create a bed you love that fits your style. 

Until next time friends. Xo 

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