This is a tale of two unrelated events, the first being my girls comming to live with me permanently 6 years ago as a result of me getting divorced in 1998.
Prior to this the girls were allowed to visit me every other weekend, and I have a tiddy two up two down house with a large master bedroom and a tiny box room as architects would have us lesser souls live in.
Mine was quite naturally the master bedroom as befits the owner of the house and my girls were assigned to bunkbeds in the box room.
This all changed when the girls came to live here, all my stuff that was at that time spread throughout wall to wall fitted wardrobes in my former room.
This was now crammed into the tiny room along with my kingsize bed!
The second event occurred one night when I flopped tired out into my bed, only to jump right up again at the sound of a loud crack.
The sound of one of the side beams of my pine bed splitting from one end to the other. The grain in this timber runs from the top edge of the beam at the head of my bed to the underside of same at the foot of my bed resulting in two very long toothpicks which rendered my bed useless.
Having propped everything up on a pile of books, I fell into a deep sleep dreaming of a new bed . . . . . a super bed . . . . . .but with the depressing realisation that I could ill affort to buy a new one.
But I dreamed that I could afford the materials to make my own bed to my design . . . . .
One where the top of the mattress would be 5ft6" off the floor and not 2ft as is now, one where all my little wardrobes could live underneath my bed in the current unused space thus freeing up a massive area of my tiny bedroom floor.
And thus the dream evolved.
I have had the idea for the design in my head since moving into the box room as a space saving plan, one which would allow me to sit up in bed to read with one inch clearance between the ceiling and the top of my head.
But it remained just a thought . . . . . . . . until now that is!
When the girls were babies I made them a set of pine bunk beds utilising standard 3 ft single mattresses, the beds they still sleep in today although recently the girls expressed the wish to have the bunkbeds separated into two beds.
Out with the saw and I duly complied to my little darlings wishes
Here is one half of the former bunk beds.
My new bed is designed along similar lines but with a king size mattress.
Typical of 'back of fag packet designers' everywhere, here is my design
The side beams are two separate beams spaced out by connecting 1/2" dowels set a 4" spacings giving me a massive 21" depth which serves two purposes,
a) support my butt during slumber safely and
b) prevent me from rolling out during slumber which would be no fun at all!
Here is my poor kitchen table once again called into service as a work bench
accompanied by Molly the cat posing for her picture taken.
One of the legs for the head of the bed with mortice's cut for the top head and side rails with the beginnings of the bottom side rail mortise.
The top half of the head board with tenon in its mortise in the leg.
I like my joints snug and proper.
Top part of head board with connecting dowels fitted, these will be let into the top edge of the bottom part of the head board in a similar fashion to my daughters bed as will the side rails and foot board.
This design has stood the test of time, my girls bunkbeds being anything from a pirate ship to a double decker bus, plus when draped with bed sheets and clothes pegs becoming a huge cave.
All this with half the kids in the street all piled onto the top bunk, bouncing up and down as befits excited kids with imaginations suitably fired!
My butt is going to be 5ft off the floor so it has to be strong, and I have no doubt in my mind it will be
More mortise shots.
This is the story so far, knee deep in shavings and wood chips with a pressing desire for a new bed!
Author
Topic: It's woodworking Jim, but not as WE know it! (Read 11759 times)