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How to Assemble a Wooden Bed Frame

Jose Leiva

Assembling a wooden bed frame if you've lost the instructions can seem like a difficult project. However, assembly is typically an easy process if you already have all the wood cut and ready to be assembled from the wooden bed frame kit.

  1. Determine which piece is the back of the frame and which piece is the front of the frame. On most beds, the back piece (where the headboard usually goes) is a larger piece than the front piece.

  2. Place the back side of the frame at one end of the room and the front side at the opposite end. The unfinished side of each piece should face up. The sides that face away from the bed are usually finished, while the sides that face inside the bed are usually unfinished.

  3. Place the sides of the frame on either side of front and back pieces. Place the left-hand side of the frame on the left-hand side of the bed and right-hand side of the frame on the right-hand side of the bed. As with the front and back pieces, the unfinished side of the piece faces the inside of the bed.

  4. Insert two screws into the left-side screw holes of the back piece. The screws go in from the finished side to the unfinished side. Repeat step on the right side of the back piece and both sides of the front piece.

  5. Pick up the left-side piece of the frame. Position it on the left side of the back piece so that the screws protruding from the back piece go into the holes on the unfinished side of the left-side piece.

  6. Attach the nuts to each of the protruding screws. Tighten the nuts as much as you can with your hand, but do not tighten completely.

  7. Repeat previous two steps on the right-hand back side, left-hand front side and right-hand front side of the frame until the frame has been assembled but not fully tightened.

  8. Hold one end of one of the nuts with a pair of pliers or adjustable wrench. Fully tighten the screw with an Allen wrench, Philips head or flat head screwdriver (depending on the screw you get with your kit). Fully tighten all eight screws in the frame in the same manner. Tighten only until the Allen wrench, or screwdriver, stops. Do not over-tighten as this may strip the screw or start carving into the wooden bed frame.

  9. Place crossbeams on the bed frame by laying across gap between the long sides of the bed. Note: Not all bed frames have crossbeams.

The Drip Cap

  • Assembling a wooden bed frame if you've lost the instructions can seem like a difficult project.
  • On most beds, the back piece (where the headboard usually goes) is a larger piece than the front piece.
  • Place the left-hand side of the frame on the left-hand side of the bed and right-hand side of the frame on the right-hand side of the bed.
  • As with the front and back pieces, the unfinished side of the piece faces the inside of the bed.
  • Insert two screws into the left-side screw holes of the back piece.
  • Do not over-tighten as this may strip the screw or start carving into the wooden bed frame.