How To Build a Custom Size Podium Bed

Spread the love

Sleeping but also enjoy the views? A podium bed can be the new addition to your bedroom, or livingrom, or even a terrace for this summer. They can be very stylish and together with a nice sea, mountain or even a city landscape, they can be the counter stone of your house.

Podium beds encourage cozy evenings or bed games. They can be the perfect place for a movies night or just look at the stars.

So if you ever think about this, but struggle to find one that could fit your needs in terms of style or size, we are here for you with this DIY project, custom size podium bed, that can be completed in a couple of days.

What do I need For My Podium Bed?

The materials we need for this project are easily found in any local shop, probably transportation can be the biggest issue, depending of how big we want to make our podium bed. This list of material would need to be adapted to your measurements, but the basics are :

Wood planks of the desired size of the bar podium table. You will need to cover the whole surface and make some steps to access it, so the best way to know exactly what we need its to mark the floor and take measurements. We are using 120 cm (47″) long by 60 cm (23″) wide, 3 cm (1,20″) thick at least.
Wooden bars to build the holding structure. They should be it’s at least 4 cm (1,6″) thick. In our case, we used wood bars of 120×4×4 cm (47×1,6×1,6″) wood bar.
50-100 medium screws, at least 5 cm (2″) long.
A pack of small wood screws or nails of 2 cm (0,80″) long. (At least 100pcs).
Chair glides or furniture pads.
Wood colour silicone.
A driller, screwdriver and a wood saw will be the necessary tools.
Electric cables, electric switches, USB chargers or Induction chargers (optional).

Choosing the right spot will be easy, aim for the best views. In our case it was an easy choice !

Nice corner near the windows with sea views

One you have selected the right place, using some tape or markers, draw your podium bed on the floor. Remember to place the mattress on the top to be sure it fits well and get a better perspective of the final result.

In our case, we leaved small counters or shelves on the back and left side of the bed, for decoration and utility.

Getting started : Drilling and Assembling The Structure

Once you gathered all the essentials and you got ready your working area, you should start by securing the wooden structure to the walls. This will avoid any shacking and noises.

You can use two matching pieces of wood to hold the bars while drilling, this will secure them and allow you to level them to the same height. You can use nails or hooks for the matter.

Once the perimeter is done, it should look somewhat like this :

The perimeter will allow you to place and cut the wooden bars that will hold the rest of the structure. Place them, mark with a pen the cut, and proceed to saw it.

The wooden bars, after cutting and screw to the perimeter structure

Adding a big wooden plank in the middle, where the bed will be, will add structural strength to the build, as show here :

Being careful with the cuts to match the shape our our perimeter, will bring an attention to detail on the final result !

Finally, we will add some legs with furniture pads to reinsure the build.

Finally, the structure its done, it should be looking like this one. Be sure to reinforce all the bars and don’t leave big gaps in between them.

Building The Podium Bed Surface

After securing the structure, it’s time to start placing the wooden planks that will act as floor of our Podium bed. For this, be sure to mark and cut as near to the wall as possible. Small gaps will be corrected at the end so don’t mind them.

At this moment, remember to add your electric cables and sockets before completely closing the podium structure.

In our case, we chose a traditional socket, USB and Induction Qi charger

Around the walls and in the sides of the podium bed, we will add skirting boards or baseboards to hide the small gaps around the boards. For the smallest gaps and junctions, use the wood colour silicone.

Decorating our Podium Bed

Once we are done woodworking, we can add the mattress and start to decorate our podium bed.

Adding some thematic picture frames and flowers always works. Try to match the wood with light colours for the bedding and let the cushions bring some variety to the composition.

Here are some photos of the final result in our apartment.