Now I love storage, so I am all over any project that involves more cupboards, shelves or drawers. My latest task was constructing a platform bed from 3 ikea chest of drawers, some plywood, some table legs and some other bits and bobs. The goal was to make a snuggly bed with storage that would fit in our boxroom.

The Problem

Katherine and I have been in our new flat for about a year and after the hassle we had selling our last place and buying this one, we have resolved to never move again. Because of that we have to try and make the most of the space we do have and storage is at a premium.

Our flat has a boxroom, which is just another name for an internal room with no windows. This one does have a window actually, but only through to the kitchen. We have had people stay in it before on an inflatable mattress but Katherine's maid of honour is putting on a show at the Edinburgh Fringe in August ( Herstory, its going to be awesome, come see it!) so we thought we should try and get her a proper bed to sleep on.

Measuring out the room it is almost exactly 2 meters wide, coincidentally this is the same length as an IKEA single bed. This would be perfect except most IKEA beds require the use of a stupid little allen key on the ends to put them together. There isn't room to do that in place and because the space is so tight we couldn't build somewhere else and move it in, because triangles.

Instead we googled and found various IKEA hacks like this one, so we decided to make something like it to combine a bed with some more storage. I love storage. The observant among you may have noticed that the wall is not flat, so we had to deal with that as well.

Here's One I made Earlier

First step was the purchasing and construction of many IKEA components. We used 2x80cm wide NORDLIs and a 40cm wide one in the middle. We also bought some legs but in a cost cutting exercise we used the cheapest £2.50 legs that were only 70cm tall, compared to the 75cm for the chests. There were adjustable legs that would extend to 75cm but they were £10 each and we wanted 5 so blowing 50 quid on legs seemed a bit excessive. Instead I bought a short length of 2" x 4" to extend the legs to approximately the correct height. The legs have a bit of adjustment on the bottom as well so that would take care of any differences.

Here's One Someone Else Cut For Me Earlier

Next purchase was the 3/4" plywood we would be using for the platform. The mattress is 200cm x 90 cm so I bought a slightly larger sheet and got it cut to size by the nice man at B&Q. I actually got it cut to 2m x 1m because of the protrusion in the wall. That let me cover the gap at the back to avoid losing pillows and cats behind the bed when it was finished. Cutting a section out of the corner let me fit the plywood nicely to the space.

Not Enough Hands

After screwing the base plates for the legs to the bits of wood, I used clamps to hold them in place while I screwed them onto the plywood. I added legs spaced about 50cm apart along the back of the plywood shelf, the front side would be supported by the chests. After attaching all the legs and maneuvering the plywood into place I screwed the two outer chests to the base to make everything secure. The smaller central chest was slid into place but not attached to allow it to act as a door to more storage behind the chests. Turns out it was a very tight fit so it remains to be seen whether it will come back out again.

Complete!

Here is the final article without the mattress or a million cushions on top. It fits really neatly in the space and provides us with 9 extra drawers for all the stuff we should probably get rid of.