Maker, Woodworking

I Built a Bed That Is Also a Playhouse and a Slide and a Dresser and a Bookshelf

My five-year-old daughter saw my wife browsing Pinterest, and long story short, I ended up building this bed/playhouse/slide/dresser/bookcase for her room:

I planned it out in SketchUp. It’s an original design inspired by a number of beds online, and the slide is based on The Wood Whisperer’s bunk bed slide. (My SketchUp file is available here.) If you’d like to build your own, I made a 40-page set of plans and you can get the PDF on Etsy.

The stairs have built-in drawers, so they double as a dresser.

The bottom three drawers don’t run the full depth of the stairs, so there’s space at the back for books and baskets.

There’s another bookshelf built into the space underneath the slide. One side is accessible from inside the playhouse…

…and the other side is accessible from under the slide.

The slide is made of melamine, the structural portion of the bed is poplar, and most everything else is MDF.  The cedar shingles were left over from my Infinity Wishing Well project.

From start to finish (although not including the time to design it), this project took 107 hours over two months — well worth it, considering my daughter will spend at least 3,000 hours using it every year.

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35 comments on “I Built a Bed That Is Also a Playhouse and a Slide and a Dresser and a Bookshelf

  1. Asif says:

    Perfect.
    Be looking for something like this for ages.
    Been looking to buy one but can’t seem to find the right one in the UK.
    What you have done is perfect, can you send me link and I’ll see if I can get someone to make as the link above doesn’t work.

  2. Jo says:

    I own a in home daycare and have been looking for ways to go up to help with 6 feet social distancing. This is the perfect addition to our large playroom with some extra bracing and support. Will you mind emailing me your plans I’m struggling with opening the other. Thanks so much we appreciate you so much.

  3. Nabaasa says:

    Hello Christopher!

    I have designed my own loft bed for my twins and wondered if you wouldn’t mind sharing how you made the slide. This is the only thing I am struggling to figure out even after reading and watching videos.

  4. Nicole B says:

    Trying to compare costs with deciding to either buy a new loft bed (with stairs & slide) or doing a DIY, how much did you spend on materials? (Keeping in mind I have no tools)

  5. Anonymous says:

    Hey there! Is there any chance I could get the pdf as well? Desperately needing stairs plans like that! Thanks so much! Brieanncraven@ gmail.com

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