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There are plenty of reasons a person might wind up attempting to put together a Floyd wooden platform bed by themselves.
COVID-19 may have prevented them from acquiring any outside help. Or they are big strong carpenters who eat paper instructions for breakfast and build beds with their eyes closed. Or perhaps they’ve just been dumped over FaceTime, and in a last-ditch effort to regain any sense of independence, have become determined to conquer a massive piece of furniture all by themselves.
The reasons are not really important. What is important is that I, a 22-year-old woman with not a single arm muscle to her name, put together a very heavy, quite stunning piece of furniture all by herself and didn’t break any pieces or bones.
Now, as much as I would like to attribute this accomplishment to my newfound strength and wisdom, I owe most of the credit to Floyd — a direct-to-consumer furniture brand selling modern, minimalist home goods with an interesting design ethos: friendly and approachable furniture that’s built to last.
The Michigan-based brand offers modern sofas, shelves, tables and, of course, platform beds — all intuitively, almost futuristically, designed to not only look good but to be assembled and disassembled with incredible ease, often without needing to reach for your toolkit.
Yes, that’s right, I put together a sturdy, durable bed frame with exactly zero tools, and below I’ve detailed how I did it, some things I wish I would’ve known and everything you should know if you decide to partake in this bed-building journey as well.
But ultimately, if you’re looking to upgrade your bedroom space with a simple yet showstopping centerpiece and none of the IKEA-induced headache, you might want to consider The Floyd Platform Bed.
The Floyd Platform Bed
- The Platform Bed is a customizable dreamscape. You can go very simple with just a Twin, Full/Queen or King size platform in either Oak or Walnut. Or you can add a headboard and one or two sleek under bed storage units. Obviously, the more fixings you add, the more your bed is going to cost. Though with Floyd’s malleable design, if you decide later you want to add a headboard or storage to your bed, you can purchase those pieces separately and easily integrate them. You can also split your King into two Twin sizes if you so desire, or even eventually upgrade your Queen into a King. And with Floyd’s modular design, if a part ever breaks, it can easily be replaced.
- I did, however, get all the fixings. My Full/Queen size platform bed, headboard and two storage units came in six various sized boxes and, honestly, it was a bit overwhelming. And that’s where I sorta fucked up. Without consulting all of the directions from every box, I started constructing the platform, which simply consists of three heavy wooden panels, six supports and two tensioning straps to fasten everything together. It wasn’t until I had built and secured the entire thing and unboxed the under bed storage that I realized those storage units should’ve been added to the platform first. So while yes, I should’ve read all the instructions, a tiny note referencing under bed storage in the platform bed instruction booklet would have been extremely helpful. As would a large piece of paper that read: skip the instructions and just watch the assembly video, you moron.
- Another pro tip: if you do happen to have access to an additional capable body, make them help you. I know I just went on for paragraphs boasting about how I was able to build this myself and trust me if I could do it alone, you definitely can too. But if you have the option to get help, get help. Because if I did have an additional body, the entire assembly would have taken less than a half-hour.
- Yes, less than a half-hour. Why? Because this piece of furniture just makes sense! You have three strong, gorgeous-looking panels of wood that seamlessly slide into six supports, an equally easy-to-assemble headboard, tensioning straps that secure everything together, and when done properly the first time, convenient under bed storage. And voila it’s over. No nuts, no bolts, no screwdrivers. Just a handsome, quality made platform bed that makes you wonder why all furniture isn’t this simple to build.
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