Queen Size bed

[Buddy Greenoe]

I built my daughter a bed she saw in a magazine. Don't ya just love those? Anyway the head board, foot board as well as the side boards were made out of poplar because it was to be painted white. the boards were made from tongue and grooved bevelled 1x4s. I routered a 3/4" groove in the top,bottom and legs of all four panels and glued them in the 3/4" groove.I built it in the summer time in Georgia (pretty humid).It looked great after I set it up in her room. Then came winter and the heat came on and some of my joints cracked open as well as some of the boards. I know I built it to ridged and that I should have some how let the t&g panels float. How can I build this so that the panels can move without cracking?

[Chris Friesen]

For traditional frame&panel in solid wood, the frame is usually joined with mortise&tenon joints and the panel is normally left floating. Basically all of the strength is in the frame. You also need to allow some additional room in the grooves for the panel to expand/shrink with varying relative humidity levels.

Because the panel will likely shrink in winter, it's a good idea to pre-finish the panel before gluing up the frame around it. If this is not done, you can end up with visible raw wood when the panel shrinks.