Milk Crates Under Bed: Can I Use Milk Crates as a Bed Frame?
DIY ideas and thinking outside the box works for creating some unique bed designs. All you have to have is some common sense, the right supplies, and a little building skill and you have a nice unique bed to sleep on. milk crates can be part of those materials.
Can I use milk crates as a bed frame? Yes, you can use milk crates as a bed frame if you have enough of them the same size. Depending on your height and width, you may need only a few or a lot of milk crates to create a nice bed frame. The key is to make sure you can attach them together securely so you do not fall in the middle of the night.
To learn more about using milk crates as a bed frame, just continue to read our article. it has the information you want to know about to do a very good job of building. Take a few minutes to see if this information will help you or not.
Can I use Milk Crates as a Bed Frame?
As has just been mentioned, yes you can. Besides your height and width, another key factor will be your weight. You will have to make sure that the milk crates will be able to support the total weight you will place on the bed.
Then, the next major factor will be in finding crates that are almost the same size. You would want some uniformity but that may not always be possible, especially if you need 20 milk crates to complete the bed frame.
Some adjusting of the crates will be needed to make sure they fit together and give you an almost flat service to lay your mattress on. Then check your flooring. It should be able to handle any movement of these plastic crates and not get scratched up.
If the flooring is vulnerable, then you would have to find some padding to put between it and the crates without ruining the balance of the bed frame. You will have to consider your purpose, how high you want your bed, and other factors. For example, placement of the new bed frame to make sure your design and use of the milk crates will work well for you.
DIY milk Crate Bed Frame
There are many designs you can go with. One popular option is to find about 20 milk crates and place the outside rows with the openings facing out. Then putting some plywood on top of the milk crates.
Another idea has people placing only thick blankets over the crates and then placing a sleeping bag on top of the blankets. Or you can put a layer of cardboard down to cover any rough edges and then add an air mattress on top to provide a little comfort. Then add your blankets, pillows, or sleeping bag on top of the mattress.
Since milk crates are made from plastic, securing them together is going to be your biggest challenge. You do not want the milk crates to be moving on you as you sleep. That movement could create gaps making sleeping a little bit uncomfortable.
Then when you are building the bed frame, you will want it to be about an inch longer and wider than your mattress. If your mattress overhangs the frame then you have the risk of ruining the mattress.
The number of milk crates you need to use can be quite large. For example, you will need about 20 for a twin-size bed.
How to Make a Platform Bed Out of Milk Crates
There are several ways to build your own ilk crate bed frame. This section will deal with just two of them. The first one is very simple and requires few materials. it is also the lazy way of building bed frames out of milk crates.
The first step is to get enough milk crates. As we said earlier, these may not always be the same size, so you will have to spend some time arranging them. You will want as flat a surface as possible. make sure the outer rows and columns have the openings pointing outward so you can use that space for storage.
Once you have the crates arranged the way you want them, put down flattened cardboard boxes on the top of the crates. This will cover the sharp or uneven edges and help smooth the top out. After that is done, add your air mattress, blankets, and pillows.
To keep the bed frame from moving on you, make sure to place heavy items inside those empty spots to weigh the outside milk crates down.
The second option that will be mentioned here is a little bit more involved. the first step is to get as many milk crates the same size as possible. Their measurements are normally 13 by 13 by 11 or 13 by 13 by 19 inches with the last number in both measurements the length.
The next step is to turn the crates on their side to create some cubby hole storage space. you could also use some of the interior crate space for power strips or extension cords so you can add whatever electronic devices you want.
Next, you will need to measure the space. For a twin-size bed, you will need to cover approx. 39 by 75 inches. You may have to do some rearranging to get the crates to 40 by 76 inches as you will want to have the frame slightly larger than the mattress.
For larger beds just add rows and columns of milk crates until you get a size that is a little larger than the mattress you are going to use. Now that you have enough crates, you will want to clean them first. Once that is done, you will want to have a large supply of zip ties.
These zip ties will hold the crates together so no surprises happen one night. About 2 or more per crate should be sufficient. There should be no slack after tightening the zip ties.
Once that is done, you could lay a thin piece of plywood down over the top of the crates or place the mattress directly on them. That decision is up to you. What is also up to you is how you design the look of the bed.
For example, you can alternate colors, paint them all the same color, and so on. Make sure to get your crates legally so you can sleep well at night.
How Many Milk Crates For a Queen-size Bed
This is just simple math and it will take a little calculating to get the number of milk crates to make a queen-size bed frame. Keep in mind that you want the milk crates to be longer and wider than your queen-sized mattress. Going bigger is not going to be an issue.
The standard queen-sized mattress measures 80L by 60W, which is in inches. The standard square milk crate measures 13 by 13 inches. The only difference that comes between the square and the rectangle milk crates is the length. The square is 11 inches and the rectangle is 19 inches in length.
Using the square dimensions, you would need 8 crates in a column and 5 in a row. That means you would need 40 crates to make a queen size bed frame. 8 times 11 = 88 and 5 times 13 = 65 inches.
To keep the frame comfortable it is recommended to use a sheet of plywood between the crates and the mattress.
How Many Milk Crates Do I Need for a Full-size Bed?
The same calculations will apply here as you are looking to cover 54 by 75 inches of space. That is the dimensions of the full-sized mattress. Again, using a square milk crate you would need 7 milk crates in a column to reach 77 inches in length. The 2 inch extra is not a problem.
However, the width may be a bit more difficult as you have 2 extra inches that throw the calculations off a bit. 13 doesn't go very well into 54. 5 crates in a row would give you 65-inch widths and 4 would only give you 52-inch width. You would need about 28 to 30 crates in total.
If you can handle the narrower width, then you should be fine. Or you can place a 1/2 inch piece of plywood over the crates to cover those two inches and protect your mattress.
Also, all calculations are made with the crates tipped up on one side.
Some Final Words
Milk crate bed frames are easy to work with and they provide extra packing space when you need to move. The key is to get the crates legally so you don't have any problems.
