DIY Farmhouse Bed – King Version

I’ve had a number of questions about converting my Farmhouse Bed post plan to a king sized version (the original plan is a queen).  While the construction techniques are the same, the king version changes quite a few of the measurements to stretch the headboard and footer.  This post is a detailed plan for the king version.  To give full credit, the original version of this plan is from Ana White’s website (the queen version) which you an see here and I’m also working on a full version.  I think Ana has done a king version as well, but this plan is a little bit different.  

You can refer to back to the queen bed plan for a detailed description of the techniques and steps for building the bed.  Since this is the king version, I’m just going to show the design and describe the differences between this and the queen version.  

King Size Measurements

A standard king sized mattress is 76″ wide by 80″ long, but it’s always a good idea when starting a project to measure your mattress since they can vary a bit.  Also, there’s a California king mattress that measures 72″ by 84″ so make sure that if your mattress measures different from the standard size, that you compensate for that with your measurements.

This overall bed dimensions are approximately 83″ wide by 91″ long (including the overlapping  boards on top of the headboard and footer.

You can download my detailed King Version Plans here.  I have a few more comments about the king version in this post.

Materials List:

• (4) 1” x 10” x 8’ Untreated* Pine Board (For Panels)
• (8) 1” x 4” x 8’ Pine Board (Trim for Panels)
• (2) 4” x 4” x 8’ Beam (Posts)
• (4) 2” x 4” x 8’ Boards (Top of Panels and Siderail Boxspring Supports)
• (6) 2″ x 4″ x 8′ (For Boxspring Supports)
• (2) 2” x 6” x 8’ Boards (Top of Headboard & Footboard)
• (2) 2″ x 8″ x 8″ Boards (For Siderails)
• (16) 4 1/2″ or 5″ Screws**
• Bed Rail Fasteners
• (18) #8 1 3/4″ screws (for bed rail fasteners)
• 1 1/4″ brad nails (for nail gun)

Tools

• Chop/Miter Saw
• Skil Saw
• Measuring tape
• Carpenter’s square
• Drill with 3/8″ bit, 1/2″ bit & #8 counter sink bit (here are some options)
• Nail gun
• Wood glue
• Sander & sandpaper
• Chisels (for mortising the bed rail hardware)
• Biscuit Joiner (this is optional and I’ll discuss it more below.  What’s a biscuit Joiner anyway, you ask?)

*Note that untreated 4″ x 4″ posts can be hard to find at Home Depot & Lowes.  I found a local lumber company that was able to get them for me.

**You can find these at Home Depot in the fastener section.  There are a couple options that I’ve found which you can link to here and here.  You can also use lag bolts as well.  I used the GRK Fasteners in this project.

Cut List

• (8) 1” x 10” @ 25” Headboard Panel
• (8) 1” x 10” @ 15” Footboard Panel
• (8) 1” x 4” @ 74” Trim for Panels
• (2) 4” x 4” @ 49” Headboard Post
• (2) 4” x 4” @ 21” Footboard Post
• (2) 2” x 4” @ 81” Top of Panels and Posts (recommend taking an exact measurement before cutting)
• (2) 2” x 6” @ 83” Top of Headboard and Footboard (add 2″ to the measurement taken above)
• (2) 2″ x 4″ @ 82″ Side Rail Box Spring Support
• (2) 2″ x 8″ @ 82″ Side Rails
• (6) 2x4s @ 77″ Mattress Support Beams
• (8) 2x4s @ 9″ Mattress Support Beam Legs

I’ve also created a printable PDF version of this plan which you can purchase for $5 (it’s about 22 pages in all).  It’s all the info from the blog posts, but I’ve compiled it for easy printing and included shopping lists, cut diagrams and helpful pictures.  Basically, if you want a handy printable version so you don’t have to get sawdust all over your computer, you might consider purchasing this download.

Making the Headboard (and Footer)

The first step was to create the panels for the headboard and footboard.  The king version of this plan uses 8 1x10s instead of 1x8s.  The 1x10s, with their actual size of 9 1/4″ fit the 74″ panel width perfectly so no trimming is necessary.  Don’t forget about nominal lumber sizes when working through your plan.  Nominal sizes are what’s on the sign on the lumber bins (i.e. 2×4, 1×6, etc.).  Actual sizes are the real dimensions of the wood (less than the nominal size).

If you want to use 1x8s, you will need to either trim 11 of them all to a width of 6.73″ with a table saw or (which is easier in my opinion) use 9 of them as-is and then trim the 2 end ones to 4 3/8” and that way it would look balanced.

Since the 1x10s are bigger than most miter saw blade diameters, you’ll need to use a skil saw.  It’s a bit of a challenge to get the panel boards cut exactly square, so use a guide, clamp everything down and take your time.

Also, I used a hand sander to bevel the edges of the panels before joining them together.  This adds a little definition to the individual panels and gives the bed a more “rustic” look.

The original plans didn’t call for biscuits between the panels, but I wanted to give the headboard and footboard both a bit of additional stability.  I used #10 biscuits and glued the panels together.  You could also use pocket holes to attach the panels firmly, but I chose biscuits because I didn’t want the holes in the back of the panels.  Either way will work, particularly if you’re going to paint the bed.  A biscuit joiner is kind of expensive at around $160 (here’s theDeWalt one that I bought), but it’s turned out to be a great investment that I use on almost every project that I do.

Next step is assembling the panels.  Glue and nail the trim to the panels.  Then its time to cut the 4×4 posts and assemble the headboard and footboard.

I mentioned in the queen version plan about the 4×4 posts.  You will probably not find untreated 4×4 posts at Home Depot or Lowes, so you’ll need to call a local lumber shop and order them.  There will be several grades of lumber to choose from and since the 4×4 posts will be prominent and visible on the bed, I suggest getting the highest grade available.

Depending on your lumber yard you may hear terms like grades 1 through 4 (1 being the best) or B through D (B being the best). You may also hear the term S4S which means “surfaced four sides” and generally this is what you want. This means that each face of your board has been surfaced or planed and that the boards will have sharp, well defined corners instead of the rounded edges you find on lumber from the big box retailers. Either will work; it depends on your style and the look you’re going for.

Attaching the Headboard (and Footer) Posts

I described this in detail in the queen post, but it’s worth mentioning again here.  Be sure to pre-drill holes into the 4×4 posts!  If you’ve got access to a drill press, that will help you keep the holes for the lag bolts at exactly 90°.  A drill guide is a cheaper alternative and the next best thing (be sure to clamp it down!).  If you don’t have either, make sure you use a drill that has a level in the handle and take it slow so you can make sure to get a straight 90° hole.  I countersunk the lag bolt holes so I can fill in with wood filler so they won’t be visible.

Ideally you’d pre-drill all the way through the panels to get a tight fit between them and the panels, but because you’re going through a 4×4, you would need an extra long drill bit.  If you don’t have one, I have a workaround to keep the posts tight against the panels using cleats and clamps:

Assembling the Footer

The footer is assembled the same way as the headboard. I recommend assembling the panels of both together and then attaching the posts of both. This saves time since you can cut and drill everything at the same time.

Making the Bed Rails

Once the headboard and footer are assembled, it’s time to start working on the bed rails. Keep in mind that the 2×6 on top of the footer will extend an inch or more to the inside. I’ve made the bed rails 82” long to accommodate standard king sized mattresses and box springs, however I would recommend measuring yours (if you have them already) to make sure that they will fit. This is the same with the 77” support beams. I’ve created this plan based on standard box spring sizes, but it never hurts to double check your specific mattress and box spring!

The other difference between this and the queen version is that I’ve added additional 9″ supports for the middle of the rail slats.  You can make these using 2 2x4s attached together or you may have enough wood from your 4×4 posts to use for this purpose.

Again, one of the big differences between my plan and the Ana White plan is how I attach the bed rails. In her original plan, the bed rails are permanently fixed to the headboard and footer, but I wanted a bed that can be disassembled with relative ease. Besides, this is a heavy piece of Closeup of measurements for the bed rail supports.furniture! So instead of bolting the rails to the posts I am using bed rail fasteners. There are a variety of bed rail fasteners available, but I’ve found these heavy duty fasteners (shown in the illustration) work great and enable the bed rails to be attached and disassembled with east. You can find these at a Woodcraft or Rockler store if there’s one near you or you can order them online from Amazon. This does require that you are careful to follow this plan as it relate to the width of the headboard and footer. This goes back to the comments about the 1×8 panels and their actual width of 7 1/4”.

See the queen version post for a detail walkthrough of creating the mortises for these fasteners.  If you don’t want to mess with the mortises for the bed rail fasteners, some other options are these 5″ surface mount fasteners by Rockler or these “no mortise” bed rail fittings.  Both have good reviews on Amazon at the time of this post.  Note that both of these surface mount fasteners have to be mounted on the inside of the bed rails and the 2×4 “shelf” that supports the mattress supports will get in the way.  You can compensate for this by trimming the shelf back from the edges of the 2×8 bed rail boards creating enough space to mount the brackets on the bed rail.

The other technique that might be unfamiliar is cutting notches in the 2×4 for the bed rail supports.  Here’s a brief video demonstration on how to do this.  Don’t forget to use eye protection!

Here’s a closeup of the measurements of the support housing joints.  For this plan there are 6 support slats measures with 11″ spaces between them and 3″ spaces on the ends.

Final Assembly

Here’s another picture of the final plan.  For ideas on finishing, refer back to the last part of the queen bed post series.

Thanks and if you’ve found this plan helpful or have some additional tips, please leave a comment!

Thanks!
Ed

You might also like this matching nightstand.