Lofty Instructions
The problem with having a firm deadline on a home improvement project is that my life is anything but "firm." It's pretty squishy because chaos moves fast and sometimes I have to shove things here and there and everywhere. So when it came time to slam some function and style into the spare bedroom, I created two lists. One list was the Must Do list. The other was the We'll Get There When We Get There list.
The loft was on the Must Do list. However, parts of it were and still are on the We'll Get There When We Get There list. So, while I'm sharing how exactly it was that we built the loft, keep in mind that there are parts that still need painted. There is trim that needs to be installed. There are a ton of finishing touches that haven't been done. Long of the short, it really is a project that is still in progress. However, the fact that it's still in progress means there are parts of it that are visible right now that won't be later. That's sort of helpful.
So. The loft.
The total cost of the loft itself stands at just over $120 right now. I still have some trim to buy, but I fully expect that the entire project is going to stay under $150. So, this really is a pretty inexpensive project for what you get. (What we got was a bed that our kid stays in. All night. PRICELESS.)
First, the decision-making process.
The loft is free-standing. Meaning, I can take those bookcases out of there and the loft will stay exactly where it is. See? Not attached.
(And now you know where some of the missing trim is going!)
The reason for that is twofold. First of all, the bedroom is nine feet wide. A standard twin bed is 75" long. If you do the math, you realize that a loft like this one wouldn't make much sense:
We would have lost just over two feet of the width of the room to nothingness.
The other reason I didn't want a loft like that was that I want to be able to use the space under the loft for anything. If we decide to put a twin bed under it, we can. If we want a dresser there, fine. If we want a desk there, that'll work, too. We can literally use the room in any of the ways we could without the loft--there is just a part of the room that has a low ceiling.
By the way, the bookcases are attached to the wall. There's no risk of them falling over.
But we can take them out or move them if we decide we need to do so.
Once I figured out that I wanted the loft to span the entire width of the room, it was easy to figure out the dimensions we wanted to work with. The plywood we used to support the mattress is sold in 4' widths. I wanted the loft to run the width of the room, which is 9'. DONE! The loft will be 4' x 9'!
Seriously. It just didn't make sense to cut the plywood any more than we had to.
As for the height, the bookshelves are 5' tall. I picked that height after walking through IKEA and checking the height on all of the lofts that they had for sale. 5' seemed like the perfect height.
So. 9' x 4' and hung at 5'. Easy enough!
The loft construction itself was also not all that complicated (Time consuming? Yes. Tedius? Yes. Complicated? No.). Here are the basic steps we followed. (I don't have photographs of everything because of that whole firm deadline thing.)
1. Locate the wall studs and mark them clearly.
2. Create a "frame" using 2" x 8" boards. They are attached to the wall using lag bolts and we made sure to hit as many studs as possible.
3. Attach furring strips all the way around along the bottom inside of the "frame."
4. Simulate the slats you find with most bed frames using 2" x 4" boards. We had some 1" x 4" boards sitting around, so we used two of them stacked in some places.
5. Place plywood (we used 5/8" thickness) inside the frame, on top of the slats. Use wood screws to attach it in as many places as possible.
Here's the underside of the whole thing:
If you look closely, you can see that we drilled holes to be able to run power cords up to the corners for lights and Alexis' radio and such.
Here's the underside with some allegedly helpful captions:
And the top looks like this:
It's 5/8" plywood dropped down into the "frame." (The corners are mitered, but that turned out to be a complete waste of time. In fact, it turned out to be a time suck that had no benefit because the corners of the room itself weren't perfect and the mitered corners wouldn't line up.)
What we ended up with is a platform sturdy enough to hold not only the kid who lives here, but also any other kids she decides to let go up there. Our goal was for it to be strong enough to hold five or six kids. Because, really. That could happen when Alexis has friends over. They do crazy things.
6. Build the ladder out of 2"x4" boards. The bottoms of the two sides are mitered at an angle so that the ladder sits flat on the floor when it's leaned up against the loft.
And the rungs are just screwed in so that they are parallel to the floor.
It's not perfect, but once we have a chance to have a little fun with some wood filler and paint and trim, it will end up being purdy.
If you're looking for more "proper" plans for building a loft, try this site. We certainly referenced it when we were working, although we went with a completely different style of loft. I also have a bunch of examples of lofts pinned to a board on Pinterest.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Reader Comments (9)
Thanks for the walk-through! We plan to do this in our smaller bedroom in a few years for Abby, and this is helpful in making some plans. I appreciate the comment about the wasted space in the room if you made a loft sized exactly for a twin bed mattress.
Looks good! And planning for multiple kids up there is essential. I don't think half the bunk bed sets I have seen in the store could hold up to what will undoubtedly be put through by the kids using them.
i'm crazy impressed with you and this project. seriously.
also, how tall are the ceilings in that room?
and finally, when are you adopting me, dammit?
@hello haha narf--They ceilings in our house are 8'. I wish they were higher, but no such luck.
@Dave--It's insane how flimsy some of the lofts that are sold in stores are. IKEA especially had some that were highly questionable.
Forgive me if this sounds stupid -- the whole thing is attached to the wall (back and sides)? And that's it? I had previously assumed it was resting on the bookshelves. How far apart did you do the screws into the wall? I'm only asking because this loft is a serious possibility in my house since my boys want to share a room and I'm hating all the bunk beds (and the prices) out there.
It is awesome! We have long since debated about making a loft for Gen simply because she is low on floor space in her room... you may have won me over!
Thanks so much for posting this! Now I just have to break it to my husband that I have a new DIY project him. hehe