I built this platform king size bed and headboard out of plywood and solid walnut that had been in a friend’s garage for 14 years.  The bed includes four 24″ full extension drawers. The drawer boxes were built with Baltic birch plywood and box joints.  The bottom front walnut face of the bed is attached to the plywood base with magnets and the front walnut wing is screwed to the base.  Both can be removed and the bed separated in half for transport.  The wings all have supports in case my kids or anyone else decides to stand on them.

The headboard is two pieces of 1/2″ thick walnut resawn from two 6/4 boards, glued together into one 38″ x 84″ board, and then cut in half with a jigsaw to simulate a stream.  The top and bottom are attached with sliding dovetails, screws, and four wedged 3″x3″x 24″ boards behind four of the rock clusters. This approach ensures that the joints are hidden, the top and bottom halves of the headboards stay flush, and allows for wood movement. The top and sides of the headboard were trimmed and folded over to make the head board appear 1″ think and to create a French cleat on the top which is how the headboard is attached to the wall.  I traced the outline of each river rock, cut a 1/4″ deep recess, and inset the rocks into the headboard with epoxy. I got the idea for this from a gallery piece in FWW showing a table with river rock inset in the middle.

The bed is finished with one coat of boiled linseed oil and three coats of wipe-on polyurethane.

Launch Gallery