Recently, I traded my camp bed made in the method shown at http://www.housemorien.org/malcolmsbed.htm and two 16th century smocks for a new style bed. It’s shown in the picture here: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v609/marymont//Pavilion/?action=view&current=6-Setupfurniture.jpg – as you can see, not much of the bed itself can be seen. For that reason, I pulled it out of storage to take pictures of the individual pieces.

It’s a platform bed that dismantles quite handily for transport. It was not made by me or anyone in my household, so I’m going to describe the general method of construction with the measurements used by the craftsman who made it. Please note that some of the measurements are pretty goofy, so you may wish to adjust them to make more sense.

This bed fits my Eddie Bauer airbed with built-in battery-operated pump. Unlike most air mattresses, this model is true to standard bedding size (60” x 80”). If you use a different mattress, check the dimensions of your particular unit and adjust the measurements of your side rail units and/or headboard/footboard units accordingly.

The pieces of the bed are as follows:

• Four (4) leg units
• Two (2) side rail units
• One (1) headboard unit and one (1) footboard unit, interchangeable
• Two (2) center support units with folding leg
• One (1) crosswise board with notches
• One (1) crosswise board without notches
• Three (3) platform pieces
• Sixteen (16) ¼” bolts, 1 ½” long, with matching tee nuts and washers

Construction of the various elements:

Leg Units:

Obtain from your local home center four heavy duty pre-made legs, about 16” tall. Ours actually measure a half-inch shorter. Balusters or fence post segments would work very well for this application. You could substitute pieces of 4”x4” lumber for the pre-made legs, but they’re prettier and lighter weight with the shaping. Most of the legs I’ve seen, and the ones that my bed uses, have a 4”x4”x4” block at the top of the unit.

For each leg, take two 12” segments of 1”x6” board. Round off the corners of one short end. If you wish, miter the other end in a 45 degree angle. Otherwise, cut one board ¾” of an inch shorter and butt them together. This latter method is how the craftsman who made my bed did it. To make it pretty, you might wish to round off the top and the unmitered end of the board, too, like our craftsman did. Drill two holes in each board at the midline at 2 ¼” and 6 ¼” in from the rounded-off end. Countersink the tee nuts on the outside edge.

Glue and screw the boards to the top two inches of the block at the top of the leg and to each other, so that they meet in a 90 degree angle. The boards will extend above the top of the block.

The craftsman who made my bed chose to add a 6 ¼” piece of lath with rounded-off ends to cover the screw holes, but it isn’t really the most effective method, as it tends to slide off-position and expose the holes anyway.

Side Rail Units:

For each unit, take a 1”x6” board, 78” long. Drill holes sufficient to accept your bolts at 5” and 9” from each end at the midline.

Prettification detail (optional!): Draw a line 1 ½” in from one long edge. 17” from each end, make an S-curve line up to the edge of the board. You will end up with a board with a notched-in segment for most of the length of the board. Cut out this piece. Round over the edges of your board with a router.

Next, take a 1”x2” board, also 78” long. Glue and screw the short edge along the unnotched edge of the larger board. On top of the 1”x2”, glue and screw additional pieces of 1”x2” at the positions following:

First piece: 2 ½” long, starts at 1 ½” from left end.
Second piece: 12” long, starts after 7 ¾” gap.
Third piece: 19 ½” long, starts after 5 ¾” gap.
Fourth piece: 14 ¼” long, starts after 5 ½” gap.
Fifth piece: 3 ¼” long, starts after 5” gap.

I have no earthly idea why the pieces or the gaps are the weird lengths and spacing that they are. I presume you can regularize them somewhat.

Headboard/Footboard Units:

For each unit, take a 1”x6” board, 59” long. Drill holes sufficient to accept your bolts at 5” and 9” from each end at the midline.

Repeat the Prettification Detail, only the unnotched-in bit is only 10 ¼” long, rather than 17” long.

Take a 1”x2” board, 55” long. Center it along the length of the 1”x6”, so that there is a space of ¾” between the bottom edge of the 1”x6” and the bottom edge of the 1”x2”. Glue it and screw it in place.

At this point, you may wish to sand and stain or paint your bed pieces. None of the rest of the pieces need staining.

Center Support Units:

For each unit, from 1”x2” stock, cut two blocks 3” long and one piece 16 ½” long. Drill a ¼” hole in each 3” block, 5/8” from the long edge and 1 ½” from the short end of each. Cut one end of the longer piece of 1”x2” into a half-circle shape. ½” from the rounded end of this piece, drill a ¼” hole. This will be the support leg.

Take a 1”x6” board, 59” long. Glue and screw the 3” blocks to the center of this board, 1” apart, so that their holes line up. Set the leg between the blocks and thread a bolt through the three holes and secure with a nut.

Notched Crosswise Piece:

Take a 1”x6” board, 59” long. Cut a rectangle out of each end, on one side of the board. The notched out bit should be 1 ½” long and ¾” deep, so that it can fit into the 5” gap between pieces 4 and 5 detailed above in the side rail instructions.

Crosswise Piece without Notches:

This is the simplest unit in the entire construction. It’s a 1”x6” board, 59” long.

Platform Pieces:

These are easy, too. They are plain pieces of ¼” plywood, 24” x 59”.

Assembly of Bed:

Attach the legs to the side rails, headboard and footboard with ¼” bolts. Thread them from the inside to the outside. The tee nuts will tighten the bolts down and secure the pieces quite well.

Lay the four crosspieces in the gaps along the side rails. The ones with the support legs go in the middle, with the others at the head and foot of the bed.

Lay the platform pieces over the crosspieces. There will be gaps between the sheets of platform. Set the gaps so that they lay over the boards, supported on each side. If you wish to eliminate the gaps, you can cut the platform pieces wider (26 2/3” x 59”) but this is incredibly wasteful of your material; you’ll only get one piece out of each sheet of plywood!

One revision I’m contemplating:

I really hate beds without proper headboards, especially when I can’t push the head of the bed against a firm wall. The pillows fall off the head end of the bed! Thus, we’re planning to build a detachable headboard for this bed. It will use the same bolts as the headboard described herein, but instead of being 5 ½” tall at its highest point, it will be approximately 24” tall, so it can stack with the platform pieces when we pack our transport vehicle. The exact design has not yet been worked out, because I have too many ideas as to what it might be.

Please note that the canopy shown in the pictures is a completely separate unit. It does not attach to the bed at all. It is a simple rectangle made of 2”x2” lumber, suspended from the spokes of the pavilion. The frame is covered with a fabric canopy top, with hangings attached to the canopy top with snaps. Not shown in the pictures are the side curtains, which are attached to the canopy top with Velcro. The concept for the canopy was taken from Master Terafan Greydragon’s splendid website, specifically this page: http://www.greydragon.org/furniture/canopy/index.html

Copyright 2007-Steve and Mary Montgomery

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