Farmhouse Pallet Bed with Rolling Trundle

While everyone is decorating and planning out Christmas decor I am stripping and staining my stairs and redoing my son’s room.  My timing has never been impeccable, I will be the first to admit.  It needs patience to do it.

However, my son has been sleeping on a mattress on his floor for a year since we moved into our new house.  My sweet son is never one to complain so I really wanted to give him the gift of an awesome room. 

When they reached out to me to work with them on promoting their Dream Bed collection it gave me the added incentive to start working on Isaac’s room. The idea of a toddler bed or a double bed is great and I was excited to get going with one of them.

The reason I said yes to this campaign is that I was so impressed with Mattress Firm’s charity program with this line of beds. 

Basically for every bed that is sold in the Dream Bed collection they give a bed away to a family in need. Originated in September 2015, the brand was birthed from customer feedback and time-tested, iterative development to offer ridiculously comfortable beds and pillows at an incredible value and a connection to a cause.

That definitely tugged on the heartstrings of my passion to be generous and caring to the needs of people beyond my self.

Choosing The Bed

I got to choose either the Dream Bed of the Cool Gel Dream Bed.  A little unknown fact about my son is he is a hot box.  He begs me to wear shorts year round.  I don’t know whether to say yes or no to that. 

I am always worried he will be cold but the kids is always hot, especially at night.  So this bed boasts of a cooling layer that helps disperse body heat away from the body creating a cooler sleeping surface. I think the bed design matters the most and a good bedtime is important for kids.

And I must say when I crawl into his bed it definitely is cold on my tush.  He loves it, meanwhile, I turn on his heating blanket to snuggle with him.

So with this new amazing mattress on its way to my house, I started designing a bed for Isaac.  His wants were as follows: a space for a buddy to sleep over and no extra pillows.  Haha! 

Building a Farmhouse Bed from Pallets

He must understand his mom’s need for decorative pillows!  While that last request kills me I conceded on both wants. 

I used Ana White’s Farmhouse Full Bed plan as a launch off point but decided to use some reclaimed pallet wood insets for contrast.

Click here to see the tweaked supply and cut list for the Farmhouse Pallet Bed with Rolling Trundle.

The Headboard and Footboard

So to stray from the original plan I cut a piece of 1/4″ luan or underlayment to 50 1/2″ wide by 32″ for the headboard.

And 50 1/2″ by 15″ for the footboard. 

Then I just laid out my pallet boards on an angle and glued and nailed with 3/4″ nails. Choose the right glue for joints or it can be a nightmare.

I let the excess pallet wood overhang. As a beginner, you can choose simplicity and don’t overstress yourself.

After it was complete and dry I flipped it over to the luan side and used a straight edge, clamps and a circular saw to cut off the excess.

Then I used my Kreg Jig to add pocketholes onto the back of the panels to screw them into the 4″ x 4″ post according to the plan.

One thing I did do was sand and stain each piece before assembly so I wouldn’t take the chance of the stain bleeding onto the pallet insets.

I used Minwax Special Walnut on the stained portion of the bed.

The Bed Board

I didn’t want a boxspring with the mattress so I then had to build a flat bottom for the mattress to rest. 

To do that I cut two 1 x 8″s to 77″ and added pocketholes with my Kreg Jig to each end to screw into the 4 x 4 posts later. 

Then I cut a bunch of 1 x 3″ boards as slats.

I used my Kreg Jig and added pocketholes to secure those in place.

One trick is to cut some temporary spacer pieces to hold your slat bottom in place while you attach the sides. 

You can see the 16″ spacers I temporary used to hold the bed in place while I Kreg Jigged the sides to the headboard and footboard. 

You obviously remove those afterwards.  I left a 16″ clearance to accommodate the trundle bed I made (more details on that in my next post).

You will notice there needs to be one more slat on the top and bottom.

I needed to Kreg the 1 x 8 sides into place first because it wouldn’t have allowed my drill to get in there. 

After I screwed the sides in place I added one more slat on each end. 

Ideally, this would be the time to add one more slat in. 

However, I like to make my life harder and I did it at the end, crawling under the bed with my drill.   DOH!

I cut some cheap OSB board panels to fit and screwed them into the slats for the mattress to red on. 

I used a piece of Gorilla tape to cover the seam.

Literally, the Dream Bed arrived in a box. 

And like some growing sponge animal you cut it open and out pops are a humungous mattress. 

I have no idea what type of machine packs that box like that.  But yeah it comes shipped right to your door.

I let it loose and let it grow into a mattress on my family room floor. 

My brother-in-law from out of town decided to test it out. 

You know! Like a good uncle does.  {giggle}

After it passed Uncle Aaron’s comfort test we loaded it into the bed frame.  Perfect fit.  Happy Dance.

I guess this magic foamy/spongy/glorious top gives it the cooling factor. 

All I know is it is mad comfortable! I think great support meets a marshmallow and you might understand the feeling of it.

And as my son requested no extra pillows.  #momwin #designfail

Oh and room for a buddy to spend the night? 

Yep, I got that covered in the rolling trundle. Click here for the plans.

Oh and guess what?  All in the bed and trundle was $165. 

The Mattress Firm Cool Dream Bed never looked so good right?

To see the full reveal of the shiplap shelved wall click here.

To learn more about the Dream bed collection and their #dreamitforward campaign click here. 

A big, fat thank you for this dreamy mattress and putting a fire under my keester to make this bed happen for my son.

FAQ

Are Pallet Beds Durable

Pallets are great materials to build furniture and are extremely durable irrespective of the type of furniture you create – king size bed or a white pallet platform bed or a pallet headboard.

How Many Pallets Do You Need To Make A Pallet Bed

You need four pallets to create a queen bed and only two pallets to setup the pallet wood headboard. Based on the space and design, the number of pallets changes significantly.