Best (and no so expensive) wood for a bed.

I built my son a loft bed out of construction grade fir. I ripped the rounded edges off to make the boards more 'square' and painted it and it looks great. If you want to stain it, you'll probably have to spring for a higher quality board than that, unless you want a knotty-rustic look. It's plenty strong (it's the same stuff they make floor-joists out of after all) so no worries there.

Any wood stronger than balsa will work. LJ Mauricio is in the middle of a bunk bed build for his boys using construction lumber. Doug fir is incredibly strong for its weight and would work fine, if you want to go that route.

I've got a queen bed of knotty pine and to be honest it is butt ugly. And I don't mean Vida Guerra butt (google it if you must.) either. It's strong enough structurally but that's about it. If you go with pine at least spring for the knot-free variety.

I try to keep an open-mind, but when I saw that green pastel pallet with a mattress on it, I threw up in my mouth a little…

Pine? Hummmm!!! If my kid will like me to do it from pine I'll do it.

I'm thinking of long lasting and maybe passed to the next generation if made out of Douglas fir.

Thank you all for your input.
Michael

I got the pine and is sitting in my garage for about 4 days.

Another question: I'll cut the wood to the required dimensions and, can I use shellac now when I have individual pieces or wait till assembled, and a new layer when finished?

Oh boy, I'm eager to start but afraid of measuring. I know measure twice and cut ones, but still…...

Have a good weekend everybody.

Depending on the age of your grand son consider making a loft bed. Great way to give more space

Joe That is funny… kudos to those creative beds.. but I felt the same way, and then laughed when I read your post.

That 2×4 bed is great! Doubt that I will build one, but I've saved the pic for design inspiration. Thanks for posting.

Construction-grade fir works very well if you're selective about what you bring home. I've made two lofts this way and the finished products are very nice, i.e. knot-free and stained. Also cheap to construct.

Having to accommodate a box spring and extra-long dimensions are hardly a problem. I faced the same when making my second, and the product is solid, looks good, etc.

Thank you guys.

Nice, but how does it hold the mattress?

Just Joe: The box and the mattress is sitting on the floor. Order from mom.
No space for hiding toys or anything else. I told her that if she ever wants to put some boxes on wheels under we can fix that by increasing the space between the floor and adding some supports for the mattress and taking off the box (use just the mattress).
The kid is only 4.

Bondogaposis: Very nice bed. Thank you for sharing.

Your project turned out nice. I am envious of your back up generator.

That looks great

Thatz a clean bed. You did a very good job on it

Thank you all. It was my first big project.