Toddler Bunk Beds--DIY

Build your own Bunk Beds Toddler Size!

In this post I provide the measurements I used to build bunk beds to fit toddler sized mattresses and link to the plans that I modified to build these toddler bunk beds.

When we were expecting our third child we lived in a small apartment at the University of Utah. The apartment was great, but the bedrooms were small, so to maximize space we wanted to have our 5 year-old and 3 year-old use a bunk bed that would accommodate the smaller toddler size mattress. We searched all over and could not find anything, not just anything affordable, but nothing at all! Turns out toddler size bunkbeds can't be sold because of some regulation or another. So we decided to build our own.

This was my first real building project and other than one shop class in 7th grade I haven't done a lot of work with wood. I did enlist the help of a friend who had worked quite a bit with wood and who had a lot of the tools.

We started by choosing a straight forward plan and liked this one from Ana White.  You may even still be able to see a picture of our bunk beds on that site (my ID for that one was wubchileno)

We wanted to modify her plans to fit the toddler mattresses and to be shorter so that the kids would be safer. They are very sturdy and I (about 180lbs then) often climbed into the top bunk to cuddle with my 5-year-old when he was going to sleep. It easily handled our combined weight. So I modified the plans to fit a 28" x 52" toddler sized mattress and to be slightly less than 5 feet tall.

Here I've copied the cut list from her plans, but changing the measurements to fit the smaller mattress.

12 – 1×4 @ 26 1/2″ (End Rails)
8 – 1×3 @ 59″ (Solid Leg Pieces)
8 – 1×4 @ 57 1/2″ (Back and Front Rails)
12 – 1×3 @ 3″ (Trim Pieces between Rails)
2 – 1×3 @ 18″ (Trim Pieces between Rails)
4 – 1×3 @ 8″ (Bottom Trim Pieces)
4 – 2×2 @ 52 (Use Metal braces for a stronger bed)
1 – 1×3 @ 51″ (Ladder Side)
2 – 1×3 @ 19″ (Ladder Rungs)
1 – 1×3 @ 13″ (Ladder Front Trim Piece)
6 – 1×3 @ 8 2/3″ (Ladder Trim)
1 – 1×3 @ 31″ (Front Leg Trim Piece)
1x3s @ 28″ (Bed Slats, as shown with 16 total slats) 

The two front rails are missing from her cut list so they ended up as 40 15/16" (You'll probably want to double check this measurement on yours). The mattress fit isn't as tight as it could be and if you want it tighter you could shorten the length by about 2" and the width by 1/2". I used 8 slats per bed for the supports. 

Also if you made the whole bed 2" shorter you could change the 8 2/3" measurement to 8". I left the spacing for the rails the same. That way shortening the height all comes out of the middle (inbetween the two beds) and only affects the spacing of the ladder rungs.

Shopping:

• 11- 8' 1 x 4s
• 14- 8' 1 x 3s
• 4- 8' 2 x 2s 
• 2″ Wood Screws
• 1 1/4″ Wood Screws
• 1 1/4″ Finish Nails
• Wood Glue
• Wood Filler
• Finishing Supplies
• 16 – 3″ Bolts with washers and nuts 

 The rest of the way you should be able to follow the instructions on here site just use the dimensions that I've given above in place of hers.

Good luck and I'm happy to answer questions in the comments as you make your own toddler bunk beds.