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How To Build Your Own Canopy Bed (With Optional Trundle & Drawers Too)

Lauren
DIY Canopy Bed

Sure, you can buy a bed frame. There are tons of options out there. But most good beds are very expensive, and none of them can be customized to the same extent as designing and building your own.

So when my daughter came to me with ideas regarding her dream canopy bed, I started sketching and was determined to bring her entire vision to life. And what I discovered along the way was that beds actually aren’t that hard to build.

Let me break it down for you so you can build your own custom bed too!

Prefer to watch the tutorial instead? Watch the full tutorial below!

HOW TO BUILD YOUR OWN CANOPY BED (WITH OPTIONAL TRUNDLE & DRAWERS)

Here’s what I used…

Here are the tools you need…

Here is my cut list for a full sized bed…

My cut list for the trundle…

My cut list for the drawer…

STEP 1: BUILD YOUR HEADBOARD & FOOTBOARD

Start by measuring your mattress to ensure it’s a standard size, then cut down your 2x2s. If you’re building a full sized bed, just follow my cut list above! Then add pocket holes to your horizontal boards.

Think about making sure they’re hidden. For the headboard, I added them to the back of each board since they’d be up against the wall. For the footboard, I added them to the top of the top canopy board and the backs of the footboard frame. You can always use wood filler to fill them in later, but why work harder when you can work smarter!

Your 82″ boards are your 4 posts. They’re your vertical pieces. Lay them out on the ground and set your horizontal boards into place.

I added the bottom horizontal boards 2″ off the ground using 2.5″ pocket hole screws and wood glue to secure. The top horizontal boards were simply connected to the top of the vertical posts, using 2.5″ pocket hole screws and wood glue.

Then grab your footboard frame. Measure 25.25″ from the top of your bottom horizontal board, then secure your last horizontal board above your mark, making sure you have room for your footboard panel! Paint your headboard and footboard frames, and let them dry.

Grab your plywood boards for your headboard and footboard panels.

I decided to add a fun design to the top of the headboard, so I drew something out and jigsawed a wavy pattern. Once sanded, I covered the front with batting and stapled it on the back. Then I cut down my fabric, lined it up nicely on the front, and stapled it on the back as well. Pull it tight and make sure your pattern is even!

Repeat for the footboard, but make sure the back of the footboard is covered (at least on the top half) in case your mattress and bedding don’t fully cover it!

Once your frames are dry, lay them flat on the floor so the back of each frame is facing up. Lay in your headboard and footboard panels with the backs facing up, and make sure theyre flat against the floor and flush with the front of your frame.

Grab your 3″ wood screws and screw the panels in from the sides and bottom of the frames, avoiding the top! You can fill the screws on the sides of the frame or leave them exposed if you think you might want to swap out your panels or reupholster in the future.

Give your fabric a little steam to remove wrinkles. Now you have your headboard and footboard!

STEP 2: FINISH THE SIDES & ADD YOUR SLAT SYSTEM

Cut down your last two 2x2s and 2 1x12s to 76″. Add pocket holes to the tops of your 2x2s and the backs of your 1x12s (I added 4 on each of these).

Measure 10″ off the ground and make marks on your bedposts. Then line up the bottom of your 1×12 sides with the mark, flush with the inside of your 2×2 bedposts. Secure to the posts with 1.25″ pocket hole screws. Don’t use wood glue here — you want to make sure you can disassemble the bed if you ever need to move it out of the room!

Then secure the 2x2s to the top of your bedposts to finish out your canopy! Pocket holes UP so you can’t see them, and again no glue here.

Cut down your 2x4s and screw together a frame to fit inside the bedframe your just built. This will hold the mattress!

The 2 76″ boards are your long sides. The 2 52″ boards are your shorter connectors. The last 73″ board will divide your frame in the center. I placed this about 40″ in from the side I wanted my trundle bed on. This became my divider for the trundle and drawers! I used 3″ wood screws to assemble the frame and installed it about half of an inch up from the bottom of the 1×12 sides.

Next, I measured from the floor to my 73″ divider and cut down several additonal 2×4 supports to screw in here to add support.

Then I cut down my 1×4 boards to use as slats. I distributed them evenly across the frame and screwed them in to every board to distribute the force using 2″ screws.

STEP 3: BUILD YOUR TRUNDLE BED

Your bed it DONE! And you can totally stop here. But if you want to take things a step further, you can build a trundle bed to slide underneath!

This was actually very simple. You’re basically building a box! Follow the trundle bed cut list above. Set your plywood base on the floor and secure your 1×8 sides to each side of the plywood using wood glue and nails. These boards will all be flush with the bottom edge of the plywood.

Grab your 1×10 and secure it across the back. Notch out the sides a bit so it fits in around your slat frame. I chose to curve the edges for a designed look.

Then add your 1×8 across the front. This will overhang on each side. Make sure each side is even, then secure.

Caulk and wood fill the box, paint it, and let it dry full.

Once dry, add your castor wheels to the bottom. I used 8 total wheels for this. Use a small drill bit to drill holes for your handle and add in your hardware.

Add in your trundle mattress and sheets before you install the trundle. Much easier!

Then angle the back of the trundle bed (the 1×10 side) under the side of the bed. Once under, set the trundle down and roll it into place! EASY!

STEP 4: BUILD A DRAWER FOR THE OTHER SIDE

Now that you have a trundle bed on one side, you should probably have something on the other side so it matches, right?

I decided to build a drawer!

You might need to add a thin board to the inside of your footboard frame to make sure it’s flush with the post to hold your slides.

It’s super important that your width measurement is very accurate, so measure from post to post and subtract 1″. This is your drawer box width.

I used a 1×10 for the base of my box with 1×8 sides. Then I cut down a drawer front to 76″ minus 1/8″ inch to ensure a comfortable fit.

I installed my drawer slides on the headboard and footboard frames. Make sure they’re level, and make sure they’re installed about 1/16″ back from the 2×2 posts. Install the pieces of the slides that go on the drawer so the front is 1/16″ back from the front of the box.

You’ll want to measure to ensure the top of your drawer box is just 1/4″ from the bottom of the bed frame side.

Slide your drawer box in, then install the drawer front by screwing it in from inside the drawer box. Drill for your hardware and install your handle.

WANT TO CUSTOMIZE?

If you want to build a queen instead of a full, change all your 55″ cuts to 61″ and all your 76″ cuts to 81″ (or just match your mattress width and length + 1″). Then don’t forget to adjust your trundle and drawer measurements as needed!

Let me know if you give this build a try! You got this!

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