A Full Loft

This turned into one of the cutest projects I have sold in this series of beds. First, I got an email about doing a twin loft for her daughter. Then they wanted to change it to a full, ok no problem. They came by to see the shop and this little girl was so sweet. She helped me make some design decisions about her bed and it turned out absolutely beautiful.

It always starts with a full box

Then I added supports. She had a specific height for a sloped ceiling

Added the ladder to get up and started the safety railing

Finished the safety railing and added a cap rail this time with mitered corners

disassembled to paint

Installed in the clients house

There are a few really interesting parts to this build. First you can see in the finished product the height of the sloped ceiling. I needed to make sure the finished height of the bed was about 2" lower than where the ceiling hit the wall. She also gave me the height for a dollhouse and the dresser that she wanted to put under the bed, so I knew the bottom of the box had to be a minimum height and the top of the supports had a maximum height. Generally I need 18" from the top of the supports to the bottom of the box to fit the safety railing and mattress thickness. This worked out.

Second was the ladder. Usually to get into the top bunk I just add some boards in between the supports so it looks like a ladder. This time, she wanted stairs that leaned out. And when the cutest 7 year old you've ever seen asks you to build something like that you just do it. I measured 12" out from the base of the support, used a 1x4 for the sides and some scrap 2x3's for the treads. I set a 2x4 on the platform, with the 1x4 sides leaned in place so I could mark the angles. The bottom angle was cut by using the 2x4 as a spacer, and if you elevate the top side with the same thickness or just wait and draw that line second. Then I cut the 2x3 treads to length and screwed them into the 1x4's. Attach the 1x4 to the supports and you're good.

This time I added diagonal supports to provide some stability. Usually the bottom bunk keeps the supports properly spaced on the floor and stabilizes everything when it gets top heavy. I cut a 45* angle into a scrap 2x3 and then picked a length at random, not measured. Then I repeated that piece 12 times, one for each side of each support. Good news, it worked! This bed doesn't rack and feels stable when you are moving around on top of the mattress.

Top top things off, I added a top cap. Actually, Kelley was making fun of my ability to miter corners, so I both wrapped the frame in 1x6 instead of my normal 2x6, but with mitered corners instead so no end grain would show. That turned out ok, but the boards were a little warped so it wasn't perfect. For the top cap I used a flat 1x3 around all of the sides, with an opening of course for the stairs. These miters turned out really clean! And it gives a nice finished touch to the bed. It's wide enough to set a cup of water on the edge and has a nice aesthetic.

Both kids actually went with me for the install. We also brought a stuffed animal for the little girl so she could have a new snuggle buddy for her new bed. Getting my kids used to operating the drills with a screwdriver bit was... interesting? They got it for the most part. But the coolest thing happened after we left, the client sent me this pictures. We installed the bed and she decorated it all while the kid was away, then got an adorable video when she got home.

Lights, and the dogs? how adorable is that

the whole room, it really works!

Really it's the decorations and lights that make this the most adorable install I've done yet. This was really cool. A fun build for a cool client with a really fun outcome.