Build Your Own Canopy Bed

It’s here.. the blog for our canopy bed is here! I’m so excited to share this step-by-step build with you so you can build your own canopy bed inspired by Amber Interiors.

How many of you drool over every pillow and every piece she has in her shoppe? I do. But I cannot afford anything - not even a pillow if I’m being honest.

Glen and I have come up with this tutorial to give you a step-by-step build so you can have an Amber Interiors canopy bed in your home!

I can’t promise you it will be quick, but I can promise that you will save over 7,500!

Here is our inspiration bed from Amber Interiors

We built our bed out of oak as we have four crazy kiddos and pine dents easily. But pine would be much cheaper!

Quick price break down:

Pine: 361.66 CAD or 287.18 USD | Oak: 740.02 CAD or 588.69 USD

These prices are based on our local hardware stores’ prices. The cost of lumbar has inflated over 40% in the last year.

Shop List

7 1″x8″x8′ - Body
4 4″4″x8′ - Poles
10 2″x4″x8′ Slats
2 2″x4″x8′ Inner Side Rails
4 1″x3″x8′ Top Stringers

Tools Needed

*If you do not have some of these tools, they can be rented at your nearest Home Depot*

Brad Nailer
Table Saw
Mitre Saw
Drill
Orbital Sander
Biscuit Joiner
2″ Screws
1″ Braid Nails
Wood Glue
Stain of choice
Varnish
Paint Brush

For our headboard, we wanted it to appear as one piece of wood. We used a biscuit joiner to get this look. You simply make holes in the sides of your boards with a biscuit joiner and then put wood glue and biscuits in the adjoining holes to connect them. Leave the boards clamped for 24 hours, and you will have a solid headboard. Glen placed the biscuits 4″ from each end and then 1′ apart after that.

Since the original bed was made out of oak, we made ours out of oak, except for the 3×3 posts; these are made out of 4×4 cedar.

If wanting to make this bed out of pine, it will cut down on costs considerably; it costs roughly half the cost.

We used a biscuit joiner when connecting the headboard boards and placed our holes 15″ apart. Each board has six biscuits.

Now for the hardest part of the entire canopy bed - the posts. We live in a small town, and we don’t have access to many materials. We searched high and low for round posts and couldn’t find anything. We could have used 2 1/2″ 7′ dowels, but these would have been over 140.00 per leg, and we were not willing to spend 560 on just the legs, so with my brother’s help and Glen’s expertise, we made the round legs out of 4×4’s.

How To Make Round Legs Out Of 4×4’s

The below photo is a piece from another part of the build, but I’m adding it here to show you how to cut your 4×4 legs into octagons.

We set our table saw blade at a 45-degree angle and made enough cuts until the 4×4 was an octagon.

The table saw does most of the work for you and takes a lot of the wood off. We then used our belt sander to plane down the octagon’s edges, so we were left with a round shape. Keep planning until you reach your desired look.

The planning and sanding are what takes the majority of time for this project. If you live in a bigger town, I highly suggest you seek out round legs if possible.

We used 90 grit sandpaper and then 220 grit sandpaper to beautify our round legs for the final step of the legs. It was the longest process ever, but they came out so beautiful and ROUND.

Remember that slide I posted above of us cutting the 1×3’s at a 45-degree angle? That piece of wood will sit snug against the leg and back of the headboard, and it will be the connecter. Screw the piece onto the back of the headboard and then into the sides of the leg. Glen placed one screw every 6″ and, of course, used wood glue.

Something else to mention, Glen jigged up some wood to make sure he was screwing the headboard exactly in the middle of the 3×3 round leg. Picture below of what I mean.

Now do a happy dance… the headboard is done! You only have the side rails, footboard and top canopy to build!

The footboard is just one 1×8 board connected to the legs. You want to build your end board 16″ off the ground. Your side rails will also sit 16″ off the ground. We tried to replicate the original dimensions. The only thing we changed was the height. Our bed is 5″ shorter to accommodate 8′ ceilings.

The side rails are the easiest part of the entire build and if you are working with oak, they will take minimal sanding since oak has few imperfections.

You want to leave 1.5″ of space on each end of the side rails so you have room for the metal brackets. Glen placed one 1.5″ screw every 6 inches on the side rails and of course, glue.

Finally, the moment you have all been waiting for, the time to set up your canopy bed! We used these brackets to connect our headboard and footboard to our side rails. They’re super easy to install, and the side rails slip in so you can easily put them together and take apart your bed. I also think they look a lot more legit.

You can also find them on amazon, lee valley and various other places.

We set up our bed completely before we started building the top canopy. Since our bed has round posts, we needed to round off the top canopy, and it would be too hard to guess. This way, you can trace exactly where you need to cut to ensure it’s a perfect fit.

Cut your pieces at a 45 degree angle so they seamlessly fit together.

Once you’ve lightly nailed on your top canopy in separate pieces, you want to trace around your round legs. Make sure you mark each leg, so you know where you will be putting them in place.

Use your jigsaw to carve out your shape and do a light sand on them before screwing them on top of your posts.

AND THAT IS IT.

I couldn’t be more happy with our new bed. It’s beautiful and looks like it’s out of a magazine and we made it with our hands.

The Finished Canopy Bed

If you have any questions about this canopy bed or how we built it, feel free to drop them in the comments and I’ll get back to you ASAP.

As always, sharing is caring!