DIY,  DIY | Home Projects,  Kid's Bedrooms

DIY Montessori Floor House Bed

July 31, 2018 / 35 Comments

House beds are trending right now for toddlers and kids because they work with Montessori style bedrooms, and are so easy to DIY! Arlo is a super active little boy who is always playing, climbing, and exploring, and we love Montessori style toys and play spaces for him that encourage his imagination. We designed his bedroom with the Montessori method in mind so that everything would invite him to play. When it was time to choose a big boy bed and say goodbye to his crib, we knew we wanted a floor house bed to offer Montessori style play benefits as well. Arlo would be able to get in and out of his bed, play on his bed, and be close to the floor so he wouldn’t hurt himself if he fell out of it.

So, after looking for the perfect set of plans that was easy to follow, we set to work building Arlo his own twin size Montessori style toddler floor house bed.

This post shows you Arlo’s batman nursery with his crib, before we built his new bed.

What is Montessori play?

Here is some information from the American Montessori Society:

“The Montessori Method of education, developed by Dr. Maria Montessori, is a child-centered educational approach based on scientific observations of children from birth to adulthood. Dr. Montessori’s Method has been time tested, with over 100 years of success in diverse cultures throughout the world. It is a view of the child as one who is naturally eager for knowledge and capable of initiating learning in a supportive, thoughtfully prepared learning environment.

It is an approach that values the human spirit and the development of the whole child—physical, social, emotional, cognitive…The teacher, child, and environment create a learning triangle. The classroom is  prepared by the teacher to encourage independence, freedom within limits, and a sense of order.

The child, through individual choice, makes use of what the environment offers to develop himself, interacting with the teacher when support and/or guidance is needed…In early childhood, Montessori students learn through sensory-motor activities, working with materials that develop their cognitive powers through direct experience: seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching, and movement.”

Montessori can be applied to the home as well as the classroom; Offering a child a Montessori style bedroom and bed can contribute to the overall learning growth of a young child.

Building a DIY House Floor Bed

To begin the project, we purchased the wood, cut each piece down to size, then sanded each piece to be sure the bed was splinter free. The bed we built is twin size.

Next, using a Kreg Jig, we drilled pocket holes in each piece according to the house bed plans.

Once the wood is completely pre-drilled, all we had to do was assemble it, which took about 30 minutes. We assembled the bed in Arlo’s room since there is no way to get the assembled bed moved through a doorway. Begin with the base and sides.

Add the 3 support pieces that connect each end of the bed together.

Notice that the top most piece is screwed in at a slant. You can install the other support pieces at a slant, but we preferred those to be unslanted, and to only slant this piece.

Install the bed slats. This is important because this will elevate the mattress off the floor to avoid mold problems.

That’s it! The bed is so very easy to make with a good set of plans to follow. It doesn’t have to be perfect, either. The bed is for a kid, and they typically destroy their furniture over time anyways. Add a mattress and your ready for your toddler or big kid to enjoy their new bed.

Arlo’s bedroom is monochrome & batman themed so I added this monochrome bed set to his bed. I love the zipper feature, which allows Arlo to keep his own bed tidy!

Arlo’s Montessori house floor bed and bedroom are perfect for my playful little guy. He loves to go in his room and get all his toys from the closet and sit and play forever.

If your ready to tackle your own DIY floor house bed, head over to Oh Happy Play for a free set of plans.

Check out this post to see A Montessori Inspired Toddler Bedroom with Toy Storage and Organization Tips. This post also shows more views of the completed DIY house bed.

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