No Loft? No Problem! A Custom Bed Frame To The Rescue!

When I first started to design My Tiny Perch I knew I wanted a smaller, lighter, simpler, and much more colorful home than My Empty Nest is. Those ideals certainly come from the practical side of me.

THAT is one colorful house!

Conceptually, however, this means I am a bit of a rebel amongst the rebels. Or, more succinctly, while the rest of the tiny house movement is focused on larger, heavier, fancier, more expensive, and more high tech designs; I’m designing a tiny home that still actively embraces the “heart and simple soul” of where this all started.

Rest assured, this doesn’t mean My Tiny Perch is simple at all. This merely means that anything heavy, expensive, complex, or hard to install; wasn’t considered for my design.

And my "new" color inspiration didn't stop with my tiny house!

So, the first thing to GO was the need for lofts and stairs and a ladder. In review, by far, the most commented attribute of My Tiny Empty Nest is my floating stairs. And although I love them and MUCH has already been written about their design, function, and perfect fit for the space; for My Tiny Perch I wanted to host those who want to go tiny but never want to clamor into a loft. I wanted to offer an usual opportunity for my guests to be able to live tiny, for a day or a few, without any perceived risk of falling.  (no alcohol required)

After having acquired and reworked an 18 foot long RVtrailer, and after having mourned over the loss of 6” worth of precious width, I then set about figuring out HOW to make a single story floor plan work in my spatially challenged home on wheels.

After a few clichéd sleepless nights, I finally found inspiration for the solution: a custom built bed frame and mattress that fills the entire bedroom.

How To Make A Storage Bed Frame With Five Easy Steps!

Step 1: Start with 3 sheets of cabinet grade plywood, provided by Mr. Plywood. My affection for this Portland Oregon based source of all-things-building-materials is no secret. And now that you know they sell cabinet grade plywood that will work perfectly on your next DIY project, yours won’t be either!

Step 2: Add in one splash of Design Genius (aka Todd Evans with Barrelcraft Studios) and his 3D rendering of our vision. I once heard an industrial engineer exclaim, “Just because you can draw it, doesn’t mean it can be built”. But, I have to admit, in consideration of my friend’s talent and experience; I highly doubt that engineer was talking about Todd. The man can build anything, I swear.

Conceptualizing...

Step 3: Toss in an affordable and easy-to-install lift mechanism set from Rockler Hardware. Building a tiny house takes a lot of work, time, talent, and imagination. But, there’s truly no reason to reinvent the wheel when it comes to your hardware needs. Rockler is the GO TO place for barn door, cabinet, ladder, bed frame, and ottoman hardware. They have an impressive selection of tools, hinges, casters, hangers, accent items, and everything else you WISH your big box store carried for creative and fun furnishing results.

The 3D Rendering...

Step 4: Reserve a few hours for the perfect-fit installation.

Hard at work...

The design also includes a couple of "hidden" (and now, not so much) compartments in the back.  They're hard to get to but that way, nobody really can....or would want to anyways.  I won't tell you what I store in there now.  (insert grin here)

With construction, comes mess. (and on the new floors!?)

Originally I ordered the biggest lift mechanism that Rockler offers. Bigger is always better, right?  LOL!  After Tood installed the frame he quickly realized the 48" ones we had were TOO big so we ordered the 36" ones. Dimensionally, they wouldn't fit but also the weight of a queen size mattress wouldn't be nearly enough to hold the bed closed because the big lifts were really, really strong!  And we couldn't even close them!

Working, but still needs work.

Even with the 36" lifts, we could only install one of them until the bed was finally added. With both lifts installed, it wouldn't stay shut without a LOT of weight. (Its also the reason why it looks like the bed doesn't open flat / level in the picture above....)

Step 5: Fast forward a few weeks, do some sanding and add a coat of stain, order and move in a custom mattress and voila'! 

Perfect!

Side Note: The bed is bigger than a double, slightly smaller (but longer) than a queen but the custom price tag was oh so worth it.  I LOVE the completely custom look of the bedroom!!

Functional but sooooo cozy.

Thank you, Todd and Rockler Hardware, for your support and help!

I really couldn't be any happier without how the bed frame turned out! 

It's easy to open, easy to close, and there is NO risk of slammed fingers.

Such a great idea, product, and install!