Under the Bed Drawer Plans

These under the bed storage drawers utilize every inch of infinite under the bed. They'll make the perfect under bed dresser for your dwelling house!

I'd like to tell you a bit about my "guest" bedroom. Yous'll note the "guest" is in quotes. It's supposed to be a guest sleeping accommodation. But the reality is that I've been sleeping in it for over a year. The primary sleeping accommodation upstairs isn't quite ready for home (and might not be for a while,) so I've been guest chamber-ing information technology up.

Like near guest bedrooms, my guest bedroom is small-scale. Small enough that one time my queen bed is in the room, there's not a whole lot of space for anything else.

Every bit a effect, I've been living without a real dresser for the past year, instead pretending that some clothes-holding paper-thin boxes are a reasonable culling. Spoiler alert: they are not.

So when I tore my bedroom autonomously a couple weeks agone in order to refinish the floors, I decided that there was no manner I'd put my bed dorsum together without building nether bed drawers first.

FYI, if you're looking for a quick manner to motivate yourself, sleeping on the living room floor until you lot finish the job is quite effective.

DIY Under Bed Storage: Plans and Ideas

I knew before I even started that I wanted my under bed storage to take the shape of fully enclosed drawers. There are a number of plans for under bed drawers on wheels out on the internet, but there are a couple issues with those that made me pass them up.

First of all, casters take up a lot of infinite, and I just had seven inches to piece of work with. Secondly, wheels are only easy to operate on a hard flooring; there was a rug underneath my bed that would brand smooth operation difficult.

So enclosed under bed drawers it was. Side by side up was figuring out dimensions. The altitude from the summit of my carpet to the lowest function of the bed frame was 7″, so I determined the outside height of my drawer would be 6 3/4″ inches.

 I also needed to account for the nightstands next to the bed. When the drawers opened, they needed to articulate the nightstands.

That gave me about 68″ from the finish of the nightstands to the foot board. To give myself a fiddling extra space, I made each drawer 32″, for a total of 64″ of drawer space, and four″ of wiggle room.

Then I designed a little diagram to help me visualize the drawers. In gild to maximize the interior dimensions of the drawers, I made everything out of i/two″ plywood except the drawer front (which was 3/four″ plywood.)

Things looked like this:

While I'll provide the dimensions I used in this post, I haven't made printable plans because yous'll probably need to edit things to fit your own bedframe. However, I hope the process I detail helps you effigy things out, and avoid little mistakes along the way!

Note: This web log contains affiliate links. If you click and make a purchase, I may receive compensation (at no additional price to you.)

Materials Needed

The materials I depict beneath are what is required for one drawer. Scale upward to the number of drawers you plan on edifice.

• (one) 4'x8′ Sheet of ane/2″ Plywood – It worked out nigh exactly that each drawer required a sheet of plywood.
• (i) Pair of Drawer Slides – I bought this five pack off Amazon, and they've been cracking so far.
• Drawer Front end Material – I used some scrap 3/4″ birch plywood I had around, nonetheless more 1/2″ plywood, or trimmed 1″ x 8″ could suffice likewise. I opted for the iii/4″ plywood purely because it was nicer looking that the cheap 1/2″ plywood I'd purchased for the drawers. There was no structural reward to using thicker plywood.
• Countersink Bit –This helps fully drive screws into the proper location.
• 3/four″ Screws – For building drawer.
• ane″ Pocket Hole Screws – For attaching drawer front
• 1/2″ Screws – For installing drawer slides. While many drawer slides (including the ones linked above) come with screws, the ones included are likely as well long, and volition poke through the 1/2″ plywood.
• Drawer Pull – I had these left over from my kitchen remodel.

Part 1: Build Drawer Frame

Step 1: Cut and Sand Frame Pieces

In my programme, the frame was built out of 1/ii″ plywood, and the dimensions were as follows:

• Acme and Bottom (2): 25 i/2″ x 32″
• Frame Sides (2): 25″ x 5 3/iv″
• Frame Dorsum: 32″ x 5 3/four″

Since I was using cheaper plywood, I sanded it downwards a fair amount before attaching the pieces. If you buy nicer, pre-sanded plywood, this might not exist necessary.

Step 2: Adhere Sides

I used a right angle clamp to set up the back and one side of the frame, along with a bar clamp to go on everything in place, as shown in the picture show below:

To assist proceed everything level, I folded upwards some paper towels and placed them under the ends of the boards. I also checked that the corner was square ane last time. Finally, I used a countersink bit to pre-drill the lower ii screw holes that connect these pieces.

Then I added the two 3/4″ screws, removed the clamp, and added ane more than spiral at the elevation of the joint.

If y'all're wondering if pre-drilling and countersinking are absolutely necessary here, yes, I think so. Since the screw is entering through the terminate of a slice of plywood, it's probable to split without being pre-drilled.

After the first side was attached to the back, I repeated this procedure for the second side.

Step 3: Add together Bottom Piece

Flip the frame over, and place the bottom piece on top of the frame. Then secure each side to the frame by countersinking 3/4″ screws.

I recollect it'south particularly important to countersink the screws here, because if they stick out at all, they'll raise the elevation of the drawer, which could be an upshot. They could also scratch the floor, if you're placing this on a hard floor.

Your frame should look similar the above photo correct now. You also should have a elevation slice sitting around somewhere. Just set that aside; we'll add it to the frame after the drawer and drawer slides are in identify.

Part two: Build Drawer

Step four: Prep Drawer Pieces

I made the drawer out of ane/2″ plywood. The post-obit dimensions are what I more often than not used, nevertheless, I definitely measured the inside of the built drawer frame before I did any cutting. The drawer should end upwardly exactly 1″ smaller than the frame in order for the drawer slides to install correctly, so sometimes I edited my dimensions to make sure that happened.

• Drawer Lesser: 29″ 10 24″
• Drawer Dorsum: 30″ x 5 1/2″
• Drawer Sides (2): 24″ x 5 ane/2″

One time the drawer pieces were cutting, I added pocket holes to the front of the drawer sides, and the bottom of the drawer bottom. This is and then the sides and bottom can ultimately attach to the drawer front. You tin can see how I aligned the pocket holes in the photograph beneath.

Finally I sanded the pieces.

Step 5: Adhere Sides

I attached the drawer sides the exact same way I attached the frame sides in Footstep 2.

Footstep six: Install Drawer Bottom

The bottom is designed to become inside the drawer sides, not on top as the frame lesser did. Then to install information technology, I clamped it into place front-dorsum:

So pre-drilled and drove screws from the back into the lesser of the drawer.

Then I clamped from side to side, and pre-drilled and drove screws from both sides into the drawer bottom.

Part 3: Install Drawer Slides

Note: In my head, this was a major ordeal, because the cyberspace seemed to imply everything could go wrong. Therefore, the drawer slides got their ain "part." In reality, nothing went wrong during any of my drawers, and this took less than 20 minutes per drawer.

Pace 7: Install Drawer Slides

This task is made much, much easier from the fact that the drawer slides sit down at the bottom of the drawer. Therefore, there isn't as much error when installing the slides, since they sit flat on the floor of the drawer frame.

Regardless, this was the beginning time I installed drawer slides in an actual drawer. I found this really helpful video that detailed installing the sides, and I highly recommend watching it before starting this stride.

The general summary, though? The slides separate into two pieces, one that attaches to your drawer, the other that attaches to the drawer frame. Kickoff by attaching the "frame" piece of the drawer slide to the frame.

It's hard to mess this up, since the slide should be sitting on the frame bottom, all the way at the front of the frame, every bit seen in the moving-picture show beneath.

And then attach the 2nd slice to the side of the drawer. It needs to be a very specific altitude off the lesser of the drawer; to discover out that distance, measure the main slide from the bottom of the slide to the holes.

For me, that was iii/4″ of an inch. So therefore, the screws fastened the drawer slide to the drawer exactly iii/4″ off the bottom of the drawer. Encounter the linked video for a detailed explanation and demo of this.

Once both slides were installed, I slid the drawer into place.

Role 4: Finishing Touches

Step 8: Cutting Front end Pieces

I cutting my front pieces to exist 1/4″ shorter than the frame. This was because I didn't want the fronts to drag beyond the floor, or on the lesser of the bed frame when I open up the drawers.

By making the drawer fronts a little shorter, I tin can exit space beneath and above them. Therefore, my drawer fronts were each 32″ x 6 i/2″.

Footstep 9: Attach Drawer Fronts

To attach the drawer fronts, I opened the drawers a tiny bit, set the drawer in place, and marked on the back where the front end should line upward with the drawer. This made sure the drawer front was centered side-to-side on the drawer.

Then I opened the drawer all the way, fix the drawer front in place, and folded some paper towel nether the drawer front. This lifts the drawer front off the ground and ensures it doesn't rub on the floor as it opens.

Then I added 1″ pocket hole screws to the pocket holes I drilled in pace 4. This includes the pocket holes on both sides of the drawer, as well as the bottom of the drawer.

Pace 10: Add together Frame Superlative

Using iii/4″ screws, pre-drill holes from the tiptop-down, and attach the top of the frame to the sides of the frame. I found it was easier to do this step after installing the front end (or really, it was easier to install the front first,) but truly the two steps are interchangeable.

Pace eleven: Add together Drawer Pulls

I didn't utilize whatever fancy equipment, but measured the center of the front, drilled a hole, and screwed in the drawer pulls.

Optional Stride 12: Attach to Bed Frame

As I put the bed back together, I threw some screws downwards from the bed slats into the top of the frame. This was to prevent the drawers from moving around when I opened them. I wasn't actually sure this footstep was necessary, the drawers seemed pretty snug already, simply I did it anyway for extra security.

FAQ

I have a metal bedframe. Can I still practise this project?

Probably. It depends on where the legs of your bed frame are, just you can probably work around them. You likewise might non be able to screw the drawers to the bed frame, just I felt that was only extra security anyway.

Is there a video for this project?

Yes! Go check it out on Youtube!

I dear beingness organized. Do yous have any other storage builds?

One of my favorite projects ever is my monitor riser/desk organizer. It simply takes one board to build, and is super handy to take around.

The net, on the other hand, loves this elementary scrap wood wall organizer. It'south super easy to make, and the perfect affair for the office, mudroom, or kitchen.

Final Thoughts

This cost me about $30 per drawer ($20 for the plywood, $10 for the drawer slides) coin-wise, and 4 hours per drawer time-wise. I really wanted this nether bed dresser, but I recognize that may exist quite the investment for someone who has other options.

Regardless, I love the way information technology turned out. Information technology's and so like shooting fish in a barrel to use, plus my clothes finally accept a real storage location!

And while I planned to put a bed skirt around the bed to hide the drawers, I think they look dainty enough that I don't have to.

If you like it besides, get ahead and save this post to Pinterest then you can find information technology again later! And if you build your ain, please let me know in the comments below! I'd love to hear how it turned out for you!

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Source: https://abutterflyhouse.com/diy-under-the-bed-storage-drawer-plans/

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