You might be intimidated by the idea of building a loft bed for your kid.  Or you might be scared of DIY in general.  But I really believe people don’t give themselves enough credit.  I also think that people get held up because they don’t have a good plan.  Sometimes deciding what exactly to build is harder than building it.  If you’ve never hear of her, Ana White provides step-by-step plans for a ton of projects.  I do not.  🙂

So why a surf shack bed?  We live at least an hour from the ocean.  But we’re determined to raise a little surfer boy.  My hubby surfs and so do all the {fake} uncles.  You know, the guys the kids call uncle, but aren’t really related.  And we do spend a lot of time at “our” beach house.  The one that my mom owns.  The word “poser” might come to mind.  But hey, that’s how we roll.

The real reason for the surf shack bed was a lot less glamorous than a hopeful future on the ASP Tour.  It all started with an extra queen sized mattress and a solid wood bed frame made by yours truly, which were taking up precious space in my office/craft/guest room.  I decided to forget about the guests and ditch the guest bed.  My little man was in the market to move out of his toddler bed (see what I did with it here) so I decided to build him a loft bed.  And duh, surf shack loft beds are all the rage these days.  Just ask Pottery Barn.

I did a lot of searching for ideas for the perfect loft bed for my kid and his room.  Check out my Boy’s Room Pinterest board.  Before I started building, there was a lot to consider:

1.  What’s the overall style?  Yes, it’s a surf shack loft bed, but is it going to be suspended from the ceiling?  Raised on stilts? Span the length of an entire wall?

Up in the air.  Source: Handmade Charolette

Tropical extreme.  Source: Unknown (and what a shame!)

Sleek and modern.  Source: Dad Built This

Dangling from the ceiling.  Source: Pinterest

Totally rustic.  Source: Blanketforts

Corner bed.  Source: Ashley Ann Photography

Converted bunk bed (at least that’s what it looks like to me).

 

2.  Can I build it in the room?  Loft beds can get really big, so you either need enough space in the room you’re working in to build on site, or you need to figure out a way to build the thing modularly somewhere and then install it piece-by-piece.  I am fortunate to have enough room to build my bed on site.  If you are tight on space, consider this plan from Ana White.

Modular building plans for beach hut loft bed.  Source: Ana White

3.  How high off the ground should it be?  There are cute beds out there that aren’t too far off the ground and still give a sense of being a fort/tree house/surf shack.   I wanted my son to be able to play underneath and sleep up top, so I built my legs much higher.  How much higher?  Well that was super scientific… Not.  I didn’t want to buy more that 2 4x4s and they only had 8ft lengths at Lowe’s (unless I wanted pressure treated, which I did not want for my kid’s bed), so after cutting each in half, I was left with four 4ft legs.  Done.

Low to ground.  Source: eBay

4.  What size mattress? Dude, this one is totally based on how much space you have in the room, how much you want taken up by the loft, and what mattress you already own.  This was easy for me, even though I had a spare queen AND twin sized mattress, I also had a queen size bed frame I wanted to re-purpose.  So my little man will be chillin in a queen sized loft bed.  Yeah, baby!

5.  Should the mattress go on the top or bottom?  Usually the mattress is up top and the play area is below, but it’s okay to do it the other way around.  It would be a lot of fun to just have a play loft.  When I was a young child, I had a loft in the room I shared with my brother in our Manhattan apartment.  There was no mattress on top OR below because we slept in bunk beds on the other side of the room.  I barely remember it, but I know we used to play with all our toys up there.  There was a rope ladder and you entered through the floor, not on the side, tree house style.  I wonder who built that thing!?  It definitely wasn’t my parents.  I must find out.  Anyway, here are some examples of mattress below, play space on top.

6. What holds the mattress up?  Assuming the mattress is going to be in the air, you need something to hold it up.  Regular beds use a few slats and a box spring.  But you don’t use a box spring with a loft bed, so you need something to take its place.  In my case, I had already built the bed frame with slats, so I just added a few additional support pieces under my slats.  If I had started from scratch, I would probably have just used plywood because it would have been much easier.  HOWEVER, it is definitely better for the mattress to replace the box spring with slats instead of plywood (or other solid material), because it allows air to circulate under the mattress.  I bet most of the beds in this post are made with a solid surface, so don’t feel badly if that’s what you use.  You could also use a bunkie board, which is a shallow alternative to a box spring, used on bunk beds.

Mattress on plywood.  Source: I am Momma – Hear Me Roar

7. Should the top or bottom be closed up?  Or both.  In order to make a surf shack you need walls.  But should the shack could be the lower portion of the bed or the top portion.  I’ve seen great designs both ways.  My son (and daughter) went back and forth on this one right up to the end.  To me it makes more sense to “close” the top because you need railing up there anyway.  If you close the bottom, you need to make a staircase on the side, so you have room for a door, which ultimately didn’t work for me because I was put the bed in a corner and attached a bookshelf on the other side.

Closed bottom with stairs on side.  Source:  Ana White

“Closed” top.  Source: That’s My Letter

Closed top and bottom, with open side.  (Only one I’ve seen like this!)  Source: Life Among Pirates

Cross braces and 4x4s.

Horizontal supports.  Source: Custom Made

Anchored to wall.  Source: I am Momma – Hear Me Roar

Anchored to ceiling.  Source: Stiles Designs

9.  What kind of ladder or steps?  I toyed with putting stall bars on the wall and having him climb those to get in the bed, but that wouldn’t work with the bookshelves I have on the side.  Other options include a rope ladder, ramp, rock wall, or side stairs with storage, but my main choices were slanted step-like ladder or straight up and down ladder.

This was definitely one of those instances where I’m glad I built the loft in stages.  I was able to realize that not only did I not have the space to put a staircase on the side, or a ladder on the wall, but I didn’t even have the space for an angled ladder.  His dresser is too close to the bed.  I had to go straight up and I figured I’d go all the way up to the ceiling, which made it possible to incorporate the side rails as supports for the walls.  I never saw an example like this anywhere else, I just kind of came up with it as I was going.

Vertical ladder made my me 🙂  This NOT the finished product.

Slanted ladder, flat steps.  Source: Pinterest

Side stairs with storage.  Source: DIY Time

Rock wall.  Source: Ana White – Magic Tree House

Stall bars on wall.  Source: One Kind Design

Ramp.  Source: Just Kidding Kids Rooms

10. Should it incorporate storage?  This one might not apply to everyone, but there were already cubbie bookshelves in my son’s room (seen here) that were once in the master bedroom of our old house.  I was not going to give up that storage, so I had to figure out how to work them in.  The shelves are from Ikea, but they’ve been discontinued.  They’re NOT EXPEDIT, but that would certainly be a good substitution.  I tried putting the base 2×2 units under the bed, but it seemed to suck up so much space without providing good storage.  Then I lined them side-by-side at the foot of the bed and wouldn’t you know those suckers were EXACTLY the same length as the bed.  Hot damn!  So I stacked the smaller 1×2 units on top, for a total of 12 cubes.  But wait.  There’s more.  I ran to my bedroom and emptied the books out of two more units and added these 2×2 units as well, for a total of 20 cubes!  Then, in a stroke of genius, I realized that I could turn the top row around to face the bed, which will make it super easy to store books and stuff right where he can reach it.  Here are examples of storage incorporated into loft beds, but it’s tricky to incorporate storage and make it a SURF SHACK.

Source: Contemporary Kids by Edwards Interior  Designers & Decorators Slifer Designs

Source: Frankie was Right

Source: Irideeen

Front peak, with solid roof.  Source: Design Sponge

Front peak, no roof.  Source: Pottery Barn Kids

Side peak, horizontal planks.  Source: Lacote

Side peak, vertical planks.  Source: 1001 Pallets

Side peak, fabric roof.  Source: KidSpace Stuff

Peak at wall, vertical planks.  Source: Tony Knoll

No peak, horizontal planks.  Source: Match Interiors

“Thatched” roof.  Source: Pinterest

12.  What should the walls be made of?  So many choices! Planks (horizontal or vertical), plywood, netting.  And to paint or not to paint?  I’m totally not painting!  Although I do like the multicolored look.  Hmm.

Plywood walls.  Source: I am Momma – Hear Me Roar

Vertical planks wall.  I love the hammock!

Hindged doors above and below.  Source: Simplydutch.com

Turquoise!  Love the waves.  Source: Houzze

OMG!  Is your head spinning like mine is!?!  It just goes to show you that it’s not just carpentry skills that us DIYers must possess, but also design skills.  There’s a lot to think about here.

Smart Girl