Pottery Barn Trundle Bed Knock Off

When we moved from Oregon to Georgia, we knew we’d need to get a new bed for our 7-year-old daughter. Her bed in Oregon was built-in, so we were only able to take the mattress with us when we moved. I knew we didn’t want to go the bunkbed route, but liked the idea of a trundle. So, I searched high and low on Craigslist and in stores for a trundle bed that met our quality and price requirements and came up empty.

That’s when I had one of my more brilliant ideas – to make her a bed! Thankfully, my sweet husband agreed – in other words, went along – with this plan. It should be noted that all of my brilliant ideas end up with us doing the work, so I’m not so sure if they really are brilliant!

We loved the Emmett kids bed from Pottery Barn, but it is no longer available. However, the design looked simple enough and Ana White had free plans, which simplified the planning portion of the build. It’s nice when someone else has already done the measuring for you!

My husband began the task of cutting and assembling the headboard and footboard. The Kreg Jig came in handy for this project. So did these two helpers below. Just kidding. 🙂

Now, look very closely at the trundle portion of this bed because I realized that I didn’t take any finished pictures of the trundle when it was pulled out. In my defense, there’s not that much to see. Since the trundle is not going to be used very often, we decided to use an air mattress in the trundle when my daughter has a friend stay the night. That would give us flexibility to use the trundle for off-season storage if we wanted.

I painted the outside of the trundle white to match the rest of the bed, but opted to stain the inside. I figured the stain would “wear” better over time – especially if the trundle is used for toy storage.

I used Behr Premium Plus Ultra paint in a semi-gloss finish. I loved that it had the paint and primer combined, which was great since I was painting fresh wood. I sanded in between each coat of paint and still ended up using 3 and in some places 4 coats of paint.

Instead of spending hours deciding between 100 billion shades of white paint, I opted to take the easy route and use Behr’s standard Ultra Pure White color. Since this is one of their pre-mixed colors, it saves me the time waiting in line at Home Depot to get a color mixed. The race car carts will only entertain my 4-year-old son for a small amount of time, so “grab it off the shelf and go” is one of my favorite mottos!

I have yet to decide what sort of handles or pulls to put on the trundle. I’ve ignored that issue for now because I know that any handle would be used as a “step ladder” of sorts by my kids.

One thing that we need to adjust on the bed is the size of the wheels or casters on the trundle. They are too small to roll easily on the carpet. If the bed was on a wood floor, it wouldn’t be a problem. As it is now, I have to pull pretty hard (and it’s possible there are some un-lady-like grunts) to pull the bed out. Keep that in mind if you build this bed using the Ana White plans.

The bedding is from Target. My daughter’s new favorite color is blue, so we’ve incorporated navy into her lavender and grey color scheme. This bed is a little tricky to make, especially if you want the sheets and blankets tucked in. So, I haven’t quite reconciled how I “want” my 7-year-old to make her bed. At this point, I’m happy if she just pulls the covers up nicely.

If you want to try building a bed, this is a pretty straight-forward design to start with. The bed is sturdy and classic in design. I’m so happy we decided to build her a bed that is not only functional, but pretty too. I’m confident that it will last longer than her new favorite color will. 🙂

Oh, I seriously wish these pictures were better! But, that’s how things were in 2014. Here are some newer posts you might like! No photography promises though. Ha!

Pottery Barn Farmhouse KnockOff Bed  – Update One Year Later

Bench from Wood Bed Rails

Personalized Wood Hangers

Our Best Hidden Storage Purchase

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