Bed Design

[barakta]

As the other user of The Bed That Kim Built, we intentionally designed it so the sides/bottom didn't stick up so we can sit on it to do shoes etc. An ex bed of my mum's had a sticky uppy bit which was inconsistent and would constantly bite you as you sat on a bit hidden by bedclothes, to the point where if it was ours, I swear we'd have taken a fucking saw to it.

We don't have a lot of space in our bedroom, maybe 0.75m at the bottom. 0.3m to my side which Kim made shelves to fit in it, and maybe 0.75 at the other side before it catches the door.

The metal connecty bolt things mean our bed can be dismantled with an Allan key (which I think cunningly lives in a corner of it) and the heaviest bit is the headboard which is nothing to write home about but does the job. Neither of us sit up to read in bed.

Under the bed has space for really useful boxes, but it DOES get dusty. I don't know how you'd stop that to be honest. We don't bother except for occasionally hoovering it every several-years and otherwise expecting dust. Whether a drawer with some kind of lid would be better?

A friend of mine has a VERY funky bed (not home built) which she can unlatch and the whole mattress top half flips OPEN to where she stores all her bedding and various stuff. That seems not to be dusty and there's cleverness in the opening mechanism that doesn't require strength. Friend is about 4'11" and disabled so arm strength is a limiting factor. Dunno how you'd build such a thing, but wonder if that might be more suitable and less dusty...

Good luck.

[chopstick]

With storage at a premium, how about putting your mattress on a hinged base, so that the mattress lifts up like a giant lid?  Not sure if you will be able to fit your camping mats in easily.  My nephew had such a set up.  I did a quick search to see if I could find a name and came across this page - it's USAnian but it illustrates the idea:

https://www.hatchlift.com/bedlift-kits

[chopstick]

Here's another link:

https://storagebeds.com/storage-beds/5-diy-ways-create-storage-bed/

[chopstick]

Here's a UK supplier:

https://vevor.co.uk/products/36-bed-lift-hydraulic-mechanisms-kits-for-sofa-bed-box-easy-install-oriented

[hubner]

All that space above a bed is "wasted", so for maximum use of space and storage, how about a bunk bed? 

[fruitcake]

Bad feaures of previous beds:
1. pointy corners at hip height to walk into when half asleep or when it's dark
2. sticky out ledges at shin height to walk into when half asleep or when it's dark

What would be awesome in a future bed:
1. four poster with drapes
2. I have no idea if that is in practice better than a normal bed

[Cudzoziemiec]

All that space above a bed is "wasted", so for maximum use of space and storage, how about a bunk bed?

What would be awesome in a future bed:
1. four poster with drapes
2. I have no idea if that is in practice better than a normal bed

Four-poster with a ladder and storage above.

[T42]

All that space above a bed is "wasted", so for maximum use of space and storage, how about a bunk bed?

What would be awesome in a future bed:
1. four poster with drapes
2. I have no idea if that is in practice better than a normal bed

Four-poster with a ladder and storage above.

And, the way things are going, mosquito nets round the sides.

[T42]

Forgot to mention, when I was waffling about our bed, that I built it around two slats side by side, and we each have our own mattress. Irrelevant for a single, though.

[Paul H]

If I were to design my perfect bed, it would have:
A small lip all the way around the top, just enough to hold the mattress in place without interfering with bed making. 
I'd want to maximise the open space for storage underneath and keep it flexible without it being on display.  Lots of ways to do that, I'd also want easy access - I might not need that now, but who knows...
I'd like any side tables. draws, shelves, attached to the headboard rather than free standing, like in every hotel chain.  Not only does it make hovering easier, seeing more floor gives the illusion of a bigger room.
Adjustable height, not much maybe 100mm, assuming it's the perfect height to start with, a change of mattress sometime in the future might need that height fine tuning.

There seems to be an assumption that it'll be made of tree, there are other materials available.  I like working with box steel knock together systems, it's never wasted, you can always knock it apart and make something else. 
I've in some way constructed most of the beds I've slept in, though they've either been modified beds or something repurposed.  They've also all been low budget, not to save money, I've just never been sure enough about what I want or how likely it is I'll want to keep it long term.

[Kim]

There seems to be an assumption that it'll be made of tree, there are other materials available.

Tree is easy to work with basic tools and without setting fire to the carpet, and usually available locally.

The knock-together steel isn't a bad idea, though... It may be the answer to my shelving problems.

[T42]

When we were flat-dwellers I used chip-board, angle brackets and screws.  A chunk of one of our 1970s beds still serves as a hop-up in my workshop.

[rogerzilla]

The furry handcuffs.

Seriously, make sure it's rigid enough.  A fifth leg in the middle makes it about 8 times stiffer.  Fnarr.

[L CC]

My bed is this one from the Swedish Halls of Joy: Clicky

I like it because it has drawers and loads of storage in the headboard. The presence of drawers means the base is quite robust. I don't sleep in it though, I (don't tell my mum) sleep in Mr Smith's bed. That has no footboard (this doesn't matter to me, I'm shorter than your average bed, but he's 6 foot) and is made of unconvincing rails. It hasn't actually collapsed yet though. We have those half height storage boxes (with lids) underneath, full of clothes I hope will fit me again some day and table linen used twice yearly. I expect if I wanted to camp I could keep flat sleeping bags and the like under there instead.

Mr Smith bangs his feet on its legs regularly but that's because a) his feet are huge and b) he wanders around in the dark with nothing on his feet.

Timber prices are way high at the moment. Even pallet waste. I'd look at alternative construction materials unless you're really into joinery. I know it's not about saving money but you'd be buying at the absolute height of the market.

[Mrs Pingu]

My bed is this one from the Swedish Halls of Joy: Clicky

Cat storage nooks?

[L CC]

Yes.

Daughter! Your bloody cat is hiding in my bed again. Can you turn the tap on and get her out of here?

Fx: running water

Fx: cat runs to sink

[arabella]

My belated 2p
Once upon a time (in France) my uncle had a flat with very high ceilings.  Some previous occupant had put in a half-floor on the side of the room without door or windows and made a sleeping platform, thus maximising use of space - much better than a loft bed as you get sensible space around the matress to put books/lamps/etc on,  I think he may even have had a small chest of drawers up there.
Much later on, back in the UK I turned a loft bed into a 4-poster by the expedient of drilling a few more holes and moving the sleeping bits down to normal height and rearranging the stretchers around the top.  Thus had the opportunity, as Cudzo suggests, of storage above the bed, as well as below - the sleeping bit was pobably higher than an average bed would have been as it was at stretcher height. 
Younger son would recommend having a headboard as he didn't for a very long time and it didn't work so well sitting in bed to read a the bed moved itself gradually away from the wall.
I have the sot of headboard hat is 'T' shaped thus a shelf at the top which is great.  Greater still would be if it weren't at precisely the wrong height for when I am sitting up reading.  Otoh it's nicely reachable when I'm lying down.  I'm not sure if there's a good height.
If you have eg rolling drawers under the bed and the bed is against the wall, make sure there's enough space to pull the front ones entirely out so you can get at the back ones.  Also ensure the bed doesn't dip so as to make pulling them out difficult if your weight is on the bed (I suppose I could plane it a bit lower, once I work out how to sharpen the plane, I know what you're supposed to do but it never seems to make any difference). 
Make sure the headboard reaches far enough down below the top of the mattress that there isn't a crack for your pillows to slip through and visit all the dust bunnies.
Think about where you will put your bedside light.  Mine clips on the lower shelf above the middle of the bed.  Older son similar.  Younger sun has a lamp on a stand and no handy shelf.
There may be a useful space above the foot of your bed (depending on how/when you plan to flip your mattress).  I have had the foot of my bed against the wall and a shelf (couldn't spot enough suitable bits of wood for shelves) above it (not to mention the head backing onto the rear of a cupboard). 
Could consider 4 posts, store large flat stuff on the top and position the base to put plenty of stuff under yet still sit up comfortably and not need a ladder.
All the beds in my house are of the wooden frame and large screws to assemble the frame variety, for ease of dismantling if I ever need to. 

[Kim]

Make sure the headboard reaches far enough down below the top of the mattress that there isn't a crack for your pillows to slip through and visit all the dust bunnies.

Ohdog, yes!  I had a bed like that when I was a kid (large gap, and a headboard screw that wouldn't properly tighten, so the whole thing could slide up a bit), and the only thing more annoying than losing a pillow down the back was losing your book.

Since living with barakta I can authoritatively add "your deaf companion losing their vibrating alarm clock / pager" to that list.  Especially if it ends up wedged against a plasterboard wall or similar sounding-board...

Think about where you will put your bedside light.  Mine clips on the lower shelf above the middle of the bed.  Older son similar.  Younger sun has a lamp on a stand and no handy shelf.

I had a half-baked idea of mounting some LED strip on the back of the headboard for indirect lighting of the wall.  Never got round to actually doing it though.

My actual bedside lamp b0rked some time ago.  Since then I've been operating the room lighting^[1] with the fondleslab^[2].  I rarely read paper books these days, so usually don't need light for that.


_{[1] Which includes a string of warm-white LED fairy lights encircling the room at ceiling level, to broadly similar effect.
[2] In as much as it needs operating at all.  It's mostly automagic.}

[quixoticgeek]

There seems to be an assumption that it'll be made of tree, there are other materials available.  I like working with box steel knock together systems, it's never wasted, you can always knock it apart and make something else. 
I've in some way constructed most of the beds I've slept in, though they've either been modified beds or something repurposed.  They've also all been low budget, not to save money, I've just never been sure enough about what I want or how likely it is I'll want to keep it long term.

To be fair It is my intent to make it out of tree. I find carbohydrates a lot easier to shape than boiled rocks. But the other principle reason is that if the frame is made of metal if you touch it with bare skin it's gonna be cold, and unpleasant.

I built a bed for my student room at Uni, and then when I bought my flat in Canterbury I built a four poster bed. Which is great, apart form the upper frame of it meant it just became a good way to hang washing, and store other crap, rather than the intended setup with a curtain round it, and space for a mossie net. There were a few other mistakes I made in that design that I'd like to not make with this one. The 44x96 rails (or are they stretchers?) along the sides were in perfect place to take out knees when climbing into bed, and also dug into the back of the legs if you sat on the edge. I had no head board (I generally dislike headboards), but because of where the horizontal cross beam went, there was about 150mm between the end of the mattress and the wall, through which things could fall very easily.

I'm not in a great rush to build the new bed, i want to do it right, I'm also hoping the price of timber comes down a bit in the next few months.

I also need to be careful in where I make the bed, as the lift to my apartment cannot take something more than 2260mm long, and only about 600mm wide.

J

[arabella]

Rather more impresive than the bed I created as a student which was bit of wood from ? and a selection of milk crates to achieve the desired height, with cruddy landlord supplied mattress on top.  Meant I could put my bed across my lilliput bedroom, thus pretentions of floor space, rather than it just fitting behind the door. 
 

[fd3]

We have a bed with draws underneath (two each side) and no footboard.  An issue we have is that it's in a sort of alcove so tricky to get some of the draws open - you have to move the side tables.  Having the draws also makes it harder to move the bed up/down or access plug sockets as you have to take the draws out first.  You could make bigger draws that would be accessed from a different side of the bed (or something that would be accessed from either side).  Draws are better for not gathering moths and dust.
Alternatively, not a hammock, but you could build the bed to be raised above a desk or wardrobe (think bunk bed). This allows you lots of storage/frees up lots of floor-space.  This is something that was implemented in my godmother's house, but worked that little bit better because it involved architecture and mezzanine levels (so the beds were using space between floors) which gave them a bit more height and a bit more floor space.

[nikki]

Not from personal experience, but I've been looking at bed design from a van conversion/tiny home perspective recently and I'm wondering if some of the strategies might be applicable (or at least interesting to think about) here.

Expanding/extendable slatted frames, eg https://vandogtraveller.com/expanding-bed-for-van/
I'm wondering if flipping this to be a bed that's expanded for most of the time but able to be retracted/compressed to access the storage underneath could work in your situation where there's not enough space to pull out large drawers. Might be useful for modules that fit in the lift, too.

Increasing numbers of builders are turning to 80-20 extruded aluminium for framing of cabinetry, then cladding in wood. That might be an interesting approach for keeping wood as the exterior surface, but having the regularity and dismantle-ability of the metal. Opens up options for sliding bearings and hingey things too.


I've also been looking at Japanese interior design and am liking the low profile with air gap aesthetic (https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/circle-window-japanese-wall-design-on-bedroom-japanese-style-3d-rendering-gm1197162020-341704270 sort of thing) and wondering if aspects of that can be applied to lighten the feeling of a gert big platform bed with chunky storage underneath. Perhaps having a sort of a shelf at the top of the frame, suitable for sliding in camping mats, with some indirect accent lighting.

As the current owner of Kim and barakta's old bed, I've yet to injure myself on the decorate butt plugs but am finding that the head end of the mattress has a tendency to droop a bit, so I'd suggest making sure there is ample, close-spaced, slatting at the ends. Also the headboard is made from arced tubes with massive of space between them - annoying to lean on and far too easy for pillows to slip through or get squished up in. As something that can be relatively easily disassembled and transported in a car, it's pretty good though.

[fd3]

I've also been looking at Japanese interior design and am liking the low profile with air gap aesthetic (https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/circle-window-japanese-wall-design-on-bedroom-japanese-style-3d-rendering-gm1197162020-341704270 sort of thing)

When a yoof I would have loved that, but in my old age I’d appreciate a bed of the correct height to sit on and not leaving me too far to get up again.  I believe not an issue for qg, as other posts on the forum suggest she’s only 16.

[quixoticgeek]

When a yoof I would have loved that, but in my old age I’d appreciate a bed of the correct height to sit on and not leaving me too far to get up again.  I believe not an issue for qg, as other posts on the forum suggest she’s only 16.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

You flatter me so.

J

[Kim]

I was going to say, there's a strong argument for not having a bed that's impossible to get in and out of if you've got a leg injury or similar.