Well we’ve moved into a new home with lots more space than our last one. As much as we are loving our new place, there was one room that just wasn’t working, and that’s the girls bedroom. To conquer the tiny bedroom blues, we decided to build a built-in loft bed. Keep reading to find out how we made our DIY loft bed for a bedroom and completely transformed the girls’ digs.
I highly recommend checking out the video…
From the beginning, I knew I wanted to do the loft bed thing in this bedroom. However, the bed we ordered from Amazon just wasn’t giving me the space saving super powers we needed in this tiny room. We passed it along to a nice new home.
To prepare for the loft build, we measured our space. A width of 37″ was needed to accommodate a twin mattress and the length was custom to the bedroom.
First, to support the loft, I put together this frame out of 2×4 lumber. I would recommend using 2×6 lumber if you are building a loft for older children or adults. A small rectangle in the frame made a spot for the ladder. After the fact, I realized you could also attach the ladder to the outside of your loft if you would rather not have a hole in the floor. I used 3.5″ screws to secure the entire frame together.
Next, I located all of the studs in our loft area. This step just reduces the frustration when it comes time to secure the frame to the wall.
Installing the Loft
Since all the studs were marked out on the wall, it was much easier to secure the frame when we had it balancing on our heads and shoulders. At each stud, two 3.5″ wood screws were used to attach the frame. There were two studs at either end and four along the back.
A startlingly expensive piece of 1/4″ plywood made a good surface to our loft floor. Clearly this project will be more budget friendly after the shock wave of 2020 passes.
Now kids would be falling all over the place if we didn’t have a sturdy railing. 2×4’s cut to 12 inches and secured into the frame became the posts. Then, 1×4 lumber covered the posts for a kid proof railing.
For our DIY loft bed for a bedroom project, we needed a solid ladder. With the wisdom of hindsight, I would recommend making your ladder with 2×4 lumber. However, I was in shock by the sticker price of wood and grabbed 1×4’s instead. This dainty ladder works, but could be improved with a bit beefier wood.
Finishing Touches
Now that the construction phase was complete, I moved on to finishing. The under side of the loft got slathered with Alabaster by Sherwin Williams to match the walls. The white paint also helped to keep the light and bright feel of room. To contrast, I opted to stain the railing for a touch of warmth. In my collection of remnants I found Varathane’s golden oak so I settled for that.
To create an extra play space in the loft, I picked up some peel and stick carpet squares from Home Depot and stuck them on the plywood.
My four year old, who will be dwelling on this loft, loves to play dolls in her bed. This will be the perfect, cozy nook away from brothers to set up shop. The seams between the carpet squares will disappear after the first vacuum.
A visible edge was left after the carpet was installed. To remedy this, I added some strips of 1×2 as molding.
The Painted Wall
Once the DIY loft bed for a bedroom was complete, I went on to adding a bit of pizazz to the room. Since I really didn’t want to splurge on wallpaper, I opted to try out a sponge painting, faux wallpaper idea. For this project I picked up three paint samples, trays and some inexpensive sponges. Cockleshell, Frosted Jade and Ginger Sugar were the Behr colors I used.
To begin, dab the sponge in the paint. Be sure not to overload the sponge, less is more. Then, dab the sponge onto the wall working in a line. I didn’t want my colors to appear in any sort of pattern, so I just used them randomly.
I worked in sections and just eyeballed my lines. Imperfection is the whole look so there’s no need to be nit picky.
I saved any lines that wouldn’t fit the whole sponge for last. Then, I cut all my sponges in half and went back and finished the wall.
The Completed Room
With the painting done, it was time to add in all the little details. I loved this wicker lamp shade I found at IKEA. There are similar This storage cabinet from IKEA made a great end table that can hide all kinds of kid treasures. The cozy nook is getting a lot of love and the twin mattress fit’s perfectly. Most importantly, we found a way to fit two beds in this small bedroom without sacrificing floor space. 
Check out more DIY inspiration on the blog…
Wow, I love this! What I wouldn’t have given to have something like this when I was a kid!
See lamp for lower bed, but no lighting for upper loft to read, play, etc. Ceiling fixure, if present, probably not adequate…….
The ceiling fixture actually is pretty adequate being that it’s right next to the loft. You may also notice a small cloud lamp at the head of the loft that is wall mounted.