Hi Folks….Carl here,

I sure as heck hope you enjoyed my last post on those great tips.  And don’t forget to check out my other posts about how I got started searching for high quality platform bed plans. My goal is to help you guys out and save you a lot of time and effort and get you to the right spot quicker.

In this post, I want to go more into the actual platform bed building plans I used to make my son’s platform bed.  What I liked, what I didn’t and so forth.

Alright, let’s recap about my little platform bed project.  My son Andrew just graduated college and I offered to build him a platform bed for his apartment now that I have my own woodworking shop. So, I hunted around on the Internet for a set of really good platform bed plans to build my son’s bed from.

I tried a couple of the generic free platform bed plans and they did not turn out so well. Actually, there weren’t so great at all.  The plan I thought was the best resulted in a rickety and unstable bed that wasn’t solid and firm.  Now way my boy was going to sleep on that.

Ended up, I called up my woodworking buddy, Clayton for some advice.  This guy builds some of the best well made wood projects I’ve ever seen.  He sent me an email link to a website that had tons of high quality woodworking plans and was sure he had seen several high quality platform bed plans to chose from.  He said they weren’t free.  But at this point I didn’t care.  I just wanted a good set of woodworking project plans, period!

I tell you what! He sure nuff was right.  Not only did the site just have the simple platform bed plans I needed, hell it had thousands of plans.  Over 14,000 wood working plans to be exact.  Not only could I build a contemporary platform bed, I could make anything I wanted.  After my wife found out, she was like…”Good, now you can quit hiding in your little playroom workshop and build me some outdoor furniture for the garden.”  I just ignored her but I was now set for good with my platform bed plans and a whole lot more.  My own personal woodworking plan library all in one place.

Click Here To See The Amazing Number Of Woodworking Plans In This Library.  It Does Have Quite A Few Platform Bed Plans To Choose From

I found some nice really bed building plans to choose from and spent a 1 day building the platform bed for my son.  And that time we ended up with a really nice, well made study bed.  And my son says it sleeps very comfortably.

But, I’m sure you are wondering what exactly made me choose those particular platform bed plans from that library?  Here are the pros and cons of my decision:

PROS:

• I had more than 1 option for platform bed designs all from one place
• The project plans were very detailed step-by-step instructions which a novice like me needed
• Extremely detailed diagrams that were labeled and matched back to the materials list
• The plans gave me the type of wood and exact tools I would need.
• Extensive library of over 14,000 woodworking plans!
• Plans were the highest quality but not designed just for professionals. They were easy for beginners like me.
• Lots of extras to use with the platform bed plans came with the site:  Woodworking tips, woodworking videos, list of DIY projects, woodworking guides, etc
• Instant access to the plans at anytime plus a 60 day money back guarantee if I didn’t like the library

CONS:

• Steep Price Tag!. A bit more than I wanted to pay.  But the whole library package was on sale at 1/2 off for $49.  That translates to less than .01 per plan.  I think it’s still on sale if you want to go see if it is.  I knew I wouldn’t see a woodworking library like this for that price again.
• I did find some of the other plans were a bit hard to read but soon learned that was the exception and not the rule.  The platform bed plans were absolutely perfect!

Click There To Grab The Woodworking Plan Library While It’s Still 50% Off.  Not Sure How Long That Will Last

I had to thank old Clayton for turning me on to that library.  Maybe one day I will give him a run for his money!

Here are a couple of pictures using the Platform Bed Plans from the nice plan library.  These pictures are from Work In Process but I ended up adding side panels and drawers for storage.  Turned out very well.

I thought it best I’d go into a few little things you should know before you decide on a set of platform bed plans. Now, this is from my own experience.  And a little help can go a long way.

Be careful of the bed plans you chose.  It will save you time and a lot of hassle. The plan you choose is what guides you through the project.  If you are new to building things on your own, like I am, you will want plans that are very detailed.  For me, it had to be platform bed plans that had step-by-step instructions.  Or you might become confused while building your bed.  And confusion leads to guessing which leads to disaster.

DON’T use FREE platform bed plans.  They are free for a reason folks.  I know the economy is tight right now but a few bucks for good plans are worth the investment.  Learn from my mistakes and save yourself some time and money. Free woodworking plans don’t give you the step by step details you need.  And you could end up with a faulty bed.

Choose quality materials.  A high quality of set of platform bed plans will suggest the right wood to use.  You are building a bed someone is going to lay on.  Not just a piece of furniture to sit in the corner.  You don’t want to use low quality materials just to save some money.  You don’t have to spend your life savings on some golden piece of wood. Just choose something that is durable and of good quality.

Decide on the customized things you may want for your platform bed.  Do this before cutting the first piece of wood. You can build a bed with drawers for storage. There are separate sets of platform bed plans just for that purpose. You may want to build a king size bed from a generic set of wood plans.  If so, make sure you find plans that lends itself to simple customizing. The plans I used even had a separate section of instructions with tips for just such a purpose.

And don’t be afraid to ask for advice.  There is nothing wrong with asking a buddy of yours who might be a bit more experienced in woodworking.  I should have called up my buddy Clayton before screwing up those first two beds.  But macho me thought he had the perfect platform bed plans and could do it himself. If I had asked for advice, maybe Clayton could have helped through the first fiasco.

I hope these tips will help you.  Just remember, use a high quality set of platform bed plans to build your platform bed.

Click Here For The Highest Quality Plans Anywhere

If you are like me, you want to find some plans quickly. So you could get started on the project.  Well, I dug around on the Internet and found a handful of free woodworking plans I figured would be fine.

After my first couple of tries, I knew the bed wasn’t going to work out.  Andrew climbed up on the bed to test it out.  The beds just weren’t sturdy enough.  They were wobbly and the bed slats on 1 of the beds didn’t hold up.  The culprit was the platform bed plans that came free didn’t recommend enough screws to hold the slats in place. I just tore the beds down and scrapped the wood for fire kindling.

I called a more experienced woodworking buddy of mine that I know to get his advice.  I knew he made top quality stuff and even sold a few pieces of his work.

He told me to throw those free plans away and he would email me a link for a library of woodworking plans he uses for all his projects.  And he was certain that library contained some high quality premium platform bed plans.

I couldn’t believe what I saw after looking at the library of plans Clayton suggested.  It had oodles of high-quality woodworking plans for just about anything you wanted.  They contained perfectly clear diagrams, step-by-step instructions, the tools you needed, measurements and even the types of suggested wood for what you wanted to make.

I ended up using those platform bed plans and they made the job much easier.  And much simpler too!

Look for my next post soon that will include a picture of the finished platform bed.  Until then, have a great rest of your weekend………………………Carl

PS:  Click Here If You Want To Check Out Where I Got Those Great Set Of Platform Bed Plan

PSS: This picture is from the last bed I built.  Just a corner shot of the side slots that would hold the platform on the bed.

My youngest son just graduated from University of Virginia in December.  He and a buddy of his are sharing an apartment and he was looking to go buy a cheap bed.  Well, I had been to Europe some over the years for work conferences and enjoyed those platform style beds they have over there.  My son is a big guy and a firm bed was what he needed. Plus the great thing about platform beds is you can make them with built in storage spaces.

He figured what the hell, let his old man build his bed, how bad could it be?

The REAL reason I suggested a platform bed was to give me a new woodworking project.  I love my new add on workshop.  Anything I can find to build from scratch is a mark in my book.  Plus it would save my son a lot of money and it would be a gift from me.  To get started, I needed a good set of quality platform bed plans to go buy.  I wanted to do the job right and as perfect as possible. This would be my first attempt at building a platform bed, so having the best plans possible was very important. Also, I needed plans good enough to make sure the bed would hold up.  Remember, my son is a pretty big kid.

Now this is my first entry on the website.  My next entry will talk about my first attempts at this and why I do not recommend just using any old platform bed plans out there, as I quickly found out.

Go Here If You Are Anxious To See Where I Got My Plans