Instead of using plywood for a mattress platform, you will use the existing springs instead. You will need something to support the springs, so build two more center mattress supports and install them near the head and foot of the bed. This will give you three supports for the existing springs. Be sure to measure your springs before fabricating the pieces of your loft bed to make sure that they will fit inside the mattress supports. For a twin OP Loftbed, the springs must measure less than 74″x37″. For a twin extra long OP Loftbed, the springs must measure less than 79″x37″. It’s also possible to make your loft bed a little bigger to accommodate springs that measure more than this.

Another option would be to just set the springs from the bed in your room on top of the mattress platform. You could possibly use a router and create slots in the mattress platform for the legs of the existing bed to go through as well to decrease the amount of unused space between the springs and the mattress platform.

These are just a couple ideas. Brian in Ohio decided to replace the mattress platform entirely with the existing bed springs and bolt the springs to the legs of the OP Loftbed. He sent a number of pictures to show us how he did it. You’ll find them below, just click on a picture to enlarge it.

If you are going to use this method (or even the previously mentioned methods) you will want to carefully measure the bed springs before you begin fabricating the parts of your loft bed. With this method, you want the bed springs to fit snug inside the legs of your OP Loftbed–a good tight fit is important to reduce shaking of the bed.

This was my first significant wood working project, but it turned out great! I built this for my 8 year old daughter Claire and she (and all of her friends) love it. I built a simple ladder (thanks google for the ideas) to make it easier for her to get up top (a plunge router and a good protractor made that job straight-forward). I also got inspired to hard-wire in two LED under-counter lights that I purchased at Lowes along with some lamp wire and a male plug. One light over the couch on one end and one over her desk at the other end. They actually produce very nice light (I was uncertain about using LEDs). I hid the wires using thin plastic conduit that had an adhesive backing and I painted it the same color as the dark purple frame. I’ve never installed lights like that before, but it turned out to be really simple. My wife added a curtain with a cheap $5 dollar rod we bought at Walmart to help hide the computer and give her a little hide-away.

I used a two-tone purple paint scheme with dark purple on the main frame features (legs and side-boards) and an almost white-purple (same as her walls) for the supporting cross members to make the cross members disappear a little in the background and make the frame stand out (and make the room look less full because it’s such a large structure in her small room). Originally I was going to stain the bed, but I used a soft pine wood and I just couldn’t get the stain to go on light enough and I had problems w/ blotches – even used wood conditioner to prevent this. So I gave up and painted. Ultimately, I am much happier that I painted because I think it works better with the colors in her room. The other important thing I learned: use shellac to cover up those knots! I could see them bleeding through the primer the day after I primed them. After I applied shellac, no more bleed through.

It’s a simple design, but I’m impressed with how great it looks and how sturdy it is (it’s build like tank!). My son is now convinced he needs one too
Thanks!
Gary

Thanks for sharing these photos with us, Gary. You did a wonderful job and we’re sure many of our other customers will appreciate the tips you shared too.

Click on the pictures below to enlarge them. For more pictures of customer’s loft beds, visit out photo gallery.

“What kind of little girl doesn’t want to have her own little house?
A house in which she can play with food in her little kitchen…
A house in which she can slide down playfully after a long night’s rest.
A house in which she can be herself and have the time of her life along with a room that resembles a humble paradise in a child’s dream. Well, that is what I have created for my little one using only the OP Loftbed, a little imagination, determination, lots of creativity, and most of all, the desire to fulfill a little girl’s dream.

The plans were quite sturdy and very easy to follow! It just took motivation among adding a little flowers, spice, and everything nice to create a unique piece of furniture that is set to make any girl’s dream playhouse a reality. I have never seen my 3 year old girl so happy!”

Wow, Adriana! This is an incredible bed. Thanks for sharing these photos with us!

Click on the pictures below to enlarge them. For more pictures of customer’s loft beds, visit out photo gallery.

“This is my 6 year olds loft bed. I used the tall-medium, full size loft bed plans. He absolutely LOVES this bed. I attached rope lights around the top and down the stair rail that he can operate from a switch at the head of the bed. I built stairs to ease the climb up and down. Flip chairs under the bed for extra seating or an extra sleep space. l mounted lights under the bed as well and I covered the X braces with dry erase board. This was lots of fun to make. My son had great fun decorating it with Mario decals and I think this bed is sturdy enough to hold a car!!! Thanks for the great plans!”

Excellent creativity and craftsmanship, Robin! Thanks for sharing these photos with us!

Click on the pictures below to enlarge them. For more pictures of customer’s loft beds, visit out photo gallery.

We moved our family of 3 into a one bedroom apartment entirely voluntarily on a mission to simplify our lives.

Your OP Loft Bed plans made it work wonderfully (no tripping over eachother in the 10 x 12 bedroom with floor space to spare)! We looked at traditional bunk beds, I’m not sure I’d be comfortable climbing up there for story time. This way, we got to keep our current mattresses and have something we’re comfortable climbing on and sleeping under.

We made it out of cedar because it was surpisingly cheaper than pine. We used carriage bolts with the heads spray painted black to soften the edges (for asthetic and safety purposes). We put a flat clear coat on as a finish and added one handle, horizontally at the foot of the mattress.

Our original plan was to slide our mattress under length-wise, but in the chaos of the move, I forgot to mention that to the carpenters (my husband and his father). It would work if we ditched the box spring and opted for a futon base, since the queen sized mattress is flexible enough to addapt to the missing inch.

I’m sure you can imagine our son’s favourite way to get OUT of bed with such a handy landing pad.

Thanks for being awesome!

~Laurie in Milton, Ontario

Joe in Austin, TX

See images of my son’s new full size loft bed. Bought the full size medium height plans and me, my wife, and son finished in about 3 weekends. Most time spent on it was staining and adding two coats of polyurethane. Built the short leg pieces a little taller than plans due to my son has a 13″ pillow top mattress. Then had to raise the guardrails up some too. It makes his small bedroom have more space and he loves hanging out underneath it.

~Joe in Austin, TX

Hi,

I live in Arlington Heights, IL. I am a 48 year-old cheapskate of a Mom with a great deal of determination and a slight knack for handiness. We live in a home with very little storage space and have 4 very tall boys, each weighing about 200 lbs. Two of the boys share a bedroom, and when they came home from college we had no place to store their luggage, college linens, books, etc. I was at my wits end & decided loft beds would take care of our storage issues. After researching various online plans, looking at photos & reading customer comments I decided OP Loftbeds seemed the sturdiest (sturdier than anything I could purchase in a store for a fraction of the cost). We have 8 foot ceilings so I bullt the medium size twin XL loftbeds (the first one I built is shown in these photos). I decided not to build the optional headboard shelf. I used a power hand drill, not a drill press, and borrowed a neighbor’s miter saw & table saw. A dresser fits beneath each, along with all their college stuff, laundry hamper, etc. Total cost was $200 per bed which included the sand paper, foam brushes, stain, steel wool (best thing to sand stain between coats), poly, and all the lumber, plans & hardware. My tip: use a shoe string to get sawdust out of your drilled holes before staining. When you’re ready to stain, use another dipped in stain to work stain into the drilled holes for a more finished look. Thanks for these amazing plans!

Joanna Metzger
Arlington Heights, IL

Click on the pictures below to enlarge them.

Thanks for sending us your kind words about our plans, the pictures, and your tips, Joanna! It looks like you did an excellent job. We’re glad your boys are enjoying their new loft beds!

Visit our photo gallery to see more pictures of loft beds from our customers.

Roberts suggestion will is an excellent idea, especially if you won’t be frequently setting up your OP Loftbed bed and taking it back apart again every few months (as many college students do). Even if you do set-up and tear-down frequently this can still be a good idea, you’ll just need to have a proper wrench on hand to facilitate tightening or loosening the bolts.

Thanks for sharing, Robert!

If you have build an OP Loftbed loft bed or bunk bed and have assembly or fabrication tips you would like us to share on our web site, send them in an email to info@oploftbed.com.

Lumber

A twin extra long size loft bed requires ten 2″x6″x8′ pine boards, 13 2″x4″x8′ pine boards, and one piece of 3/4″x8′ plywood. We use pine here in North Carolina because it’s abundant in our area. In other areas you may use different types of wood. Generally speaking, whatever type of wood is used to build homes in your neck of the woods should be fine for building your OP Loftbed. If you are unsure, just ask the professionals at your local lumber yard or home improvement center.

Anyway, the two-by-fours were $2.47 each; the two-by-sixes were $4.26 each,; and the plywood was $22.38. This comes to a grand total of $102.46.

Fasteners

All of our tall and medium height loft beds require the same hardware:  sixty 3/8-16 x 3-3/4″ hex head cap screws (bolts), two 3/8-16 x 2″ hex head cap screws (bolts); sixty-two 3/8-16 wing nuts; one-hundred-twenty-four 3/8″ flat washers; sixty-two 3/8″ lock washers; fourty-two #10 x 3-1/2″ flat head phillips wood screws; and twenty-four #10 x 2″ flat head phillips wood screws. They didn’t have the 3-3/34″ bolts, so I priced 3-1/2″ bolts which are a little shorter, but can still work OK. They didn’t have the wing nuts in stock, so I priced regular hex-head nuts. Some of the items are sold in bags or boxes of specific quantities.

The total amount on needed fasteners came to $81.11. But this included some items that were less than desirable like shorter bolts, different nuts, and box quantities that contained more than I would need.

If you purchased a complete hardware kit directly from us, the cost of the hardware kit would be only $34.99 plus $10.00 for shipping, for a total of $44.99. That’s a savings of $36.12! Hardware kits are shipped US Postal Service Priority Mail (2-3 day deliver) the day after payment is received–so by the time you have all your wood cut, drilled, and sanded, your hardward kit has usually arrived and you’re ready to assemble your bed.

Total

If I bought everything today at Lowe’s, I would have spent a grand total of $183.57. If I bought the lumber today at Lowes and ordered a hardware kit from OP Loftbed, the total would have been only $147.45. That’s not bad at all for a loft bed that is as sturdy and solid as an OP Loftbed. So, the grand total for a twin extra long size OP Loftbed loft bed comes to less than $150! What a deal!