Wood Futon Frame Plans

October 26, 2008 2:59 PM

Looking for plans to build a futon frame out of wood.

I bought a crappy used futon and paid to much. Unsurprisingly, after heavy use as a bed, there were too many points of failure for me to continue to "repair" it. I'm rather attached to the mattress though, since it's fairly comfortable (and the only thing keeping me from sleeping on the floor ATM).

I'm living with several people who have built their own lofts for their beds, so I'm not completely new to "carpentry", but the only plans I've found online have been rather unnecessarily complex and made for experienced woodworkers with far more tools than at my disposal.

Can anyone direct me to some straightfoward, barebones, stupid easy futon plans?

posted by gzimmer to grab bag (5 comments total)

Do you want a futon frame or a loft bed? Loft or platform beds are not really that tough if you have access to a hammer, drill and a saw. That said a futon frame on the floor is about the easiest thing ever. What you need are

- 18-20 1x3 pieces of wood, pine is fine, that are as wide as your futon
- three 2x4s as long as your futon
- three pieces of narrow canvas as long as your futon
- staple gun

1. lay down 2x4s on their short side equidistant from each other, roughly 2.5 feet apart
2. take two 1x3s and nail/screw them into the top and bottom of your "frame" It should look like this

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3. lay down your remaining 1x3's spaced roughly equally so that they'll fit between the two you've already nailed/screwed down
4. lay the canvas strips on top of them
5. staple the canvas strips securely to the wood
6. roll up your new "bed"
7. unroll over the top of the frame
8. presto!

You can do stuff that's slightly more complicated wiht pegs etc. The cool thing about this general idea is that it's easy to take apart yet secure and gets circulation under your futon to keep it from getting cold/moldy/whatever.

On the other hand, I have a platform bed that was not rocket science to build. You can see some photos, though not a complete set, here.
posted by jessamyn at 3:17 PM on October 26, 2008

What tools do you have at your disposal?

Do you want to be able to convert it into a couch, or are you just wanting to keep the mattress off of the floor a bit?

Finally, do you want something you can easily break down and move, or are you willing to deal with it being a pain come moving time?

Here's a pretty simple plan from the Instructables site. Searching on bed gets a lot of hits so something there might inspire you. (Note: Thanks to the wonder of user generated content, Instructables embraces Sturgeon's Law like a long lost brother. If you go digging you have been forewarned.)
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 7:42 PM on October 26, 2008

I do want a true futon and want it to be convertable, because my room is quite small and a couch is very nice. I have a power saw, power drill, and dremel, and very little else.

@jessamyn: I sort of understand the diagram, I think my old futon frame had opposite design with main members going vertical and cross members horizontal. But the rest is a bit hard to follow. I suppose the best directions would be hard to follow without pictures...
posted by gzimmer at 5:03 AM on October 27, 2008

I made an illustration here, see if it's helpful.
posted by jessamyn at 6:10 AM on October 27, 2008

@jessamyn:

Thanks for the illustration, but unless I misunderstand it, that's just a bed that can roll up. What I'm looking for is a bed that can lift one side up and turn into a sofa.
posted by gzimmer at 11:36 AM on October 27, 2008