How to Make a Platform Bed from IKEA Boxes Yourself?

Julia, a blogger about renovations from Germany, loves sleeping on high beds that are hard to find in stores. She had already made a bed by herself, but after moving she needed extra storage space. That's when the idea came to combine bulky dressers with a high bed. We share the instructions so you can build such a bed too.

You will need:
Materials:

• IKEA Nordli dresser with 4 drawers;
• IKEA Nordli dresser with 8 drawers;
• angles (12 pcs) + screws;
• bed slats for a 140 cm wide bed;
• fabric adhesive tape;
• a mattress 160 cm wide;
• wooden shelves 54 cm long (for a corner bed).

Tools:

• drill,
• utility knife,
• pencil,
• screwdriver.

To avoid buying additional dressers for the back walls, you can use wooden shelves as shown in the photo below, which should be placed on their side. Their height must match the height of the dresser.

If your bed, like the author's renovation, stands in a corner, you can install wooden boxes instead of additional dressers.

Step 1. Assemble the bed base

First, assemble the IKEA furniture and wooden shelves. Then place the dressers and boxes so they form a stable frame measuring 160×200 cm. Connect them using corner brackets.

To attach the corner brackets, mark the spots where the screws should go and drill holes using a wood drill bit. The boxes can be joined together by cutting the corner brackets in half, as the author of the renovation did.

Step 2. Attach the slat base

Attach the ribbed side of the fabric adhesive tape to the bed base on the sides (along the length). Attach the other side to the slat base. To save time, glue it entirely to the slats and then trim with a utility knife. Attach the slat base to the bed frame.

The author of the instructions decided to use fabric tape so that the slats can be lifted periodically – the center of the bed is also used as a storage space.

In the center of the bed, you can store Christmas ornaments, suitcases, sleeping bags, and other rarely used items.

Step 3. Almost done!

The bed base is ready. You just need to find a mattress of the right width (160 cm). Don't skimp on the mattress, as a quality one will ensure a healthy spine and a sound sleep.