DIY Build-In Daybed With Bookshelves

11 Materials
$400
3 Days
Medium
Our son's room was low on storage and needed some serious help - so we gave it a major makeover and we love the end result! See more details of this project on the full blog post, and if you love this project you can see more easy and affordable DIY projects on my blog, Love & Renovations.
- To build the bed we started off with two large plywood boxes on either side of the room that would hold the bookcases. We wanted them to go all the way to the ceiling, so the bookcases are perfectly measured so that the bookcases will sit on top of them with no overhang and they will raise the bookcases exactly to the ceiling line.
- Then, we built three m-shaped supports for the bed and attached them to a back support board using our Kreg Jig and attached all of that to the wall as seen above.
- Once the base of the bed was built, we added a second support in the middle and faced it using 1/2" plywood. This front section would eventually hold the baskets in the front nooks of the bed (see more details on this process and how we planned it on the full blog post)
- Once the base was complete, we built the frame of the bed using plywood. It consists of one large piece to hold the mattress, then three narrow, hollow boxes on each of the sides of the bed (other than the side touching the wall) to help hold the mattress in place. We attached that to the base as shown above.
- We lifted our bookcases onto the boxes (they wedged very tightly into place). We used BILLY bookcases from IKEA.
- Finally, we applied wood putty to any cracks or imperfections in the plywood, added trim around anywhere that two pieces of wood met up, and caulked + painted the entire thing!


You can see much more detail about this project and other sources for the room on the full blog post.
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Love & Renovations
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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Frequently asked questions
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3 of 5 questions
  • Frances Frances on Jan 13, 2019

    How can I do this in a corner and king size?

  • Dsouther Dsouther on Sep 02, 2019

    I love it. I wonder if you could use chalk board paint on the back wall so it could be used as a chalk board?

  • April Bartlett April Bartlett on Sep 07, 2019

    I love it and the color of your accent wall. What color and brand is it.

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2 of 53 comments
  • River River on May 13, 2022

    This is awesome! I love all of the storage boxes you have in the frame, totally awesome, great job!!

  • Harry Haggen Harry Haggen on Jun 28, 2022

    Even more storage is available if you use a set of piano hinges under the mattress to lift the mattress. Personally, we would store more "long term" or "seasonal" items in this area (that is, behind the drawers) such as heavier blankets, suitases, winter coats, dog beds, etc!


    This would also be the perfect location for hiding a family safe with valuable documents, passports, etc, To do this I would be securing the safe to the floor under the mattress (behind the sliding drawers but under the mattress) and adding a false shelf above it and top it with storage blankets on top of htat. No casual thief is likely to discover this!


    Housing is so expensive and storage is so limited that we want to maximize every possible inch!

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