"If you are having problems finding large enough dowel pins, you can also use metal dowels (aka metal rod)" I would stay away form metal unless you use about th esame diameter (3/4 to 1 inch) as a wood dowel. While the metal wil be way stronger than needed (a 1/4 inch or even 1/2 inch would be strong enough) a small metal insert can easily exceed the crush rating of the wood it is on. This would cause the post to simply split with the smaller metal dowel from load concentration.

For my daughter’s room (which faces north east) we plan on painting it BM slip. The room across the hall (facing south west, I suppose), I wanted to do in BM Beach Glass. I painted a sample board. It’s a beautiful color, just worried it will be too dark in this room. Am also thinking about BM Silken Pine or BM Healing Aloe. The room next to my daughter’s room (further north than east) will be my son’s room. Sapele bunk bed, navy sheets. Am thinking BM edgecomb gray (LRV 63) or gray owl (LRV 67), though I’ve read that gray owl can be a minty green in certain lighting. The problem is little lighting as there is only one window. The hallway will be BM Wickham Gray. This is the one color that will stay as is because it works with the great room and the main foyer. Any thoughts / suggestions?

Are you building this house to be used as a short term rental or vacation home where providing sleeping accommodations for the most bodies possible is the goal? The bunks are a royal pain when it comes to putting sheets on a bed. i would think that built in where there is no access on three sides would be even worse. IMO, a queen size built in bunk bed would be a non-starter because the person on the wall side would have to litterally climb over the other person in the bed every time they had to get up in the middle of the night

What type of paint would you recommend for built in bunk beds. I want a really tough finish