I need help and advice to make a loft bed, including a study table, book case, and all the necessity for my kid who will be moving out from the University's dorm to a rented room (24'X84') before summer.
Originally, I thought of buying a used Ikea bed from craigslist and I construct a study table with a bookcase and drawers etc. beneath the loft bed. But after some thought, I decided it would be far simple if I start from scratch and make everything in my garage, disassemble and assemble at the site. I have more than sufficient maple lumber and a twin size mattress.
I need suggestion and direction to source bed and desk hardware's and if possible free plans. Thanks
Well, if you figure it out let me know, because I'm also on the hook to build a loft bed for my daughter, but luckily I'm not under the same time constraints you are.
I did an initial investigation of what's "out there" as far as loft bed plans, and I found a few interesting things in the Google Sketchup Warehouse
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I didn't find THE plan that made me want to rush out to the shop and start cutting wood, but you may have different requirements, and they might have some newer things out there I haven't seen yet.
I'm assuming there must be more going on in this room than just your kid's sleeping and studying, or else the dimensions aren't quite correct here...otherwise, I guess I don't really see the need for a loft arrangement when you have over 2000 sf of space, especially when you're used to a dorm room, but that's neither here nor there.
My post-dorm furniture was generally similar (although I wasn't part of the construction of it). Lofted bed consisted of 2x6 or 2x8 frame with plywood for the mattress, supported I think with some 2x2 or similar bits around the bottom edges, and supported on a 2x4 frame. The desktop underneath was a door at an appropriate height, laid across more 2x4 chunks attached to the upright framing. A bookcase of the cheapest assemble-it-yourself wooden utility shelf style completed the ensemble. The finish might be described as a natural patina, which sounds better than "we sanded the splinters off." (There was a closet in the apartment, and a separate chest of drawers, as well.) This worked fine, although I would recommend some diagonal bracing for the uprights, and maybe a shelf or something at one end of the bed to act as a sort of nightstand.
Boards and cinder blocks or bricks work fairly well for bookshelves, too, and are easy to reconfigure if needed.
Even today, my desk consists of an interior door, upgraded with a polyurethane finish, sitting upon a pair of two-drawer filing cabinets. Actually, I think the finish is rather wasted, as you can't really see the surface of the desktop anyhow, what with all the papers and junk.
At any rate, anything you make out of maple will be fairly certain to be De Luxe as college lofts go. Good luck and all!
Yes, I do have time constrain. For the moment trying to finish a shed in my backyard, so I could move all unnecessary things out of the garage to make space for the construction of the loft bed. I could buy a used Ikea loft bed for $150, and they are makes of metal tubes. To incorporate a study table with an attached bookshelf plus drawers for her clothing is complicated. Anyway the maple lumbers already paid for, might as well use it now.
Good plans, but I am still using Win98SE and incorrect O/S for Goggle's Sketchup 6 or 7. I need to construct the loft bed as compact as possible. I'll surf around and next week, I'll will start working on it, taking pics as I go along. I will post them in apbw after I completed. Thanks for your Goggle Sketchup site. :-)
My mistake here, my wife gave me the dimensions as I was not there to see the room. The room dimension is 120"X84". It is a small room and I need to give her as much space for her books and other necessity in a compact space so she could concentrate on her studies.
I had check various web sites on loft beds' designs, including Rockler, Lee Valley and so forth on bed's hardware's. The problem I am facing is after making it, how to dismantle and assemble with as little problems as possible and yet strong to last for the next three years.
I was sleeping on the floor with a thin mattress when I was in college, no hot water, not even a table in a cheap rented bare room. And that was many years ago. We, as parent do what we can for our offspring without going to the extreme. It's up to them to do their very best and focus on their main objective -do well in their study. Everyone has their own views and philosophy of life, how we treat of our children. I never gave my children what they don't need and we are financially strap anyway, with no room for luxury. No offence intended:-)
Do you have pics so I could have a better idea? I am thinking exactly what you have describe here. She will have to live with this contraction for the next few years. I expect her to sell it to the next person that comes along after she graduate.
Yes, bricks' hollow blocks and a plain pine boaards makes a fine bookshelf, but since the old man is still around and he has all the power tools and lots of maple lumbers, why not make something which is available?
Unfortunately, I have no photos of the above-described wonderful contraption. I kind of hoped to make some time to sketch a bit out over the weekend, but that didn't happen (and isn't likely to happen anytime soon, unfortunately). Sorry.
Here are a couple of approximately similar designs I found with a quick google search: (the top image)
The above is what I have in mind. With a study table and a book shelf below. On each end of the loft bed a drawer chest for her clothing and more books shelve on the other. A compact loft bed/study "contraption" (thanks for not highlighting my many mistakes). I will take pic as I go along and post it on my website later for anyone who is interested. Thanks again.
As someone who built some bunkbeds along the way, it came to my attention that some kind of regulation exixt that requires a way to insure the mattess does not fall out of the bed. When looking at commercial bunkbeds, I saw this.
It did not affect me because I am a safety freak and had several ways of securing the matteress. Including cables and screwing a peice of plywood to the bed frame.
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