Scavenger Chic

Built-in Bunk Beds DIY – Part 1

• By Joan
• September 30, 2020
• 6 Comments

Built-in Bunk Beds

We have this great little townhouse, fairly near the beach, that we’ve used a ton this year.  With Covid going on and  hubby working from home we might as well use this home away from home to have a change of venue.

This is a loft bedroom, open to the downstairs which usually sleeps the kids.  On one side of the room there is a twin bed.

On the other side of the room is another twin bed.  Beneath this twin is a trundle bed which pulls out so that this room can sleep 3.

It’s such a nice little room unless there are actually three people sleeping here, which happens much more frequently with a couple grandbabies.

That really nice little guest room gets a little crowded with the trundle bed pulled out and the dog bed  (bottom right corner) spread out.

Well lately I’ve been fantasizing about built-in bunkbeds.  Just Google built-in bunkbeds and you’ll see what I mean.

 I’ll give you a couple examples so you get the idea.  This one is from Henderson Development and Design.

And I’m drooling over this one though I don’t quite have the roofline to pull it off.

Unfortunately, I could not find the original source for this photo.

Bunk beds have come a long way since the ubiquitous, This End Up bunkie.

So, I guess I’ve been fantasizing out loud because for my birthday my three fantastic sons showed up with a trailer full of lumber, supplies and  bunkbed plans. 😆 

They also conspired to close up the room so that it is no longer open to the downstairs.  The idea of a loft room and the look of a loft room is so much nicer than a loft room in practice.  Every sound, every noise, every creak of a floor board carries up to the room, not to mention the happy sounds of kids playing. 

It really became evident when my middle son, who has also been working from home, had to work from the  room.  Several times he had to work from his car when he was on a Zoom call. Not particularly pleasant in the summertime. 

Demolition took about 10 minutes, tearing out the old ledge and shutter window.

It helps that oldest son, Keith, an architect, planned out the space and all the supplies, including a door, studs, wood for a shiplap wall and drywall.

We only made one trip to the hardware store for this initial build and that was to buy more spackle.

Had to start in on the studs and the drywall first so that the spackle had time to dry and so they could hang the door.  They only gave themselves a long weekend to get all the work done.

Bunk Bed Construction

Into that half wall, the one with the new studs on top, were inserted a double beam of 2×4’s.  Held in place with a couple additional 2×4 pieces which were in turn screwed into the existing studs and then screwed into each other making one solid beam.

The same beam technique was employed for the top front bed support as well.

They used hex lag screws to attach the back 2×4’s to all the studs in the back wall.

They also moved the electrical to the upper bunk so each bed would have power for a light or for phone chargers.

Ship lap was cut to fit around the bed and 1×4’s for the bed slats.

They used a pneumatic nail gun to attach all the  bed slats to the frame.

Each of the pine shiplap boards has a groove to fit into the next.  If you’re going to leave a slight gap between the boards I suggest you paint that groove before installing  (thank you Miranda and Nathan) which will make life a lot easier when it comes to the final  paint finish.

The area between the two walls was a little longer than an actual twin bed so they made plans to construct a storage box at the end.

They also left the trundle bed in the design, this time under the bunkies.

A different view of the built in boxes.

After a very long weekend, the basic structure of the beds was in place.  We were all heading home, leaving room for more family to arrive,  but I had my assignment.  I was to take this cubby and apply my Scavenger Chic style.  I’ll give you a week to figure out how I cozied up the nook. 

Since I gave you enough to do for this week, I’ll bring you all the finishing touches next time and there is pallet wood involved!

Stay tuned, stay inspired and I’ll see you next week.

You can find Part 2 here.

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