My son loves cars, so I decided to build him a car bed. In this blog post, I will show you how I built the car bed frame using plywood, a real car grill I found at a junkyard, and a platform metal bed frame. I’ll also explain how I added the finishing touches using my Cricut maker. While I won’t provide specific measurements because finding the same car grill is unlikely, I will guide you through the steps of building it.
This Post is sponsored by Cricut, but as always all opinions are my own.
Deciding on the bed frame size and design
Since I wanted us to be able to fit in the bed with my son if needed, I opted for a queen-size bed. Luckily, his room is large enough to accommodate it.
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As for the bed frame, initially, I planned to build the entire thing. However, considering the cost of wood, buying a metal bed frame turned out to be cheaper. So, I built the car around the outside of the metal bed frame using plywood.
Materials Used
- 1×2 pine
- Brackets
- 14 inch metal bed frame
- Cricut Maker 3
Tools Used
Building the bed frame
First I found a drawing of an Audi R8 online ( you can see a picture below) to roughly decide on the same of the side panels of the bed frame.
Then, I traced the side panel of the car onto a piece of 1/2 plywood. Once I was satisfied with the shape I traced it on another piece of 1×2 plywood to get the same exact cut using a jig saw. I did the same for the back bumper as well.
The most challenging part was figuring out how to create a curved front bumper to accommodate the grill. I ended up cutting a 1/2-inch plywood into an arc and secured 1×2 pine in the front with nails and glue, creating a curved surface. You can see it picture below.
Once everything was dry, I attached the bendable plywood to the front. I used wood glue, although cement glue or veneer glue would have been better choices.
Time to assemble the car bed frame
Once all that was dry I assembled the frame using brackets at each corner.
Since we plan to add lights to the bottom of the bed frame later on, we propped up the 1/2-inch plywood with a scrap piece of the same material and screwed in the 1×2 pine on the inside of the frame.
Adding The Finishing Touches
To give the bed a racing car appearance, I used my Cricut Maker 3 to create numbers and additional lines to make it look like a car door
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Before determining the size of the stickers, I measured the side of the car and decided on their placement. Once I designed and printed the stickers, all that was left to do was apply them to the car!
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I love that I can use the Cricut without a mat using the smart vinyl which allows me to design things that are longer than 12 inches.
