How to make a loft bed with your own hands: views, drawings, diagrams, for adults and children, photos, step by step instructions

Most apartments and private houses of the new layout are built with high ceilings. This is a modern approach to providing a comfortable stay. Therefore, sleeping places are increasingly being raised to the "second floor", and in most cases the furniture is made on its own. This decision brings a lot of advantages to the owners, if you know how to make a loft bed with your own hands.

Possible Implementations

Sleeping lofts have been used for a long time. Usually such beds had to be made in rebuilt communal apartments with high ceilings. With the advent of fashion for studio apartments, the owners tried to divide or zone the space with the help of a loft bed. Make an office or a separate place to relax.

There are many options for building beds in the attic, but the number of truly successful solutions is enough for a small list:

1. Loft bed for teenagers with space for a computer.
2. Furniture with an office under the bed.
3. Suspended bed models, such an attic is mounted on a rod to the ceiling.
4. Lofts with double bed.
5. Loft beds on a steel frame in loft style.

There are also options combined with a wardrobe or drawers for storing outerwear and shoes, combined with kitchen furniture, with a furniture box for a home theater or a place for children to play.

In theory, everything looks great, but it's still better not to store valuables, and even more so not to allow children to play under the bunk bed. It must be taken into account that the loft bed always remains furniture, which can also break.

Loft bed for children

The version of the children's bed "on the second floor" is assembled from oak beams and boards that have undergone additional heat treatment and polishing.

Primary requirements:

1. A sleeping bag with a vertical ladder can be made no more than 150 cm high.
2. Be sure to have a fence, separate fastening of the frame and stairs to the wall.
3. Ceiling ceiling must be made of transversely laid timber. Any options with plywood lining or mesh are not allowed.

If possible, it is best to make a children's loft bed based on a ready-made kit. Very popular options with a house on the second floor. It is easier to enhance or refine a finished product than to plan a design from scratch.

Moreover, the design of such a loft bed will be better than if all the elements are made by hand.

Attic with seating area on the ground floor

To equip a sleeping place in the attic, combined with a mini-living room in the lower tier, two types of structures can be used:

1. The frame is assembled on the basis of a square steel pipe with perforated walls for the installation of additional bed parts, attic fencing, ceilings, as well as load-bearing elements.
2. The loft bed is assembled from heat-treated timber and slats. The height of the overlap makes it possible to move under the attic for almost any person without bending his head.

Dimensions timber frame allow you to make a double bed, there is still room for a small closet.

The area under the loft bed is large enough to fit a set of upholstered furniture or a sofa. Furniture can be made in the same colors as the bed. Or buy a ready-made set for the living room.

The layout of the loft bed made of perforated profile, at first glance, does not look very comfortable. Here you need to correctly take measurements, fit the details and assemble the structure. And the attic itself with a bed looks modest.

In fact, this is a unique design:

1. The loft bed can be rearranged in any room of the house or apartment. The collapsible design does not require binding to a specific room.
2. The sleeping place is easy to disassemble and transport in the summer to the cottage or to a country house.

In fact, this is a variant of a huge and comfortable bed (folding bed), which can be made in half an hour for an overnight stay for unexpected guests (mainly for children). In general, there are not so many successful collapsible designs, and this is one of them.

Suspended models

Variants of a loft bed with a suspension on a metal bar are considered one of the easiest to manufacture. The frame and vertical bracket are assembled by welding from a profiled pipe. The free corner received additional support in the form of a ladder.

In general, the scheme can be recommended for small apartments, but on one condition. Mounting on the ceiling, walls and floor must be done using massive embedded elements. A steel profile pipe 40x40 mm, at least 100 cm long, is usually used.

If you fix the loft bed on anchors or dowels that are simply hammered into the wall, then in a year and a half the frame will lose its bearing capacity.

Workplace

The optimal solution for those who need a separate space with its own furnishings and working atmosphere. If you make a loft bed large enough, then the space under the ceiling (height and width) will be enough to arrange furniture - a table, chair, drawers.

In a small room, up to 2.5 m wide, you can make a workplace with a wall-to-wall bed with cantilever mounting on the walls. In such a scheme, there are no vertical racks, which increases the reliability of the structure, and in addition, it is possible to make a window opening from ceiling to floor and even with access to a balcony.

Bed in the attic loft style

All parts, including the bed frame, are planned to be made of steel pipes. The attic box is assembled on a screw connection with side backs welded from a 20x20 mm square pipe. The railing on the loft bed can be made on a pipe bender from a half-inch pipe.

The ladder can be made attached if there is not much free space in the room. But even in this case, the ladder frame must be fixed with temporary fasteners either on the wall or to the headboard.

Despite the apparent outward rudeness, the loft-style loft bed looks stylish. Another plus is that such a sleeping bag is difficult to break or make inoperative. Even a peeled paintwork on the frame will not spoil the loft-style design at all. But for sanitation reasons, it is best to paint the metal frame and handrails with black car paint with the addition of fluoroplastic microparticles (to obtain a specific texture and shine).

The loft bed is suitable for everyone who is fond of technology and motorsport.

Drawings and dimensions of the loft bed

In theory, you can make any loft bed, without a diagram or step-by-step instructions. Experienced craftsmen do just that. But the use of drawings guarantees the absence of error, especially if someone has previously made a loft bed of this model and tested it in practice.

The most important thing is to make the bed frame correctly. For children's models, you can use an additional wall mount, but for adults, the attic structure must be supported by 4 racks.

Design features

The first loft bed is best done according to the classical scheme.

The staircase is located from the front. This means that the main load will be directed across the attic, which means that it will need to be made for installation next to the wall.

First of all, you need to choose the dimensions of the future design. Determine the height and sketch out the staircase layout. The method of climbing to the attic can be considered the most important detail of the project. When lifting, the place of application of the load changes, therefore, according to the instructions, the strength of the structure must be checked under conditions when one adult (weighing up to 100 kg) climbs to the middle of the stairs. If the bed frame does not deform under load, then the attic scheme is chosen correctly.

If necessary, on the basis of this design, you can make a children's version of the loft bed. All that is required is to change the size of the bed for a spring or stuffed mattress and redo the staircase layout.

Instead of a sloping ladder for adults, install a vertical ladder, which is more suitable for younger children.

You can often find models of loft beds without stairs. One of the sidewalls is used to rise to the bed. In this case, the ladder is removed, and in order to strengthen the overlap with the bed, it will be necessary to make a single or double brace.

This is important, because in such a scheme, the load in the process of lifting to the attic is directed along it (from back to back). If this is not done, then over time the fastening of the rack to the floor will be broken.

There are obvious advantages in such a solution, sometimes it is easier to make struts than to put inconvenient and interfering stairs.

Step-by-step instruction

How to build a loft bed frame:

1. We assemble the sidewalls, cut the fence and lower crossbars.
2. We join 2 longitudinal beams of the upper level and one lower.
3. Make an overlap of transverse rails 50x50 mm.

It remains to finish the railing of the bed, make a ladder and decorate the space under the loft bed. Before proceeding with decorative finishing and woodworking, you need to make a few control lifts to make sure that the fasteners are strong.

What tools and materials are needed

The whole system is built from pine or oak timber, with a section of 70x70 mm, and boards 150x25 mm, 100x25 mm. The material is checked, blanks of normal geometry are selected, without cracks and knots. Previously, the timber and boards are dried using a microwave. This must be done to remove moisture and improve the absorption of varnish. At the same time, destroy possible pests.

The design is simple, so for assembly you will need:

1. Electric jigsaw with blades for cutting wood.
2. Table circular saw (manual will not work).
3. Desktop drilling machine with a set of annular drills or cutters for making through grooves.
4. An electric grinder with a disc covered with sandpaper (large grain) for woodworking. You may need a polishing felt wheel if you plan to make a loft bed for children.
5. Set of carpentry clamps.
6. Joiner's corner, ruler.
7. Screwdriver.

You may need a drill-drill with a carpentry drill for cutting corks. This is, if you do not assemble a ladder, but make an ascent to a sleeping place through one of the sidewalls. In this case, the fastening of the transverse rails is carried out on wooden dowels. Any attempt to make fasteners on self-tapping screws, as a rule, leads to the appearance of cracks in the wood.

In addition, it is possible that the joints of the bars holding the mattress with the longitudinal boards are made using an aluminum corner 25x25 mm. This is done in order to lay a mattress or a ready-made mattress box from a children's bed (ottoman). In this case, the corner is sewn onto the boards along the ceiling using self-tapping screws 17 mm long.

The design of the loft bed is so simple that even a novice amateur carpenter can make it.

Element manufacturing

Initially, you need to cut the blanks. You will need to cut 4 vertical posts from a 70x70 mm timber. Stands height 214 cm. The figure is not final, it can be made higher, but not more than 225 cm. When choosing, we focus on the condition - from the top of the head of a person sitting on a bed to the ceiling should remain at least 15 cm.

The next step is to make the side rails. There are 8 in total, 4 on each side. Length 147 cm, cut from a board 150x25 mm.

Another set of blanks, which includes 1 horizontal cross member connecting 2 backs (lower bar) on the back side, and 3 attic railing rails. All of them need to be made from the same board 150x25 mm, 203 cm long.

In addition, it will be necessary to cut 13-15 slats 150x25 140 mm long. Of these, you will need to make a crate for the bed mattress.

You will also need 4 short rails of 50 cm each for attic fencing, as well as a set of parts for making stairs - 2 bowstrings of 230 cm long and 6-8 planks for steps.

Step by step assembly

First of all, on the blanks of the rails (203 cm) of the fence (rear long side) and the lower horizontal crossbar, at both ends, it will be necessary to make a joiner's spike. The grooves will be cut into the uprights.

How to make a tongue and groove lock

To make a spike you need:

1. Draw a center line along the workpiece along the entire length.
2. At both ends, set aside a segment from the end to the axial one, equal to 70 mm (the thickness of the rack beam).
3. Set aside 25 mm from the center line in the perpendicular direction.
4. We cut off the corners with an electric jigsaw, in the center there is only a rectangular spike 60 mm long, 50 mm wide.

The tenon angles and wide edges need to be turned on an electric grinder with an emery disc. As a result, the thickness of the spike will be halved, and the edges will turn out to be semicircular.

For each spike on the crossbar, you will need to make a groove. In the place of the intended connection on the surface of the vertical rack, we trace the contours of the spike with a pencil. Next, on a drilling machine, using an annular drill, we cut through holes in the rack. These will be the edges of the groove. The rest is cut out with a jigsaw.

In this way, you need to make all the connection points of the long horizontal crossbars, including the fences of the upper tier of the loft bed. We insert the spikes of the crossbars into the grooves on the vertical racks and fix them with self-tapping screws. You should end up with 2 large bed frame assemblies:

1. The back part with the lower cross-beam and three upper slats of the attic fence.
2. The front part is only with 3 top rails of the loft bed railing.

All parts are temporarily fixed with self-tapping screws.

Backrest installation

The next step is to fix 2 aluminum corners 25x25 mm on the inside of the 2 lower slats on the back of the bed and on the front. A mattress will be placed on the corners. The corners are fixed with carpentry screws 17 mm long.

Next, we put and rest on the wall the previously assembled rear part of the frame. At a distance, we set the front part vertically and temporarily connect it to the back side using the 2 longest carpentry clamps. Inside, we lay transverse wooden slats on the corners and at the same time fasten them to aluminum rails using self-tapping screws.

Now you need to make the sides of the attic. First of all, on the backs you need to make the lower horizontal crossbars. They will be attached to the racks with wooden plugs. Each connection must be made in the following order:

1. We determine the position of the crossbar between the uprights on one of the backs and fix the part with clamps.
2. With the help of a rotary drill, we drill 2 horizontal holes with a diameter of 18 mm so that the drilling passes through the bar of the rack and goes deep into the cross member by 50-60 mm.
3. We cut out 2 corks (rods) from the rail with a diameter of 18-19 mm and a length of 140-150 mm.
4. We apply glue to the corks and hammer them into the previously drilled holes.

In the same way, you need to make a fence at the top of the headboards. In general, the attic is ready, you just need to install short vertical strips on the front and back of the fence. Fasteners are best done on traffic jams. All that remains is to cut out part of the fence to enter the loft bed and make a ladder.

Ladder assembly

If a loft bed is being built for adults, then it is better to buy a ready-made aluminum profile stepladder. If you plan to make an original version of the staircase, then it must be made of oak boards 150x40 mm.

Initially, one blank (string) is made in order to accurately select the angles washed down at the ends. The second part of the stairs is cut out of the board according to the copier. It remains to fold 2 bowstrings into a bag, tighten with a clamp and drill holes for attaching the steps. They can be fixed on carpentry screws or made on corks.

All connections must be glued with carpentry (casein) glue. This is the only safe way to increase the rigidity and strength of a loft bed.

Finishing

After completing the assembly, the entire structure of the loft bed is sanded with sandpaper, first with a screwdriver bit, but most of the work will have to be done by hand. Separately, the stairs and railings are polished with a felt wheel to achieve the smoothest possible surface of the wood.

The easiest way is to open the frame of the loft bed with varnish, make several layers with additional polishing of the surface. If the wood grain pattern does not look very attractive, then it can be stained to match the color of mahogany or walnut.

For the children's version of the loft bed, the front part made of wood is decorated with graphics, it can be made with paints or a burning device.

Bottom layout options

Inside the structure, you can place cabinets for shoes, clothes, storage of school supplies. For children, you can make a sports corner.

For adults, the best option would be a regular soft corner with a coffee table and a TV.

There are not so many projects and schemes by which you can make a loft bed with your own hands. But a lot can be invented and collected on their own. For example, choose an original way of finishing wood, find an author's design for a bed railing.

Video: do-it-yourself children's loft bed

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