Space-saving: making a bed-shelf in the IKEA style

A pull-down bed hidden in a cabinet is an excellent idea for a guest room, a small apartment or studio. This bed is much more convenient than a fold-out sofa: it comes out already made up. Beds of this type are not very popular on the Russian market yet, but building such a structure yourself is not as complicated as it may seem. See how this American couple handled the task. They left sketches with exact dimensions: you can use them or make your own calculations.

Step 1. Purchase Materials

The project authors needed 12 sheets of plywood. The bed frame was made from poplar strips 3 cm wide. Shelves required boards of any size, and gas springs were used for the lifting mechanism. Edge banding tape, fasteners, primer, paint.

Step 2. Bed Frame

First, cut all the plywood pieces to the required size. The instructions include diagrams showing how to do this most economically.

Assemble the support structure from poplar strips 2 cm wide. The mattress for such a base should not be wider than 150 cm and thicker than 30 cm.

Attach a 2 cm wide plywood sheet to the support structure. Ensure that on the side of the plywood that will become the front of your bed-cabinet, there are no notches or scratches. Sand and prime if necessary.

Step 3. Base-Cabinet

Assemble the shelves according to the instructions. You can adjust the width of the shelves as needed. Apply edge banding tape to all external edges of the plywood.

You can decorate the front of the bed as you wish: make a simple artificial front to look like two large doors, or, as in the instruction, use decorative panels to create an illusion of a full cabinet system.

Step 4. Assembling the Structures

Paint the shelves and the front part of the bed and let it dry. Once the paint is dry, you can begin assembly. Attach the bed base to the vertical support structure and then assemble and install the headboard.

Don't forget to lay a cover on the floor so that no scratches remain on the front. Attach gas springs, thanks to which the bed will lower and rise.

Mount wooden strips on the wall to which the cabinet with the pull-down bed will be attached. Don't forget to remove the baseboard in that area of the wall where the bed will be attached.

Securely attach the bed to the wall and add pivot feet to it, and place a plywood sheet on the base that will serve as support for the mattress.

Attach the shelves to the side panels of the bed box. Cover the top part of the resulting structure with decorative moldings, and the bottom part with baseboards. You can use baseboards that were used to finish the entire room, or choose baseboards that match the decorative moldings.

All that remains is to place a good mattress on the base and make up the bed — now you're always ready for unexpected guests.

On the cover: Inessa Ternovaya Design Interiors project