A loft bed.

Posted by thom August 30, 2026

A loft bed.

Another fairly significant project of ours is in the books: building H a loft bed. We started it back during the summer's themed "Construction Week." That was at the end of June. We finished yesterday. Size and scope of project and the time it took us to complete it while surviving (and enjoying) summer notwithstanding, we're really happy with how it turned out. It's perfect for our girl.

Backing up a bit to the beginning, we had to start with a design. Like all projects, I work best when sketching with paper and pencil.

We wanted her loft to be accessed by a cubby "staircase" that could double as storage. The tricky part was designing that part so that it fit the dimensions of her room. The whole reason we built her a loft is because the room she got (being born after S, really) is about a third the size of his. We have no idea why the previous owners did what they did, but here we are. Like for the upstairs washer and dryer installation, we asked ourselves how would we do it?

Rather than squeeze even a twin bed (no way for a full!) on her floor, leaving her zero floorspace for literally anything else, we took advantage of the vaulted ceiling. K had the foresight to build it to the dimensions of a full-size mattress in case she wants that when she's bigger, and in the meantime the space is covered with a finished plywood surface where she can put stuffies, etc. Given the rise of about 80" and a run of 60", I had to design the cubby shelves to be pretty steep. The good news: it worked great with the cube sizing of essentially 1-foot-by-1-foot. To give her more of a step, we made the bigger of the two cases 16” deep. For all dimensions, to allow for the saw kerf and maximize our plywood sheets, I skimmed them down to 3/4" (so instead of 12", the actual dimension was 11-3/4").

For the design, we landed on the following:

Sized to fit a full-size mattress, but built for a twin (we're fans of Tuft & Needle from Costco)
Since it would take up about 2/3 of her floor space, up high enough for adults to walk underneath
Oak slats for the bedrail
Structural 23/32" 7-layer plywood for the shelves/stairs, finished with birch edge banding for all exposed edges (this product is "Manufactured in accordance with the US PSI-09 product standard. PSI-compliant, as verified by TECO testing" where the PSI-09 spec means it can be used for structural uses like stair treads without needing to be doubled-up)
2x6" framing attached to three walls (i.e. an alcove) so no additional support was needed
Of course, we added lighting (separate switch, on a dimmer) underneath since the recessed ceiling lights would largely be covered once the loft was built, along with giving her a couple of outlets that didn't exist before (there's always electrical needs for every project!)
We integrated the odd HVAC cutout above her door by turning it into a small cubby for her water bottle, clock, books, etc.
The framing was completely skinned with 1/4" plywood and painted with Magnolia True White cabinet & trim paint (we picked up for $20/gallon at the local Habitat For Humanity Restore)

With the design and materials figured out, it was time to measure and get to framing.

The first stud was up! I used GRK structural fasteners, countersunk into the ledger so the plywood skin would sit flush against the 2x6s.

For this project, knowing I'd be using a LOT of pocket holes, I splurged on the $40 Kreg jig (finally upgrading my basic $20 jig I bought way back from building J's bed when he was 10 - he's 26 now). It was well worth it. Clutch with the $40 upgrade was the ability to fasten the jig to a piece of wood attached to the wall (or otherwise unable to be clamped).

For the cross-beam, I used a method that combined 1) a scrap piece of wood screwed to the top of the beam to position it perfectly flush with the existing framing, then 2) a combo of clamps and scrap blocks to use for positioning it perfectly where it needed to go before driving in the framing screws.

It worked really well, and ensured the brace was positioned within 1/16" of an inch of how I measured it and didn’t move while I fastened it. Squareness of framing plays out when it comes time to finish it, and I wanted to be able to cut square pieces of 1/4" ply without having to worry about compensating for shoddy framing. It's worth the extra effort, perfectionism aside. All the while, I had company.

In time, the framing was complete. The height of the loft was based from the top of the vertical 1x4 trim boards of the room's door. Meaning, we ripped off the top/horizontal 1x4 and butted the bottom of a 2x6 ledger along the top of those two trim boards. With only 1/4" ply "ceiling" for the frame, the door could still open perfectly fine and obviously adults could walk underneath it.

The extra 2x4" joists along the inside of the 2x6s are to hold the Ikea Luroy bed slats.

With the framing done, it was time to rough in the electrical.

(5) 4" recessed LED light fixtures
(2) 15A duplex outlets

For the rough-in, I pulled power for the new lighting switch from an outlet directly below where I'd place the new switch. For the two new outlets, I repurposed an existing outlet that had been placed about 6' up for a TV that we never had (there was also a cable jack that I buried in the wall). Then strung 14/2 cable all throughout the new framing once I had determined where each 4” fixture would be placed.

After cutting out the 2-gang box for the TV, I replaced it with a covered metal junction box that I also buried inside the wall.

With the electrical roughed in, it was time to cut and hang the plywood "ceiling" along with skinning all of the visible framing. I used two sheets of 4x8 for the ceiling, and another sheet ripped down to various thicknesses before cutting to size for the skinning. For cutting small or narrow trim, I like to use an old school maple miter box and hand saw combo. I spackled all the seams and brad nail holes.

Then it was time to caulk, prime, and paint.

With everything painted, I could wire the cans. Recently, I splurged $10 on a Milwaukee wire nut twister. Uhh, after first dabbling in electrical twenty years ago, why haven't I gotten one of those sooner!? It made short work of professionally (and securely) twisting cables together. No lineman pliers needed.

During all of this, I had a steady helper along with a mess of power tools...

With that, the loft was finished. It was time to move onto the not-insignificant staircase cubbies. Referencing the design I sketched, I did enlist the help of ChatGPT to come up with the cut plan after giving it the number and sizes of all the pieces I needed.

K helped (as always!) rip down the full 4x8 sheets of the 15/32" plywood, three sheets in all. Then it was time to crosscut. For this stage, rather than trying to wrangle 8'-long boards through my table saw with my crosscut sled, I went a different route. I built a custom square from scrap oak flooring sized to the depth of the work surface I was using (salvaged from a gear shelf we tore apart earlier in the year to make room for repurposed Ikea Pax wardrobes to hold our outdoor gear). Using the custom square and a circular saw, I was able to crosscut every piece perfectly. I positioned the cuts over the indents in that old shelving's dado grooves. It'll be my new crosscut process going forward!

At one point, my helper brought me dinner: spaghetti and meatballs. Mmm, a favorite!

While the stack of plywood was, well, stacking up, K would take it and handle the sanding.

Once everything was cut, it was time to pocket hole it all. I did mention I upgraded because this project was going to need a lot of pocket holes. As always, there was coffee.

I also cut all the oak for the railings. Oh, and ironed on all of the edge banding before using a trim router and some ol’ fashioned sandpaper to smooth the edges. I had sourced 100’ of 3/4” banding and 10’ of 1-1/2”. I used most of both bands.

Eventually, we ended up with a garage full of stacks of plywood and oak.

K finished the oak in the garage with Rubio Natural while I built the base for the cube staircase from the last scraps of plywood. Using... pocket holes.

Then it was time to figure out how to build a six-foot tall cube staircase. I'll admit, my process wasn't perfect. Using plywood scraps, I built a giant square that I wedged into the corner of H's room. Using that as my 90º, I built the structure laying down on the floor one level at a time. It mostly worked. I ended up with a bunch of cubes, anyway.

To position the vertical blocking, I tried a few methods before building a quick square from more scrap lumber. I'd put that in place, lean on it and wedge a block against it before driving in the pocket holes. Like I said, it mostly worked.

The different widths and depths of the blocking was a result of how much plywood I had without having to go back for another sheet. We actually liked how it created a random element to the design. K and I heaved it upright and the special girl gave it a try.

We were on the home stretch! All that remained was leveling the base and attaching the structure (actually built of two - the big one and a little one set at a 90º angle) to it, to each other, and to the wall.

Oh, and spending two nights coating all the plywood with Rubio.

Oh, and moving that outlet in the photos above because where it was fell right behind the blocking. We needed it positioned within one of the cubes. That also meant of course patching the drywall where the old box was and the hole where I had cut in the other wall to run power for the two new outlets in her loft. But then, we could heave the staircase onto the leveled base and secure it to the wall. Finally.

The last, last thing was to lift her mattress up onto the slats, then build the railing. While I did that, K made her bed and helped H fill her new storage cubes. Again, the recommended pressure for brad nails into oak is 110psi.

For the oak posts, I predrilled and countersunk each one for the black GRK fasteners we chose. I then used that same custom square I made for the shelf blocking to line up the posts plumb before screwing each one into the loft.

The slats went up quickly. They were spaced 1" apart, for which I used some scrap to build spacers that held each successive slat perfectly in place. 1" brad nails secured each slat. At long last, this project... was... finished.

We took a step back. Yep, this is what we envisioned. It'll give H floorspace to play and have a desk, while also a pretty special space to call her own. After a summer spent sleeping on the floor in S's room, she was excited to climb her stairs and crawl into bed for the first night!