Scavenger Chic

Built-in Bunk Beds Part 2 – The Finishing Touches

• By Joan
• October 8, 2020
• 7 Comments

Built-in Bunk Beds

Last week I gave you all the step by step instructions to get your brand new built in bunk beds to this point. You’ve been waiting a week, and now here it is, the finishing touches.  It’s everything  you’ll need to know to make this a cozy place that the kids will be dying to visit.  This is going to be the ideal place  to curl up and read a good book or take a good nap.

I’m starting with a little wall to cover the storage boxes at the ends of the bed.  These 1×3’s are cut the depth of the storage box with mitered ends.

On the inside of the rectangle we just cut, cut 2 , 1×2’s the length of the box.  Glue the mitered corner then nail on the 1×2’s,  lining up the outer edge.

Cut pallet wood or any other scrap wood you may have laying around to fit inside the ridge you made in the last step.  Nail into place from the back.

 

I’ve finished with my little partial wall for now.

We’re onto the tops of the storage boxes.  Cut more pallet wood to fit over  the tops of the boxes.

A few more pieces of pallet wood laid across the box tops and nailed into place hold the lids together

Sand well.

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With a jigsaw, I cut an arch into a1x8 .  The arched piece will go above the top bunk,  again, to make the  space a little cozier .  I only bought a 6 ft  1×8 so I know I’ll be a few inches short.  You’ll see how I modified the ends to make the arch fit when I got back on site.

Artwork for above the bunk beds is just scanned and enlarged vintage postcards of the area downloaded off the internet.

Still in need of a ladder and a bed rail for the upper bunk…I was going to use an old wooden bunk bed ladder but discarded the idea when I realized it would sit in the way of the pull out bed and take up far too much floor space in the room.

Opted for iron piping instead.  The pipes can get fairly expensive so I started with these pipes that were dangling in my garage.  They were left over from my middle son’s high school career in pole vaulting.  Hanging straight down he would lift his feet up to the bar strengthening his core. I think that was 12 years ago and I’m pretty sure it hasn’t been used since.

As I worked on each of the pieces I laid them out on the floor.  It helped me figure out if I was missing anything.  Definitely needed more pieces for the pipe ladder. The first place I checked didn’t have all the pieces in stock so I ended up getting some online. 

While I was working at home I had a hard time envisioning what the finish should be on my little pallet wood wall.  Should it be painted navy, like the shiplap surrounding the bunk beds?  White like the trim?  Keep the pallet wood natural?

Now that it was in place, it had to be white.

I ended up painting the frame white then watered down the same trim paint to whitewash the pallet wood inset pieces.

The pallet wood box tops fit perfectly.  They were attached with piano hinges to the plywood box.  I also clad the sides that would  be visible with additional pieces of pallet wood.

I was originally going to use a piece of belt for my handles but when I spied these unique handles at Hobby Lobby, I was sold.  They make the boxes look like treasure chests.  Perfect for the beach and a nautical look.

I also clad the bottom of the plywood box (only on the top bunk) with even more pallet wood.
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Having finished working on the sides of the storage boxes, now was the time to install the pallet wood  wall nailing it to the crossbeams on both bunks.

Prepainted a 2×3  with the wall color and nailed it to the ceiling just behind the little partial wall and stretching the length of the space.

The 2×3 gives the little pallet wall one more point of contact other than the beams from the 2 beds.

Also prepainted and screwed on a 1×8 to cover the beams and the bed slats on the upper bunk.  Make sure the screws are long enough to go  into the beams.

I knew the arch was a little short, so this was my solution using scrap wood.

Filled in nail holes, sanded and prepainted the arch then nailed it to the 2×3 that had previously been nailed to the ceiling.

Another prepainted  1×8  covers the beams and the bed slats on the lower bunk.  Again, make sure the screws are long enough (about 3″) to go deep into the beams that are holding up the bunk beds.

Those screws are countersunk, filled with wood putty, sanded and painted.

The lights are from Amazon.  

To cover up the pull out bed, I chose a 1×12″ and a  3/4×6″ trim board that has been sitting in my garage for over a year.  It was leftover from one of my oldest son’s house projects.  Some day he’ll come to retrieve his wood and there will be nothing left.  🙄

Measure the opening and take off about a 1/4″ on both sides and the bottom to give the trundle bed cover lots of wiggle room.

The two boards are attached with wood glue and a few finish nails.  The narrower board is painted white and fits behind the 1×12 to give the illusion of trim.

After painting, the two boards were attached to the lower bunk with hinges.

I hung up the postcard enlargements.  Each picture has one nail in the center bottom to prevent little feet from kicking and knocking them askew.

The last project was to install a side rail for the upper bunk and a ladder.  

All of the black pipes just screw together but it is a little trickier to create a ladder.  Basically, you complete each side of the ladder, getting those pieces as tight as possible.  Make sure all the T pieces are facing to the inside.  I used 4, 18″ pipes for the rungs.  Screw those pieces completely into one side of the ladder, then attach the second side of the ladder by slowly unscrewing the first side.  It ends up, that both sides are screwed in about half way.

Once the ladder is bolted to the bed, those rungs aren’t going anywhere.

Note: If you do need a lot of any one piece make sure you check the internet first.  Just one Tee piece at Home Depot was $3.55 whereas I bought a box of 10 3/4″ Pipe Fitting Tees on Amazon for $15.  I only needed 8, but it still saved me a bunch.

A door and a wall where none had existed before.

This is a better view of the cover for the trundle bed in action.  The ladder is out of the way and once the bed is pulled out all of the way the cover can swing back to a closed position.

Since I always like a before and after…this is the same area before the bunk bed build.

Only thing left  are a few finishing details.  I still want to move the ceiling fan over, get a pair of matching comforters and maybe a couple handles for the cover on the trundle bed.  Any other thoughts?

This was a fun build and it was so nice to do this project with my 3 sons.  Stay well and stay inspired.