Platform Bed Plans - PlansNOW.com

For most people, a platform bed is a low-cost, easy-to-build alternative to expensive bedroom furniture. However, the term can also refer to a particular style of of bed design--a simple and sleek look that compliments modern furniture. As a result, the platform bed plans you'll find online are of two varieties: (1) bare-bones, easy-to-build DIY plans for getting your mattress up off the floor, and (2) well-crafted woodworking plans designed to emulate the traditional platform bed style.

The PlansNOW version fits my latter description - well-crafted woodworking plans designed by woodworkers. Certainly there's no problem in that. But it'simportant to know that this plan calls for some fairly sophisticated woodworking techniques--like mortise and tenon joinery and dados and grooves--which call for some fairly sophisticated woodworking tools to pull it off. The suggested tool list for this platform bed plan includes a table saw, band saw, drill press, and router.

Aside from the complexities of the joinery, the look and feel of this bed design holds true to the traditional platform bed style -- simple and sleek. A few added touches, though, put this bed plan into a category of its own. For example, the designers used solid cherry hardwood throughout, even though a less expensive material would have worked fine. Also, the headboard is a fairly complicated assembly of frames and panels that requires several six-foot pipe clamps to glue up. To the designers credit, he/she acknowledges that most people probably don't have a lot of six-foot pipe clamps sitting around the shop, so a footnote offers some suggestions for modifying the clamps you own to get the job done.