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Home » Build A House Bunk Bed

Build A House Bunk Bed

April 3, 2016 28 Comments

I’ve been dying to share this post with you. After searching for the perfect new bunk bed for our boys bedroom, we decided to come up with our own tutorial for a house bunk bed. House Beds are a huge trend right now. I saw my first house bed over a year ago and I fell in love and I swore that as soon as we built our daughter a toddler bed someday, I would make a super cute pink house bed, decorated in cute pom pom buntings and it would be perfect. Well, fast forward a year, and she’s only 16 months, still a ways away from being in a toddler bed. Then I had a idea! We are in the process of decorating our boys bedroom. and we needed to build them a new bunk bed set as their old set was massive and took up half their room. Bunk Beds, Loft Bed, Bunkbeds, Cheap bunk beds, build a bunkbed, Easy bunk bed, House Bed, built a house bed

House Bed, Toddler House Bed
Credit: Charlottes Fancy

Idea – Wheels Spinning – Husband Groaning..

Build a house bunk bed! Only problem was I couldn’t find a tutorial for one, let alone a picture… so I got to drawing. Don’t laugh. Seriously. I never told you I had skills.

Build a house bed, house bed

I sent Glen off to the Home depot to purchase eight 2×4’s, three 2×6’s & a paint brush. Pretty much that’s all we needed as we already had our own tools, wood filler, screws and poly.

House Bunk Bed Shopping List

8 2×4’s 8′ Length

3 2×6’s 8′ Length

2 2×2’s 8′ Length for Runners

3 1×4’s 8′ Length for Slats

Paint Brush

100 pack of 2″ Screws

Paint or stain of choice

Wood Glue

Sanding pads for orbital sander

wood filler

I should mention before I give you the cut list. The pictures below are not of the actual dimensions. We built the house part a lot smaller and once we got his massive 12″ mattress on realized it was tight. So we unscrewed the entire bed and made it much taller. Keep in Mind, We pre-sanded all our wood. We did a quick sand after the bed was put together just on the edges. Learn from our mistakes. Here are the dimensions you will need to make a House Bunk Bed.

House Bunk Bed Tool List

Drill

Driver

Table Saw

Orbital Sander ( We used our dustless sander )

Clamps if doing alone

House Bunk Bed Cut list

Tall Posts 4 2×4 : 46″ Length * Top Angle Cut at 15 Degrees

Side Rails 2 2×6 & 2 2×4: 74.5″ Length

Cross pieces 4 2×4: 38″ Length

( For Top Bunk Cut 2 2×2’s for rail at 74″ & Cut 8 slats at 42″ )

—————————-

House Cuts:

First Angle ( Longest ): 45.5″ Length | Bottom Angle 15 degrees & Top 30 Degrees

Shorter Angle: 42″ Length | Bottom Angle 15 degrees & Top 30 Degrees

Top Stringer: 74.5″

Now that you have your wood cut, lets start!

You want to go ahead and make both end panels, we call them the “houses” When Glen was cutting the angles for each side, he numbered everything. It is a good idea to do. Or you could cut as you go. house bed, build a house bed, house bed, DIY house bed

Build a House Bunk Bed, Tutorial, Bed Plans, House Bed

Lay your house on the ground and line it all up. Once in form, you will be making all your pocket holes. 2 on each cut. We also siliconed between every cut. You want this bed to be extra strong. Especially if you have kids like us that live life hard.

Build a house Bunk bed, bed plans, bed tutorial, House Bed

Once both of your end panels are complete, you’ll want to stand them up. If you’re alone, you can lean one side up agains the wall and clamp the two ends & the bottom pieces together. But I was helping Glen, so we didn’t need clamps for this stage.

See picture.

Built a House Bunk Bed, Bed Plans, Tutorial For Bunkbeds

We just screwed straight from the outside Panel into the 2×4 side rail. We drove 2 2″ screws into each side. You want to make sure you drive them deep. The top of the screw should be 1/4″ deep.

Next step – do the exact same thing to the top side rails, except turn the 2×6’s on their sides. Drill your 3 pocket holes.  We put 3 2″ screws on each side for added support.

Build a House Bunk Bed, Bunk Bed Tutorial, Bed Plans

Once both sets of side rails are screwed on, it’s time to put on the bottom of the triangle on the ends. Start making your pocket holes on each side, we only used two on each end.

Build A House Bunk Bed, Bed Plans, Bunk Bed Tutorial,

Now Attach the top stringer, fill holes & choose a paint or stain.

Here is our completed House Bunk Bed

Built a House Bunk Bed, House Bed, Bed Tutorial, Bed Plans

Build a House Bunk Bed, House Bed, DIY House Bed, Bed Plans

Build a House Bunk Bed, House Bed, DIY Bed, Bed Tutorial

Build a House Bed, Bunk Bed Loft Bed, DIY Bed

 house bed, build a house bed, bunk beds, cheap bunk beds, cheap furniture, build a bed, easy bed, cheap bed, bedroom furniture, kids room

Jessica-Sara, www.whitepicketfarmhouse.com

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Filed Under: diy Tagged With: Ana White, Bed Plans, Bed Tutorial, Bedroom Furniture, Build, bunk bed, Bunk Bed Tutorial, BunkBed Tutorial, Cut List, furniture, Home Depot, House Bed, House BunkBed, Milwaukee, Tools, tutorial, Wood, Woodworking

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Shannon says

    April 3, 2016 at 11:36 pm

    OMGosh, I am in love with this bed! I am going to start it tomorrow, but I was just wondering what the bottom mattress is supported by, and I’m guessing the ladder is pretty easy to figure out after you’ve put the bed together. Thank you for the inspiration. I have to tell you that after following your blog I ordered some gorgeous signs from Barn Door Décor and ended up taking a clock class too. I’m becoming obsessed with this whole home decorating thing…Thanks again! 🙂

    Reply
    • theruggedrooster@gmail.com says

      April 4, 2016 at 11:31 pm

      Please tag me in it on Instagram.. I would LOVE to see!! What color did you end up doing it??

      Thanks for the comment xo

      Reply
  2. Nico says

    April 5, 2016 at 9:25 am

    I love this ! What did you use for support on the top for the top bed to sit on rails or slats ? Thanks 🙂 and how thick etc ? Thanks .. Maybe I just missed it ! Love your page I’m subscribing .. Except I don’t have a “hunny” to do it …. I have my own peer tools .. This looks like I could pull it off .. Oh … Could I get a liner store to cut them for me? When I buy it with the dimensions? I would be doing some additions to my already four poster bed ! Thanks so much ! You guys rock !

    Reply
    • theruggedrooster@gmail.com says

      April 5, 2016 at 9:29 am

      Thanks for the comment! So I see I missed the section on screwing the side rails on & mounting the slats… Oh man. It’s always something!
      It’s super easy though. So what we did was screw 2×2’s into the top 2×6’s. Basically it creates a ledge on both sides. You’ll want to put a hanful of screws in. I believe we put 12 2″ screws each side.
      then once the side rails are screwed onto the 2×6’s, you’ll want to screw your slats down. This isn’t necessary, but our kids play on their beds a lot, and we find that if we don’t, the slats shift a lot!
      For slats we used 8 1×4.. The dimensions of the slats should be in the post. So we also screwed those down and done!

      Also, for smaller kids, I suggest a side rail too. I’m not a fan of them at all – but you can make one super super easy!
      but yes, you can go to Lowes, Home Depot etc to cut the wood to exact dimensions for you!

      Thanks Nico!

      Reply
  3. Shirley says

    April 5, 2016 at 9:30 am

    I LOVE! LOVE! LOVE your bunk beds! I found you on Hometalk and there are many comments about your not adding a guard rail. I can see that a guard rail will totally change the design of your bed, however, it really does need one. Maybe you could add a round pole from end to end on each side, which wouldn’t change the look too much, that it would not be in scale. I don’t know how old your boys are and maybe you don’t feel they need a railing but I even had my grown son fall out of one in his sleep and am quite Leary of not having one. ANYWAY! I love it no matter what you do with it!! The color, the style, the feel…very well done!

    Reply
    • theruggedrooster@gmail.com says

      April 5, 2016 at 9:39 am

      That’s just for the picture. We have a plastic store guard rail that we put on and use at night, and take it off for photo shoots and such. Plus, our kids have never fallen out of bed anyways.

      Thank so so much for your kind words!!! So glad you love it.
      Thanks for the comment Shirley!
      xo

      Reply
  4. Aa Bird says

    May 10, 2016 at 6:02 pm

    Maybe I missed it but how much did these cost to make? I LOVE them. My sons would LOVE them. Just need to find the cash and convince my hunny!!

    Reply
    • Aa Bird says

      May 10, 2016 at 6:17 pm

      Oh and how tall is the finished bed?

      Reply
    • theruggedrooster@gmail.com says

      May 11, 2016 at 12:20 pm

      I’m unsure of the exact height – but we made our a lot higher as we wanted it to accommodate two boys. It’s probably 7 or 7.5′ in height. Our boys adore it! It doesn’t take that long to make.. the long part is the painting!

      Reply
  5. Sarah Sakai says

    October 23, 2016 at 2:01 pm

    I’m going to start this this week, eek! I see you said that you had to make the top taller to accommodate a chunky mattress, do you have the lengths for the taller version, by chance?
    Thanks!

    Reply
  6. Tiffany Hatch says

    January 10, 2017 at 4:58 pm

    Thank you so much for sharing. I am going to build this in my daughter and sons room.

    Reply
    • theruggedrooster@gmail.com says

      January 10, 2017 at 8:51 pm

      You’re so welcome!

      Thanks for reading!

      Reply
  7. Patricia Vieira says

    April 14, 2017 at 12:17 pm

    Hello.
    First of all I want to congratulate you on your blog, I love it.
    My name is Patricia and I’m from Portugal. I have two boys, one two-and-a-half and a two-month-old.
    I loved the idea of ​​the bunk in the shape of house and wanted to do it but I can not understand the measurements. Here we use everything in meters and centimeters.
    I wanted to ask you if it was possible to give me the measurements of materials in meters or centimeters?
    Thank you very much and once again, congratulations.

    Kiss, Patricia

    Reply
  8. Chad Brinkerhoff says

    October 27, 2017 at 12:21 pm

    Is the cut list the correct list after you made your corrections to the height of the bed?

    Reply
  9. Red says

    November 11, 2017 at 4:04 pm

    What are the overall finished dimensions?

    Reply
  10. AKP says

    December 7, 2017 at 8:13 pm

    Can you build and ship to Arizona for those of us who can’t build??

    Reply
    • theruggedrooster@gmail.com says

      December 9, 2017 at 8:51 am

      I’m sorry, we don’t build for the public. This was just a personal project 🙂

      Reply
  11. Andrew says

    July 15, 2018 at 4:47 pm

    I know this is an old post, but I love the bed plans. The only critique I have is this font! So hard to read.

    Reply
    • White Picket Farmhouse says

      July 16, 2018 at 10:29 am

      Thank you!! You’re the first person to say this – I’ll make it bigger, if that doesn’t help I can totally change it.

      Happy Building!

      Reply
  12. Steven says

    December 9, 2018 at 7:43 pm

    Curious as to what size bed this will fit. I’m expecting another little one!
    It’s absolutely astonishing!

    Reply
    • White Picket Farmhouse says

      December 11, 2018 at 10:37 am

      Thank you! This is a twin bunk 🙂

      Reply
  13. Shamaka says

    April 14, 2020 at 12:58 pm

    Could I make this into a loft bed perhaps? How would I go about doing this?

    Reply
    • White Picket Farmhouse says

      April 26, 2020 at 5:00 pm

      You absolutely could! I’m sure there are tons of tutorials on Pinterest.

      Reply
  14. Michelle Grant says

    May 28, 2020 at 8:47 pm

    Thank you for this, my girls love it!! Gonna figure out how to make the ladder, and still need to paint.

    Reply

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Hi! I'm Jessica Sara Morris. Lifestyle Blogger, Interior Designer and Mama to Four. Occasionally spontaneous but mostly a hermit who lives in stretchy pants.

Hey, I'm Jess!
Lifestyle Blogger, Interior Designer and Mama to Four. Occasionally spontaneous but mostly a hermit who lives in stretchy pants.

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