Made railings & ladder for a bunk bed last night.. - HomeModders.com

ScrapinSTi · 10-09-2009, 12:29 PM

My girlfriend moved in with me last weekend, so now we are going to have two kids in the house... She had bunkbeds for her daughter when she was with her ex husband, but they didn't use them as bunkbeds... Over time & moving, the ladder & railings were lost. So we decided to use her bunkbeds... Only problem is... I needed to make them back into Bunkbeds...

So on the list was:
#1. Dowels to secure the upper bed to the lower.
#2. Railings for upper Bed
#3. Ladder for upper bed.

To take care of #1, i just measured the hole, and went to Home Depot and got dowel by the foot, and cut it to length and bam, thats done.

For #2 & #3, first I made my girlfriend get me a picture of how it should look.. So she went to the store, took a pic, and sent it to me..
http://nperkins.riotdesigns.com/house/IMG00596.jpg

So to closely match the bed, I used all yellow finished pine (Except the stairs.. those are Poplar Dowels).

The bed had holes in the frames for lag bolts to secure the ladder... Awesome! And it had dowels in the headboard for the railings, so i know my heights... So I measured from the bottom of the lower bed to the top of the dowels... And made my first ladder board.. Then measured from bottom of bottom bed to top of top bed... 3'... Made that cut. Then measured 7" apart and took a 1 1/4" holesaw and made my holes...

Then, I attached the ladder sides loosely to the bed using deck screws as dowels and measured my 12 3/4" dowel length, and cut the steps to length. Then, I inserted the steps.

Then i took 1"x4", cut it to length for the railings, and drilled 3/8" holes in the end for the dowels on the bed.

I attached everything together, then took a piece of 1"x2", and made a support brace for the middle of the railings.

Finally, I took screws, and screwed from the backside through the ladder and the dowels so that the steps cant spin.

Finished Product...

Still need to find a color to stain the wood to make it match the original finish closely...

briansol · 10-10-2009, 06:53 PM

nicely done!

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10-09-2009, 12:29 PM	#1
ScrapinSTi Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: In Debt. Posts: 252 Rep Power: 5	Made railings & ladder for a bunk bed last night.. My girlfriend moved in with me last weekend, so now we are going to have two kids in the house... She had bunkbeds for her daughter when she was with her ex husband, but they didn't use them as bunkbeds... Over time & moving, the ladder & railings were lost. So we decided to use her bunkbeds... Only problem is... I needed to make them back into Bunkbeds... So on the list was: #1. Dowels to secure the upper bed to the lower. #2. Railings for upper Bed #3. Ladder for upper bed. To take care of #1, i just measured the hole, and went to Home Depot and got dowel by the foot, and cut it to length and bam, thats done. For #2 & #3, first I made my girlfriend get me a picture of how it should look.. So she went to the store, took a pic, and sent it to me.. http://nperkins.riotdesigns.com/house/IMG00596.jpg So to closely match the bed, I used all yellow finished pine (Except the stairs.. those are Poplar Dowels). The bed had holes in the frames for lag bolts to secure the ladder... Awesome! And it had dowels in the headboard for the railings, so i know my heights... So I measured from the bottom of the lower bed to the top of the dowels... And made my first ladder board.. Then measured from bottom of bottom bed to top of top bed... 3'... Made that cut. Then measured 7" apart and took a 1 1/4" holesaw and made my holes... Then, I attached the ladder sides loosely to the bed using deck screws as dowels and measured my 12 3/4" dowel length, and cut the steps to length. Then, I inserted the steps. Then i took 1"x4", cut it to length for the railings, and drilled 3/8" holes in the end for the dowels on the bed. I attached everything together, then took a piece of 1"x2", and made a support brace for the middle of the railings. Finally, I took screws, and screwed from the backside through the ladder and the dowels so that the steps cant spin. Finished Product... Still need to find a color to stain the wood to make it match the original finish closely...

10-10-2009, 06:53 PM	#2
briansol Administrator Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Central CT Age: 31 Posts: 499 Rep Power: 10	nicely done! __________________ 1997 2050sqft Split Level