Building an upholstered platform bed

[zannej]

I've been kicking this idea around while my shoulder/arm are healing & I haven't been able to be very productive.
I despise my cheap metal frame & box spring for my bed. Box spring collapsed on one corner, mattress won't stay in place-- keeps sliding & is now overhanging one side by at least 18"-- the desk next to my bed stops it from sliding further. Mattress is 10" but overall, the bed is too short & makes it difficult to get up.

My bedroom furniture is mostly black with gold accents (old Ashley Catiline bedroom set). So, I want a black bedframe. Since I'm a klutz, I also wanted to upholster the frame so I'll be less likely to hurt myself on it. I saw a tutorial on how to upholster a custom platform bed frame at the View Along the Way blog. I will use the multiple layers of batting as suggested in the tutorial. But, instead of 17" strips, I can use 12" strips (I think) so I should be able to get at least 4 strips out of a 54" wide bolt of fabric. To be on the safe side I'd get 3 yards (local fabric stores will charge for a full yard even if they cut less than a yard).

I found nice simple plans for a platform bed at Ana White's website. She used 2x4s to make her daughter's bed & had the plans for a Queen sized bed. I decided to modify the plans as I want a taller & sturdier bed. I'm over 220lbs, and constantly have cats & dogs on the bed with me. I like my current headboard & want to re-use it so I will need to keep that in mind when figuring out how to mount it. I can't currently see how it connects so I may need additional lumber for the connection, but for now I'm focusing on the frame part.

My plan is to use 2x6s instead of 2x4s (giving extra height and better support).
I can get three 2x6x8' (no 2x6x6' available in my area) boards for the sides + center and one 2x6x10' that I can cut in half for the foot & head. The sides will overlap the ends so the ends don't have to be a full 5' wide.
Scraps from the 2x6s will be used under the 4 corners and the center of the bed to attach feet.
I will have three 1x8x8' boards for sides & foot (set so they only stick up 1/2").
I will get five 1x6x10' boards cut in half to make 10 slats for the platform spaced approximately 2-3/4" apart. I will have 1x2x10' boards cut in half for the gaps; there will still be 5/8" gaps but there will be more reinforcement. (I looked at pre-made bunkie boards & they all sucked & plywood is far more expensive-- a single 3/4" thick sheet of plywood is around $56 in my area & the total lumber for slats using 1x6 and 1x2 is $77). I'm debating the best way to attach the boards. or if I should leave them loose and use some sort of spacers. I briefly entertained the idea of having some sort of foam under he slats but the mice would probably get in and use it for nesting material.
Maybe some doublesided sticky tape? (would save me from having to use screws & risking wood splits)
The outside legs I want to go with are close to 8" high (but not quite). It's something like 7.87" high (the legs go at an angle). There is a single adjustable leg for the middle that can adjust from 7.87" to 8.66".
The four corners of the frame will be connected with Steel Framing Angles. The center 2x6 will be connected to the frame with Simpson Strong Tie 2x6 joist hangers. The center board will connect to the footing block with two smaller framing angles. The corners will connect to footing blocks with heavy duty corner braces.

I will upholster the 1x8s separately the way Ana White did but I will use the batting like in the other tutorial. I chamfer the corners of the boards to blunt them & make it easier to wrap fabric, but I will cut batting short so it won't interfere with the connections of the outer framing. I've designed it so the foot part of the outer framing is longer to hide the ends of the other boards so the fabric seams won't be as obvious.

Here are some random screenshots from Sketchup:
<-Corner braces that I drew
Corner braces and joist hangers (I did not make the joist hangers)
Front view of the bed

Center leg brace from different angles

Top view of the bed with mattress hidden

Bottom view of the bed (sorry for the green line, I don't know how to hide the axis lines)

Hardware for the bed (not including whatever screws I will use-- likely 2" long) to attach the 1x8s. I created everything but the bolt heads (but I heavily modified it) and the joist hanger- I could not for the life of me figure out how to split the angled leg to color it properly. The upper 2/3 should be black & lower 1/3 should be gold

Photo of actual center leg

Photo of angled legs

Lumber list based on what is available at my local stores

There were no 3d models of the legs & corner braces so I made my own. Thus they aren't entirely accurate in shape/size.

I hope these make sense. I am wondering whether I should keep the center leg going sideways or if I should turn in 90° or even diagonal. It looks like the screws won't be interfering with one another, but worst case I could rotate it.

I am still trying to choose a suitable upholstery fabric. I want something that can be easily washed & that is sturdy enough to stand up to cats. I wish I could find something they don't want to scratch. It will have to withstand dog claws since the dogs like to jump up on my bed (since it will be higher I will have to stack some things so the smaller dog can get up).

So, any thoughts?

Anything I should change?
Do you think it's too high?
Any fabric recommendations? (I want it to be solid black). I was thinking of faux leather (since real leather isn't affordable) or something along those lines, but I'm open to suggestions.

 

[Eddie_T]

I like Ana White she has some clever ideas. Her youtube presentations are great and she doesn't waste time like many do on youtube videos.

With the old steel bed rails the slats were loose. Before I went to an adjustable bed frame I bought a king size frame and the slats had a fabric tape stapled to them so one just rolled them out on the frame and hooked them on pegs so the fabric was under tension. The slats were continuous across the frame rather than staggered as Ana did.

edit: I recall some problem with the pegs and think I used some drywall screws to anchor the end slats and one slat that was warped.

 

[Flyover]

Nice Sketchup work!

I don't get why you want that semicircular headboard. Seems like it'd be harder to make, harder to upholster, if you sit up and read or anything then you get an asymmetrical contour poking into your back unless you're sitting directly in the center of the bed, and it looks like rabbit furniture that's missing the ears.

 

[zannej]

Eddie, the slats with the fabric sounds like a bunkie board. The ones I saw had what looked like a fat ribbon but I didn't like the look of the wood, slats were too small, and gaps were too large. Memory foam mattresses shouldn't have more than 3" gaps in the slats under them & the ones I looked at had gaps over 3". Plus the cost of a decent one was still higher than my material list for the wood. I forgot to add that I want to get a nonslip mat designed specifically for mattresses that will go on top of the slats. I may staple the ends to hold it taut. I love Ana's videos. I agree, she gets right to the point. Sometimes I'll go to watch other videos & they will have an intro where it shows them driving around or scenery & there will be some loooong explanation that I have to skip through to get to the part where they start explaining things. I do enjoy the Bourbonmoth Woodworking channel though. He'll run into the room, jump on the work table, slide off, etc or find different funny ways to enter the room. He'll throw in some silly stuff among the useful stuff, but when he's doing useful stuff it's usually pretty good. I liked his tip on how to use a scrap of wood & a straw to make a smaller attachment for a vaccuum to get into small spaces.

Thanks, Flyover. The center leg was a real pain to make. I only had the measurements in millimetres so I had to open a separate file & choose to create it in architectural with millimetres instead of inches. I'm only making the frame- not the headboard. I'm re-using my existing headboard but NOT upholstering it. contour. I don't have any good photos, but I once made 3D models of my furniture set for Sims2 and this was my approximation of the bed (but I made a nicer frame instead of the crappy box spring). I had a typo in all of them as I believe it was supposed to be Catiline not Cataline.


Digressing a bit, I made my whole furniture set: Armoire, dresser with mirror, night stands, and threw in the Sunbeam clock from my room. I made the mesh and textures for the TV stand I have but I was still trying to tweak some issues with it & my hard drive failed so I lost all that work. I also made various re-colors as the set I had came in onyx (solid black with gold accents) and "malachite" which had a marbled green pattern. I decided to do more colors than that upon request.
Armoire

Night stands

Dresser with mirror

Wall clock (it's got a transparent section between the outer frame and the center


You can't tell from the 3D models, but the black is glossy on the furniture-- although looking at it right now, it desperately needs to be cleaned and polished. Gold is peeling off the plastic trim pieces, but I'm still fine with it.

I was thinking that for the spaces between slats, I could buy a couple of cheap 5/8" spacers (I found some at Lowes for cheap) that I put in for spacing and then remove once I get the slats down. This spacer is 5/8" long.

I also found a better picture of the outer legs

Other than the color not being applied the way I wanted, I think mine came pretty close.

As for the center leg, do you think it matters whether I have it parallel to the center board vs perpendicular? I'm trying to figure out what would offer the most support. I'm also trying to figure out the best screws to use. The leg comes with bolts and nuts because it's expected to go all the way through. If the angle brace in any way conflicts I won't be able to do that and I can't do that if it's parallel. I'd rather have screws anyway because they are less likely to come loose. For attaching the upholstered sides I was thinking some Power Pro #8 screws that are self tapping & countersink themselves. I know what bolts I want for other hardware, but am still undecided on the ones for the center leg. I will probably get washers to make sure there is no chance of the head slipping in to the hole. That sounds so wrong when taken out of context... LOL.

 

[Eddie_T]

@zannej My conclusion with that bed frame that I purchased was that I could have built my own. After assy the slats were covered with cardboard before the cover was placed over it and tightened with a drawstring underneath. There was no youtube back then and I never thought about upholstering the sides and top separately rather than using a cover. Amazingly when I packed it up to donate years later the cardboard had not sagged into the spaces by pressure from the Talalay latex so it did the job.

 

[Eddie_T]

If you're concerned about the center leg at 90° you could add some cutoff scrap to each side of the center beam.

 

[zannej]

@Eddie_T I've found so much stuff nowadays could be made far better although I don't know if for cheaper with the prices on lumber and supplies. I despise MDF and particle board.
I'm also thinking of reinforcing my bed with some metal rails I pulled off a couch. I used them on my brother's old bed frame when his box spring broke and kept slipping off the bed rail.
I tried to post this earlier but apparently it didn't go through...
Do you have a drawing of what you mean by cutting off some scrap on each side of the center beam?
I'm trying to figure out which angle-- are you saying if perpendicular or if parallel?
The block is big enough that the leg should fit diagonally, perpendicular, & parallel. I'm just wondering which position is the best to give the most support.

 

[Eddie_T]

The block is big enough I was thinking if you have scrap to screw and glue parallel lengths about the length of the block to the sides of the center beam to give the block more of a footprint for attachment. I think it will be strong enough, the only strain on it would be if you slid the bed sideways. I don't think the angle of the leg attachment will make much difference.

 

[zannej]

Thanks, Eddie!
I posted about this on another forum with detailed cut list etc & got a response that maybe I should just buy one of those cheap metal frame beds. LOL. I entertained that idea & putting pool noodles or foam pipe insulation over the frame as cushioning but my cats would shred it in no time. Plus those metal frames are too low, you never know if they are welded properly or screw holes drilled right, they could bend/break, they aren't high enough, & they don't have proper support for a memory foam mattress. There's also the fact that I want something I made myself. Parts & such will be over $200 but I look at the prices of crappy particle board/mdf beds and this is cheaper and should be sturdier.

I really should get some sleep now but I have to negotiate with my cats on whether or not I can move. LOL.