What with prices for even a single (did they make any other kind, back in the day?) Nelson Thin-Edge bed going for upwards of $5000, and being very difficult to find in the first place, having one of these babies is pretty much out of reach for most people. Still, I really liked that look of the bed floating above the floor on spindly white pipe legs, with a minimal headboard and footboard.

So I built my own.

No, it doesn't look exactly like the Nelson example, but it gives the same general feeling of minimal "floatiness," and it's quite solid. Best of all, it cost about $150 bucks.

I bought everything in one trip to Lowes (an SUV or pickup helps).

The support frame is made of 3/4 black iron pipe - available in the plumbing department. For a queen-size mattress I made a square using 4-ft lengths of pipe. Use the appropriate pipe connectors to put everything together. The pipe is quite greasy, so you might want to wear gloves while handling. I used two 4" lengths with a crossbar connector for each leg - bringing the height of each leg from the top of the frame to about 14". Once you've got it all put together, wash everything with a good grease-cutter, and then paint it. I used a can of white acrylic appliance spray paint.

For the platform I bought a pair of hollow-core undrilled doors, 32"X80", and screwed them together using three metal strap connectors on each side. Then screw the frame to the bottom of the platform using U-straps on all four sides. Flip it over upright and attach a 3" or 4" wide length of finished oak board cut to 64" length (stock at Lowes) using angle-braces. I used four of them. The headboard is a piece of plywood cut to shape, covered with batting and suede fabric, and attached to the wall behind the bed. This one stands on two wooden support legs screwed to the back. If I figure out a simple, cheap way to attach a headboard bent at an angle backwards, I'll let you know, and update this post, with another picture, too.

Here's what the underside with the frame looks like:

Okay, it's not really Nelson, but it doesn't look bad, and it ought to hold you until you've got that spare ten grand to buy a couple of the genuine article to push together beneath your queen mattress.