DIY Cabin Bed for Kid’s Bedroom

Thank you to Kreg for sponsoring this DIY cabin bed! All opinions are entirely my own. This post also contains affiliate links, but nothing that I wouldn’t recommend wholeheartedly. Read my full disclosure here.

A couple of months ago we shared our very first DIY project in our three-year-old’s room – a mountain mural. His room had been neglected since moving into this house two years ago.

We started with this amazing mountain mural that made SUCH a big difference in the room, isn’t it so cute??

Right around the same time as the DIY mural, we started noticing that Cal seemed to be a little cramped in his toddler bed. Just like any other 3-year-old, he loves to sleep with one million stuffed animals and blankets. There was barely any room for him.

We knew it was time to think about a new bed, a bigger bed, for Calloway. After our bathroom renovation finished, our schedule cleared up and we decided it was the perfect time to build the twin bed ourselves. 

We’re Building a DIY Kid’s Cabin Bed!

Over the past few years, I’ve seen several different variations of cabin beds or house-style beds for kid’s rooms. I always thought that it would be so fun to build a boy’s DIY cabin bed! And – spoiler alert – it turned out SO GOOD! Most epic bed ever.

For this fun DIY woodworking project, we’ve teamed up with Kreg to create the plans and share them online for free, which are now available on KregTool.com!

If you’re wondering Kreg Tools’ website is full of easy-to-follow woodworking plans that are all available for free! I’m sure you are going to find so much inspiration while you are there.

Inspiration for Our Boy’s Cabin Bed

Since I’ve been thinking about building a DIY bed that looks like a small house for a couple of years, we’ve had plenty of time to pick up inspiration! We even shared all of our favorite boy’s bedroom ideas here! We were inspired by tons of other boy’s cabin bed ideas – both other DIY beds and beds available for purchase from retailers.

• This bed from White Sparrow Farm inspired us to incorporate board and batten trim. Isn’t it so cute?
• One thing that always held me back was that I wanted the front of the bed to be open so the sheets and blankets could be easily accessible for changing. This bed gave me hope that I could still achieve a cute cabin bed look by having the front of the bed open without a front panel.
• I think the project that we were most inspired by for the overall design and build style was this cabin bed built by Jen Woodhouse and she’s sharing the free bed plans on Ana White.

Cabin Bed Frame: Step-By-Step Tutorial

Note: The free plans for this project (which can be downloaded here) are designed to hold a twin mattress. You’ll need to make adjustments to accommodate a different-sized mattress – like a full-size mattress. Additional support may be needed for larger mattresses.

Step 1 – Cut & Assemble Side Panels:

• The first thing you want to do is cut 2 side panels from 3/4 inch plywood panels using a table saw and jig saw.
• Use the jig saw to cut window holes in each side panel.
• Cut trim pieces and attach per woodworking plans with wood glue and finish nails.

Step 2 – Cut & Assemble Back Panel:

• Cut back panel from a 3/4 inch plywood sheet.
• Attach 2×4 to top and bottom using pocket hole joinery.
• Be sure to use pocket hole screws – not just normal wood screws. 
• Pilot holes are not needed with pocket holes on pine wood. 

Step 3 – Add 2×4 Supports to Side Panels:

• Cut 2x4s to size with a 30-degree angle cut at the top.
• Add 2×4 supports to the side panels of the bed frame using pocket hole joinery.

Step 4 – Pocket Hole Plugs:

• Attach pocket hole plugs with wood glue to the back panel and side panels for a finished look.
• Let dry.

Step 5 – Fill Nail Holes & Sand:

• You can choose to fill all visible nail holes & paint everything now or hold off until it is assembled. We, obviously, painted first and then assembled. That just meant we had to touch up the paint after assembly.
• Fill nail holes with wood filler.
• Sand to a smooth finish with an orbital sander, starting with 80 grit and finishing with 150 grit sandpaper.

Step 6 – Prime and Paint:

• Prime and paint all pieces. We did two coats of primer and two coats of paint.
• We used Falling Snow for white and Graphic Charcoal for trim by Behr Paint.

Step 7 – Build Roof Panels:

• Construct roof panels from horizontally stacked cedar fence pickets.
• Attach cedar pickets together with nails.
• Spray clear sealant to protect since these won’t be painted.

Step 8 – Build Roof Support:

• Construct a “V shaped” support piece with 30-degree angled cuts.
• Attach with pocket screws.
• Later, this piece will be added to the middle of the bed under the roof pickets for support.

Step 9 – Assemble Side & Back Panels:

• Connect side panels with three 2×4 supports (each top corner and front bottom corner).
• Use pocket hole joinery for assembly. We did not fill these pocket holes with plugs so the bed can be taken apart later, if needed.
• Note: We assembled the bed in the room because it wasn’t going to fit through the doorway.

Step 10 – Build Bed Platform:

• Add a 1×2 ledger board to the inside edges for plywood support.
• Build a bottom bed platform with three 2×4 supports using pocket hole joinery.
• Cut 3/4 plywood to size and lay it on top for a mattress platform on the wooden bed.
• Attach with finish nails.
• Cover bed platform with mattress. 

Ready to see how our DIY cabin bed turned out?

Ta da! Isn’t it perfect??

Here’s a different angle so you can see the full details on the side panel.

We’re thinking about getting some of those glow-in-the-dark stars for the inside of the roof to make this a little boy’s dream.

Our little guy is OBSESSED with his new big boy’s cabin bed and best of all, there’s plenty of room for him!

Kreg’s Pocket Hole Joinery

The incorporation of the pocket hole joinery using the Kreg K5 Master System made assembling this bed a breeze. If you’re looking to get into beginning woodworking projects, we highly recommend a pocket hole system for quick and easy joinery. Click here to learn how to use a pocket hole jig, which includes a video! 

Since we published this cabin bed tutorial, Kreg has released a new version of the pocket hole jig and discontinued the K5. Learn more about the new Kreg 720Pro pocket hole system.

We’re thrilled to be done with Cal’s bed and he’s so excited about sleeping in it. If you are going to buy a cabin bed from a retailer, they run about $2,000+ so we were definitely able to save TONS of money by buying this cabin bed ourselves.

If you’re interested in building this bed, definitely be sure to hop over to the Build Something website because I’m giving you the whole tutorial and all the plans there for free!

Would your children love a cabin bed too?

Let us know in the comments below.