Last year I decided I wanted a bed. This was a big change for me; the reason I'd been sleeping on a mattress on the floor was that I felt like it was more canine/lupine. Being close to the floor, close to the ground, simple, curled up; nothing more was necessary. Beds, to me, symbolized people's exclusion of their animal natures from one of the most personal and vulnerable parts of their lives; the image of an uptight human wearing pajamas easing himself into his bed (with mahogany headboard) and thinking about how civilized such things are.

But for various reasons I decided to go for it. I went to every furniture store I could find, and I went to Ikea, and I went to stores that specialized in beds, and I could not find a simple, rough, wood frame that didn't rely for its construction on cheap sheet metal, glue, or veneers.

So I built one. It's made entirely of redwood, and it's all 2x4s and 4x4s. It definitely does not look like a professional woodworker made it, but that's not my style anyway. I like the sturdy, unvarnished 2x4 look, more than anything I could have bought ready-made. You can look at a picture here (with mattress here). I built it around Christmas last year, so it's been in use for close to a year now, and it's been wonderful.

One of the things I did is document the process. This is partly for my own benefit, so that in the future if any part of it breaks, I will know the exact measurements for what to replace it with and where to drill the holes. But also partly so that if anyone else wants to build a bed with their own hands, they have some plans to draw from. Think of this as an "open source bed" that you can modify and compile yourself. Anyone can do this; I'm the klutziest person with tools imaginable, and I managed okay. The most complicated tool needed is a miter box.

Instructions on building the bed are here. (There are two more pictures of the early stages of assembly here and here in case they help in answering the "what bit goes where" questions)