DIY Toddler House Bed (With Plans)

How necessary was us making this DIY toddler house bed? Well, we took our daughter’s mattress out of her crib one night to *just see* how she would do with her newfound freedom and it’s been eight months now of her sleeping on a mattress on the floor.

But, better late than never, right? After becoming a big sister three months ago (and a great one at that) the gal deserves a surprise and something special all of her own, so, with only $60 worth of 2x4s and some leftover sample paint, I whipped up this DIY toddler house bed that turned out so cute if I do say so myself.

It’s an easy weekend project if you’ve got a few tools handy and a little one ready for their big kid bed (warning, though: your sweet tiny toddler will immediately look like they’re about 18 years old and headed off for college when you see them in an actual bed).

Let’s get down to how to make this DIY toddler house bed and please note these measurements are all for a twin bed.

On This Page

Tools & Materials

Tools

Materials

Make all the cuts

This whole structure is essentially made of 2x4s so it’s really just a lot of cuts and then assembly. So, let’s start with the cut list for each of the pieces:

Mattress support

2x2s
- (2) at 69.5 inches
2x4s
- (2) at 69.5 inches
1x4s
- (8) at 38 inches

House end panels

2x4s
- (2) at 38 inches
- (4) at 45 inches (top beveled in at 22.5 degrees)
- (4) at 29.5 inches (bottom beveled at 22.5 degrees and top beveled at 45 degrees)

Supports

2x4s
- (2) at 69.5 inches

Assemble the mattress support

Take one of the 2×4 mattress support pieces and set it on the ground longside up, then take one of the 2×2 pieces and hold it right alongside it (like the image below). Add four screws from the 2×2 across into the 2×4 (one at each end then two roughly evenly spaced apart in between) and repeat for the other 2×4 and 2×2 pieces.

Next, line those two pieces up side by side roughly three feet apart with the 2x2s on the inner side facing each other. Begin laying the 1×4 mattress slats across in between so that their ends sit on the 2x2s and, when they look evenly spaced, add a 2” screw at each end of the 1×4 going down into the 2×2.

Add one pocket hole on the inner side of the 2×4 at each end of the mattress support frame (this will allow you to screw the mattress part to the house part.)

Add scrap pieces of 2×4 underneath the middle of the slats with additional screws if you need extra support (I did because our two-year-old loves jumping more than she loves tearing books off their shelves and eating snacks way too close to dinner, which is a lot.)

Now you’ve got a full mattress support and it’s probably looking a bit like a bed!

Assemble the house bed ends

Take one of the shorter, flat-ended 2×4 pieces and add two pocket holes into each end of the pieces for four total holes. Next, hold that 2×4 piece upright on the ground and stand one of the 2×4 pieces with the 22.5-degree bevel sloping inward at the top so that it’s standing flush with the end of the shorter horizontal piece. Make sure the side of the horizontal 2×4 without the pocket holes is flush with the edge of the vertical piece.

Add 2.5-inch pocket hole screws from the horizontal 2×4 into the upright ones.

Next, take the peak pieces (the 2x4s that are beveled on both ends) and hold them in place on top of the upright pieces you’ve already secured.

They should kind of sit in place by themselves enough for you to be able to screw, or you could have someone else hold them in place while you screw.

Take two 3” construction screws and screw directly down from the top of the beveled piece into the upright 2×4. Do that on both sides, then add two more screws straight across the top peak to secure those two pieces together.

Repeat for the other end of the house bed.

Prep the support pieces and sand

Take the two 2×4 support pieces and add two pocket holes into each end for four total holes on each piece.

Add wood filler into all the screw holes (not the pocket hole screw holes) and when that’s dry, sand down all the pieces until they’re nice and smooth. I bought the cheap 2x4s so I had to do a lottttt of sanding. Then, caulk all the seams.

Paint or stain

Now you’ve got three different panels: the mattress support and two house-shaped ends, plus the two support pieces.

This is the best time to paint or stain all the pieces individually unless you live in some kind of open-air hut that allows you to move this beast of a bed into place fully assembled.

I used a mix of white paint samples we had on hand (Shoji white and Silky White) and did two coats.

Assemble the pieces

Take all the individual pieces into the room where the bed will go. Lay the mattress support piece down flat on the ground and stand one of the house-shaped pieces up against one end, making sure the pocket holes side of the bottom piece is facing inward toward the mattress slats. Take two 2.5” pocket hole screws and screw them from the mattress support into the house piece through the pocket hole you drilled earlier on the inner end of the support piece.

Repeat on the other end with the second house piece.

Decide which side of the bed you want facing out to the room (in an ideal world your sides would be identical but I definitely had one jaggedy side I wanted facing in toward the wall).

Once you’ve figured that out, take one of the support pieces and hold it between the peaks of the “house” so it is flush to the front-sloping 2×4 piece and is aligned with the downward slope of the back piece, then secure in place with 2.5” pocket hole screws (I did this alone and it was a pain so an extra set of hands is helpful!).

Repeat on the other end.

Repeat this process with the second support piece, this time holding it vertically between the house ends toward the bottom of the bed, a few inches above where the mattress will sit.

And you’re done!

Now you’ve just got to put the mattress in place and decorate! I picked out some fabric from Joann that matched our daughter’s bedsheets and draped it over the end as a canopy which gave it such a cute whimsical feel, and we added this super lightweight linen-feel comforter set that is the perfect pink coral color.

If you followed our tutorial for this DIY toddler house bed, please let us know and we’d love to see photos! If you want to follow along with our future projects, make sure to follow us on Instagram and sign up to our newsletter as well. Happy DIYing!