We are going to take a quick look at how to go about building your own platform bed. If you're not a 100% sure what a platform is, let's clear that up right now. It is not a bunk bed necessarily. With a bunk bed you have one bed above another. A platform bed would be more like having only the top bed in a bunk bed. Underneath, rather than having a second bed, people use the additional space for any number of things such as storage, perhaps a writing desk or a sofa and/or chairs.
As you can imagine, a platform bed adds a lot of usable space to a room. This makes it ideal for children's rooms as well as a college dormitory room. While platform beds can be made of either metal or wood, when were talking about building one ourselves, let's stick to the wood variety.
By the way, if you didn't know it platform beds have been used in Japan, Europe and Scandinavia for many many years. Perhaps even thousands of years. This is not some kind of new fad, just so you know.
One of the beauties of platform beds, in addition to the extra living space they provide, is there simplicity. This kind of bed normally does not have a headboard or a footboard and it would be very unlikely for it to have any kind of canopy since it is already considerably high off the ground. Also, because the "platform" of the platform bed is often wooden slat that are sturdy enough to support a mattress yet allow for a little bit of give, there is no need for a box spring. Simply resting a single mattress atop the platform gives great support and a great night sleep.
Some people like to take the comfort of their platform bed a step further while keeping it in a reasonable budget by adding a memory foam mattress topper. You've probably seen commercials of memory foam mattresses; the kind of "space-age" material that forms around your body as you sleep and is very stable. Maybe you've seen the glass of wine resting on the bed while a woman jumps around on the other end without disturbing it. Whatever...
The point is memory foam mattresses can be rather expensive. However you can buy a simple mattress topper that is a fraction of the thickness of a complete mattress, as well as a fraction of the cost. You still get the benefit of the body contouring characteristics of the foam on with the excellent back support of the mattress on the platform surface of the platform bed. It's really a great setup.
For those of you who are handy and crafty enough to build your own platform bed, There is a lot of customization that you can build into it. (Mind you, it's really not a complicated process to create a very basic version of a platform bed. In fact, I built one in college with no carpentry experience and not a whole lot of tools. Granted, I was 18 and willing to live on the edge with the danger possibility of the whole thing crashing down in the middle of the night as I slept... fortunately, that never happened). For example, building in storage units or a studied or craft desk into the underside of the platform bed could easily be done in might be an ideal setup for your given situation.
If you don't have a lot of experience in carpentry, construction or as a handy person, you might be better off either purchasing a kit, or at the very least professional plans for constructing your own platform bed. A quick search of the Internet will turn up a whole host of plans that you can use ranging from free to some costing you a certain amount of money. You might look for plans from some well established retailers or perhaps even woodworking clubs. Or, if you're exceptionally daring, you might look around college classified ads and/or bulletin boards. Platform beds are a staple of college dorm living there is no doubt you can find what you need in such an environment.
