How To Build A Beautiful Custom Bed Frame for $300

Shopping for a Bed Frame and can’t find the perfect one for your master bedroom? Have you ever thought about building a custom bed frame? Here is a great intermediate project where we are going to show you how to make a diy bed frame in the photos below. This diy project is not difficult one if you have basic knowledge of how to use common hand tools and power tools. A little creativity will go a long way here.

This project was around $300 dollars for the wood, stain, polyurethane, foam brushes, pockets screws, and pocket hole plugs. The majority of the cost was for the Red Grandis wood which was about $5/bf (Board Feet). This is a great wood to use because it is a sustainable hardwood that is an alternative to tropical hardwoods. The strip of Purpleheart wood was $20. Here are the step by step photos to do it yourself.

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We used Red Grandis wood for the majority of the bed frame.
The stained samples from left to right are Alder, Poplar, and Red Grandis.

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The Pockets holes are drilled for the bed frame legs.

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Here is the frame upside down. We used a center support on the bed frame so it won’t sag.

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The cleat has been screwed into the side of our bed frame.

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We used a great wood stain on our bed frame called Black Cherry.

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Here is the Purpleheart wood for the top of the bed for decoration.

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Wood glued and clamped our top purpleheart wood piece for the decorative area.

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A better view of the glued purpleheart wood for the top of the bed frame.

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Our bed frame fully stained with the Black Cherry wood stain.

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The headboard upside down fully wood stained and drilled with pocket holes.

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We used a semigloss spray on top of the polyurethane for protection.

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The bare poplar wood is unfinished and used for support and sit on the cleats.

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Close up of the 3/8″ bolts on the sides that support the headboard. (2 on each side – 4 total)

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The Custom diy Bed Frame completely finished and looking good in our Master Bedroom.

Learn more about the materials used in our diy Bed Frame Project:
Red Grandis Wood InfoLumber Wood Identification
Alder Wood InfoLumber Wood Identification
Black Cherry Wood StainWood Stain Identification

4 thoughts on “How To Build A Beautiful Custom Bed Frame for $300”

  1. Nice bed frame. Finished product looks beautiful. It would be cool to see a more How-To though. There’s no wood cut list, no list of tools used,no description or pictures of where the Purple Heart deco wood was used. Maybe that’s why you said its a great intermediate project.

  2. I will use this design with 1″x8″ on a full size frame and slightly modify it so the slat support which is attached to the rails rests on the legs and the rails overhang the legs by 2″-3″. I will also remove the center support, because it is only a full size. I hope this method helps strengthens the structure for my daughters bed. If it doesn’t I will concede that RR knew best.

  3. DIY Project Help Tips

    Joey-
    2 x 8 is best. It would depend on your exact bed size and application to use 1 x 8 as this may not be sturdy enough.
    -RR

  4. The bed frame looks beautiful. The rails appear to be 2″ x 8″, would I be correct in assuming that? If all I had were 1′ x 8′ would that be sturdy enough?

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