Simple Build Bed Frame (All Mattress Sizes)

Each side of the bed is a leg set: headboard leg, side rail, footboard leg. Build them as mirror images of each other — lay them side by side and check before driving a single screw, because it's genuinely easy to build two lefts.

Attach the legs to the side rails with the 2-1/2" screws, two or three per joint.

Screw the 7" 2x4 pieces to the fronts of the footboard legs, driving the long screws from the back so nothing shows. Then add the 2x2 back cleats to the headboard legs, flush to the outside edges — these are what the paneling lands on later.

Run the long 2x2 cleats along the inside faces of the side rails with the 2-1/2" screws. Their height sets your mattress height — flush the cleat bottom with the rail bottom and the slats sit low, which most mattresses want.

Screw generously. Every night, the entire load of the mattress and its occupants goes through these two sticks.

Carry the pieces into the bedroom before you tie them together — a finished queen frame does not go around a stairwell corner. Attach the headboard and footboard rails to the side rail assemblies with the long screws.

Check the frame is square by measuring both diagonals; shove the long corner until they match.

Screw the 2x4 cap flat across the top of the headboard. This isn't trim — five 1x6s screwed only at their ends will cup and twist with the seasons, and the cap ties them all to something rigid.

Then screw the paneling boards on from the back with the 1-3/4" screws, so the headboard face shows no fasteners at all.

A twin mattress spans 39" and the slats handle that alone. Anything wider needs help: build the center rail with its leg, and add the support cleat at the headboard end. King beds need two of these rails.

Skip this and the bed will work fine — for a month. Then the slats start to bow and squeak.

Cut the slats, space them evenly along the cleats — a gap of 2–3" between slats is right for foam mattresses — and screw each end down with the shorter screws. One screw per end is enough; the screw's job is to stop the slat wandering, not to carry load.