King Size bed, through a door.. how to do this best

[Cody Pierce]

So I'm a rookie to say the least. I'm building a king size bed for our bedroom. Just tonight I'm doing a dry fit of everything and my dearest wife asks, "will that go through the door"?

"Uhh, of course, I'm a man, I figured this out and though it through!" Turns out the bed is 80 1/4" wide, and my door jams are, you guessed it 80 1/8" tall. Go figure.

So, I have a few options. I had planned to make the headboard a single unit, then the frame and foot board were going to be another entire unit. Now I ahve a couple options to make this work

1)take the door jam apart at the top, free up 1/4" and slide it in with a tiny margin to spare

2) build the bed inside the bedroom then take the door jam apart if I ever move it out (also means finishing the bed inside the bedroom, wifey sleeps somewhere else, and I'm guessing I'll be in the dog house)

3) re design the thing using screws/hardware (ewwe) so I can assemble/dissemble it inside the bedroom and move it easier in the future

Option 3 seems like the right answer but it's also my least favorite. Option 2 is the best solution for right now, but could lead to issues down the road.

Thoughts?

[Fred Heenie]

My first two thoughts are, Can you post a picture or reference to view and most beds are made to be assembled after they are placed on site. There are a bazillion different assembly fittings available

[Thomas Bank]

#3...

http://www.horton-brasses.com/bedboltsbed.asp

[Robert Engel]

#3.

There is specific hardware for this here.

[Yonak Hawkins]

I can't offer advice on the fit problem except I tend to wonder, along with Fred, what about the bed won't fit ? ..But I can say, after years of marriage, calling my spouse "wifey" would land me in the dog house for sure.

[Lee Schierer]

You can gain 1/2" by removing the door stop from the top of the doorway. Any way to tilt the frame and go through the door on the diagonal?

I would redesign it to some extent so it can go in and back out should you ever decide to replace the carpeting in the bedroom or move to a different house.

When I made our queen size platform bed, I thought it would make all the corners to get into our bedroom. What I didn't account for was the fact that the height of the platform had to be taken into account along with the length. To get it in to our bedroom from the shop, I had to remove the bathroom vanity to make the last corner. The same process will have to be used if we ever move out of the house.

[Ryan Mooney]

Also:
http://www.leevalley.com/US/hardware...,40842&p=43730

Really you'll want the box/rails to be able to be broken down and separated from the footboard and headboard for a variety of practical reasons (if nothing else finishing will be vastly easier).

[Ted Calver]

Slide the headboard through on the diagonal? Should fit that way.

[Charles Wiggins]

I STRONGLY suggest that you do some research on bed design before you start cutting wood, especially if you're hoping to come away with a traditional-looking bed.

My philosophy of furniture construction is that every piece should be designed to be moved, either from room to room or house to house. In the case of a bed, that means that it should break down into pieces that one or two people can easily carry. Typically, that is going to mean each of these things is a separate piece: 1 headboard, 1 footboard, 2 side rails, and several slats (the more the better). In that case of a king or queen, you should also add either a center rail with support legs or support legs that attach to the center of at least three slats.

It is most typical to use what is called knock-down (KD) hardware to assemble such furniture so it is easy to disassemble and move. As others suggest, bed bolts are a good option for attaching the side rails to your headboard and footboard. Bed rail brackets are another.

You could also go a completely difference direction and do a platform bed. Mine is a king-size platform bed based on a waterbed design.

[Jon Nuckles]

Bed bolts with a short and stout mortise and tenon are the gold standard for keeping beds solidly together. If you don't like the look of bed bolt covers or other methods of covering the bolts, Jeff Miller has a method in his book on building beds that eliminates the visible hole. I used it in a bed I built, and have been very happy with the results.

[John Sanford]

Bed Brackets for me, not a fan of bed bolts, but that's just my preference. In practice, with most designs I don't think there's meaningful structural/strength difference. Any bed larger than a toddler's bed should be built to be broken down.

[Cody Pierce]

Thanks guys. I ended up changing things around so I can assemble it with hardware.

Lots to learn on this project!

I'll post pics when it's done.

[Walter Plummer]

Sometimes even taken apart things happen. I built a king size bed for my son. Head board, foot board, side rails, slats, etc. It went into the townhouse he was living in then easy. When he moved to his new house the head board would not make the 90 degree turn on the first stairs. We had to hand it up over the balcony rail, but then it went up the stairs to the third floor making a 180 degree turn on that landing no problem.

[roger wiegand]

Bed bolts with a M&T joint at all corners. Very easy to make, works like a champ. Comes apart into easy-to-move pieces. No wobble as with every "store bought" hanger I've ever tried either on furniture store beds or on the ones I made. The last one I thought I could get away with (a kids bed) I tried some that looked like these from either Woodcraft or Lee Valley. They were a pain to mortise in and still wobbled, so I ended up retrofitting a loose tenon and bed bolts. The bed is solid as a rock now.