We had a regular bunk bed in the grandkids' room, but as they have grown in size
and number (8 and counting!), it was becoming obvious that something more was needed.
So I looked on Pinterest for ideas and showed Husband what I was thinking.
This is what we built.
I will now try to go through the steps we took to get here.
(I knew I should have done this as soon as it was done,
I hope I don't forget anything!)
Lumber List:
2" x 4"-- 4 @ 6'
6 @ 6' 11"
6 @ 38"
3 @ 40"
2" x 2"-- 6 @ 5'9"
6 @ 34"
1" x 3"-- 4 @ 6'
2 @ 41"
4 @ 35"
4 @ 15"
14 @ 35"
Other: 18 3" carriage bolts/nuts
lots of 3" wood screws
sand paper and paint or stain
You will want to measure your mattresses to make sure these
measurements are right for you. Also, some of the 1" pieces were used for safety
rails/ladders, and we just put them on one side because the wall did
the job on the other side, so if you want them on both sides, you will need more.
6' pieces for the long sides, 38" pieces for short sides of bed frames.
The dining table proved to be a good place to put
things together.
The 2" pieces worked well to make a lip for the slats.
We glued and screwed them together.
1x3's for the slats, 7 per bed, 35" long.
You only need to do this for 2 of the beds,
the bottom one sits on the floor.
When it came time to put it all together,
we brought some tables in to hold up the bunks
(this was much easier than trying to hold them up while
someone was screwing them together!)
You can see here how they went together.
One frame sat on the floor.
The 6'11" pieces became the posts that held up
the top bunk and part of the middle bunk.
These were bolted to the top and bottom bunks.
The middle bunk is bolted into 2 of the posts,
and the three 40" pieces become the other posts.
When we put it together, we realized that we didn't
need so much space between bunks because their feet
could be under the bunk above. So we lowered
the top (figure this out first, it was a lot of extra work!)
Final heights: the bottom of the top bunk frame is 51" from the floor,
the bottom of the middle bunk frame is 28" from the floor, and
there is 15" between the top of the mattress and bottom of the
bunk above it.
These measurements can be further adjusted to suit
your circumstances. For instance, I have 2 mattresses
on the bottom (floor) bunk, so I can pull them apart
and sleep all little ones there.
The remaining 1" pieces became safety rails and ladders.
We put the ladder rails on the short sides of the beds,
it was easier and just added to the stability.