Divan bed hack

I’m Hester and I’m a furniture hacker and sometimes I like to double hack ;)  

You might have come across the wooden bed frame in my book Furniture Hacks, a pallet wood surround covering a divan bed. I loved that bed frame even though my friends jokingly called the guest room the splinter room not because there where injuries but because absolutely everything in that room was made from timber. You can see an image of the original bed frame in this post.  Well that bed frame didn’t make it into the new house, the guest room lay out is completely different it wouldn't sit nice in the room. And I thought it was time for something new, the bed was ready for an upgrade, have a look at the splinter room 1.2 ;)

Divan beds are super cheap but they are also super ugly and they don’t have any storage, all that storage potential but you can’t reach it. The space under a bed is a perfect hiding space for anything you don't need on a daily basis like out of season clothes, extra blankets, old dvd's (can't remember last time i watched one!) and so much more but my divan bed frame used up all this space with its fabric covered frame. As my current home is a bit smaller and I need every storage space I can get so it was time for this ugly duckling bed to transform in a rustic storage bed! 

I used a rougher timber for my bed frame, partly as it's the cheapest timber in the DIY store and also because I love the colour and rustic feel it gives the build as these planks are never 100% the same. For my double bed I bought outdoor treated timber from B&Q and used 15 planks of 10cm wide x 240cm long and 8 planks of 4cm wide x 240cm long. You also need a drill, screw driver, lots of screws and a saw. Like I said I love the rustic look so on my bed frame you can still see the screws, if this is not the finish you want fill up the screw holes with filler and paint the bed frame any colour you want. Have a look the video to see how you can build your own bed with heaps of storage!

What do you think? Did you knew it was that easy to hack your divan bed into something stylish? Little Kermit sure likes it as he jumped on the bed as soon I was finished with it. The side of the bed that face the door has 'pretty' stuff stored on it's shelve like a blanket, hat and cushions. The other side of the bed though, the side that faces the wall, has all the things you don't want to see. Games, boxes full of craft materials, rolls of wallpaper and picture frames that haven't been hung yet. Nobody needs to know it's there just put a pretty cushion in front ;)

The headboard really finishes of the rustic look of the bed frame, I made mine 1 meter high as a to big a head board would have swamped the small room. I used all the left over pieces of timber from building the storage shelves, I don't like letting any of the timber go to waste. Think I had just two 15cm pieces left after I finished! Would love to know if this is something you would build, would you hack your bed frame into something more useful?

If you are looking to pin my bed hack for later reference please feel free to grab the image below:

If your interest in the original 'splinter' bed have a look at my Furniture hacks book. I'll be on a Easter break next week but will post one of my all time favourite and first (*cringe*) video's, any guesses which one it might be? I'll be back soon with more house updates! xx Hester

- The Divan Bed Hack post first appeared on www.hestershandmadehome.com Video and photo's by Hester van Overbeek-