Hello all! Our post today, on how to build a fun filled loft for your little ones, is brought to you by my favoritest person. Jamin and I sat down together once we dreamed up this concept, and he came up with the design behind it all. So, I’m letting him take this one by the horns today. Feel special. I only had to twist his arm a little.

So, without further ado…

Think 1 box on 4 posts. It’s that simple.

Jamin here today, and let me dispel any false notions up front: I’m not sure my dad ever passed on to me how to hammer a nail. I’ve learned it all on the fly. So trust me – you, too, can easily build a loft for your kids to love. And two, remember, your kids are only small once, so wether jumping head first into building a loft or going all out with some kids decor, it’s totally worth it.

With that out of the way let’s just jump in two feet first with a list of supplies that you’ll need. However, keep in mind that this loft is 131 inches in length, by 39 inches in width, by 49 inches high . You can make the loft any size you want, just make sure to adjust your supply and cut lists.

Helpful hint: when buying your wood, remember that you need to buy untreated wood, because pressure treated wood does not paint or stain well. You shouldn’t have any problem finding untreated wood at the local lumber yard or home depot. The only pieces that will be hard to find in some places are the untreated 4×4’s. You might be unlucky like we were, and have to buy a more expensive type of wood, to find any untreated, as options were limited in our area.

Here are the supplies we used for our design. (All wood is untreated pine, except for the hard-to-find 4×4’s, which had to be Poplar.)

2 – 4 x 4 x 8 cut at 4 feet each (these are the post that hold the loft.)

2 – 2 x 8 x 12 cut at 131 inches (These run the outside length of the box for the loft.)

2 – 2 x 8 x 4 cut at 37 inches (These run the outside width of the box for the loft.)

1 – 2 x 4 x 10 cut to 37 inches (These will be the inside supports for your loft box)

2 – ¾ inch MDF board cut at 65.5 inches

2 – ½ inch or bigger eye hooks (depends on rope size)

3 – 1 x 2 x 12 cut at 2 feet (giving you a total of 18)

1 – 1 x 2 x 10 cut at 55 inches

32 – ¼ 4 inch lag screws

1 box of 2 ½ inch wood screws

at least 14 feet of rope (choose this based on your weight bearing desires.)

Another helpful hint: You don’t have to cut a single piece of wood, the great workers at your local Home Depot will do it all for you. Just take them the cut sizes.

Once you get home with the wood, lay it all out in the room you plan on building the loft in. It is much easier to build it in the room, than the other option of attempting to bring it inside after its built.





1. Lay out all four outside pieces (all pieces that are 2 x 8) and form a rectangle box with them. Make sure the box corners are square then use your lag screws and screw all four pieces together securing the outside of your box. Use two screws for every corner.

2. Next take the 2 x 4’s you had cut, and space them evenly throughout the inside of the box you have just made. We spaced ours at 26 ¼ inches.





3. Once you’ve spaced them evenly, screw them in with lag screws at the top edge of the box. Again I would recommend two lag screws on each side. (Total of 4 per board.) Make sure the 2 x 4’s are flush with the top edge because they will help support the deck (MDF board) of the loft.

4. Once your box, with inside supports or 2 x 4’s, is screwed together, lay your MDF board on top and screen it in with the 2 ½ inch wood screws. I recommend at least 5 screws on each beam and 2 in between each beam. (However, in my book, there’s no such thing as too many screws.)

Your box should be complete with decking.

5. Next, find some friends, or people that owe you favors. In my case I called on the minions. {Affectionately known as our youth ministry kids} Ashley couldn’t help me-it was all kinds of heavy. You’ll need help in lifting the box and placing it on the 4 x 4 posts.

Once you have gathered your work crew (props, Mark) lift the box and place a 4 x 4 in each corner. {This was Ashley’s job. To say she was nervous was an understatement. She made me promise not to drop it on her, but I assured her I’d upped her life insurance :)}

6. Make sure to push, knock, or flat out beat the post flush into those corners. Then take a lag screw and screw in through the top of the MDF down into the 4×4. We would have a photo of this, but that included us knocking it into position while Ashley screamed at us not to crush ourselves.

7. Next, take a lag screw and screw into the side of the 2 x 8 running both ways of the corner. In total, I would have at least 5 lag screws in each 4 x 4:

-1 coming from the top

-2 coming from the long edge of the loft box (in my case the 131 inch sides)

-2 coming from the short edge of the loft box(in my case the 37 inch sides.)

*Repeat the above step for all four 4×4 posts.

Before you know it, your platform is done. You’d never know from the finished photo, that this is a simple box on four posts. My mom saw it in person this last weekend, and thought it was built into the walls. The beauty of this plan is that it disguises well with the curtains that Ashley made, for this space to double as an alcove/play area. Also, when we decide to move, if we move it with us, the only thing we have to do is dissassemble it just like any old Ikea bed.

The Railing: because we wouldn’t want anyone falling…

You will need all the 1×2’s you had cut at HD.

1. Take all the 2 foot pieces and nail them to the 2 x 8 loft support, spacing them at 5 inches. Put 2 nails in the bottom of the 2 x 8 and 2 in the top of the 2 x 8. Repeat this 9 times then start the process over from the other end of the loft. The goal: is to have a 22 inch space in between both sets of 9 1 x 2’s spaced at 5 inches.

2. Then take your two 1 x 2’s cut to 55 inches, and nail from the top down into each 1 x 2 cut at 2 feet. We decided to make the inside edge flush, leaving the lip on the outside of the loft. You can do it either way, it’s just preference.

The tricky part for us, came when we realized our foundation, of all things, was not level. We had to readjust a little, from the bottom, up, when it became apparent as we installed our rails. We leveled it out with the top rail, once they were readjusted from the bottom. You could tell, because they were uneven at the top, even though they started at the same place from the bottom. It all became better camouflaged, after it was painted.

Your loft is done except for the paint and ladder. I would recommend painting the loft before attaching the ladder. That’s just my personal preference.

Now for the fun rope ladder……

First, some legal jargon: I was unable to find any rope at the local hardware store that didn’t contain some semblance of the following phrase. “do not use this rope to bear human weight.” I choose to ignore this phrase. However, on the recommendation of our lawyers, I think this is a poor choice on my part, and do not advocate nor condone anyone else ignoring this phrase. In fact, I think you would be down right silly to not heed this warning and am questioning my sanity in not abiding by the advice given. So in plain terms in no way does the handmadehome.net, its affiliates, writers, creators, sponsors, children, pets, random friends, readers, web hosts or inanimate projects condone the use of aforementioned rope. But it worked for us.

Now that we have that out of the way, we can get on to the simplicity of building a rope ladder with the approved rope that you found, and I couldn’t:

1. I had a piece of 1 x 4 x 8 cut into 22 inch pieces. This gave me four.

2. I then drilled a ¾ inch hole through each side, about 1 inch from the edge.

3. Starting at what would be the bottom rung I fed the rope through and tied a knot, any self-tightening knot will do. (Find a local boy scout to assist you, if need be.) Move your way up each board with more knots. I spaced my boards at about 10 inches.

4. Once you have done both sides, not forgetting to make sure the boards are level you will be ready to attach the rope ladder. Take your eye hooks and screw them into the MDF board about ½ to 1 inch back from the edge. (Drilling a hole first will make this easier.) Make sure that they will screw into not only the MDF, but the 2×8 as well.

Once screwed in, feed the rope through the eye hook. Tie it off, and cut the excess.

We used this method to create the ‘alcove’ by simply placing one pipe into a smaller one, and extending it all the way across. This served as a make shift “curtain rod.” For a how-to on these curtains, take a look here. We minimized drooping in the middle by screwing in a hook in the center, to support the rod.

And there it is. (Yep. We do need to touch that hook up. We spray painted it with copper spray paint to blend nicely, but some of it came off when we muscled it into the wood.)

The total cost for this project was a bit more than we originally anticipated, at about 250. The posts at the bottom alone, accounting for half the cost. (Ouch.) But we sold the old furniture that was in the space to fund this one, and if you purchased a plain old bunk bed, it would be much, much more than this amount. So all in all, we say it was a great, price efficient project.

Once all the paint has dried, and the fabric + bedding has been placed…step back and enjoy your new loft.

**** For the bed, we used a twin sized mattress, and Malone’s crib mattress, as he was still small enough. We simply put a body pillow on one side to fill in the gap. It still works, but we will be ordering a custom mattress to fill that spot, soon.

And be sure to tour the entire room, here!

As always, let us know if you try this. We want to see your photos! Hope you found this useful, and that you enjoy building something that will create some great memories for your kids!

Ours certainly love it!

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