Woman Uses An Old Bed Frame To Make A Privacy Screen For Her Backyard

According to Drop Curb, over 80% of the furniture people get rid of goes to landfills, while only 0.3% of it is recycled. Perhaps this is largely because people can't see past an item's originally intended use. Take your standard bed frame, also sometimes called the box spring. At its core, it's a wood or metal frame covered by fabric. It looks like the wood pallets so many DIYers use for upcycling, and as TikToker @teawaoratrust discovered, it's possible to repurpose an old box spring frame by turning it into a backyard privacy wall. All it takes is a willingness to deconstruct it and a few strokes of stain to give it a second life.

If you'd like to try this hack yourself, you'll want to pay attention to what she did and which materials she used to make the conversion. First, she found a solid bed frame that had no major broken parts. Hers looked to be about the size of a double bed. Depending on how much, or how litle, coverage you need from your privacy wall, you may need a different size like a twin, queen, or king. You'll also need a board as wide as the bed frame is deep, a trellis, wood stain, and common construction tools, like bent-nose or slip-joint pliers, scissors, a flathead screwdriver, a drill, zip ties, and screws. Finally, since you'll most likely be working with a wood bed frame, consider wearing gloves and safety glasses during the process to avoid painful splinters. 

Before you can turn an old bed frame into something unique, you'll need to focus on removal. Even if the frame you've chosen differs from the one @teawaoratrust used for her project, you can still follow this general advice for getting rid of the material. Many of these older bed frames have a loose, kind of gauzy covering on the very bottom. Remove this first by using scissors to cut an opening in the fabric. Once there's a large cut, pull as much material as you can off the frame. If some of the pieces are too difficult to remove, industrial staples may be holding the covering in place. So don't be alarmed if you don't have a clean frame at this point.

@teawaoratrust

I made this for free 🔥😍🙌 bed bases are always theow out where i live, but they make beautiful, affordable privacy screen. The expandable trellis is from Kmart for $27. Cable ties from the warehouse $3 to secure. Happy upcycling 😇. #upcycle #divertingwaste #privacyscreen #kmarthack

♬ Backyard Boy – Claire Rosinkranz

After you've pulled most of it off the frame, remove any remaining fabric (plus any padding) on the sides and tops of the foundation boards by cutting again. If the material won't budge, use pliers to pull out the staples holding it in place. If it's too deep into the frame, grab a flathead screwdriver and slide it under the staples to loosen them from the boards. Repeat until the entire frame is free of fabric and staples. 

After she stripped the bed frame completely, she gave it a couple of coats of stain. You can follow her lead on this step, especially if your chosen color matches other outdoor items you've stained. If it doesn't, though, you have other options. For example, if rustic decor is your thing, you may be better off leaving the piece sans stain. Or, if you're a fan of shabby chic decor, paint the wood bed frame and then distress it with sandpaper. After staining and allowing the frame to dry, she laid a wood board on top of one of the bed frame's support boards to create a shelf. She stained it as well so it matched the frame.

Keep in mind that this bed frame is unlikely to stand up on its own without some support. She attached hers to a low trellis with sturdy zip ties to keep it stable. If you choose to place yours against a wall or a backyard shed, try bolting it in place with a few screws. The other option you have is to give it "feet" and additional support boards. Just remember the feet will need to be long enough to provide full support for the frame's weight and height. Lastly, decorate your new privacy wall with your outdoor gardening essentials. Or, you can go with her approach: add a book, some tea candles, plants, and a blanket.