Bed of Storage

The first month we lived in our home, Alex built a king-sized bed frame for our room. We had decided to downsize during the move, using our previous bed in the guest room and buying a king bed for our room to accommodate two cats and a dog.  (Little did we know, the occupants would soon include another 40 pound girl!)  For reference, the mattress was from Tuft & Needle, and we have loved it - although I think my hip issues may have escalated with my side sleeping on the extremely soft surface!

This worked well, but as we settled in, we realized that more storage would be needed. I went through several design options with my shop supervisor and we decided on a simple pair of frames with deep drawers.

Using 3/4" plywood cut into ~24" widths at the lumberyard (two from each 4x8 sheet of plywood), we cut two boards to length for each side of our bed, then three dividers and two ends from ~16" widths (three from each sheet). We used L brackets to hold the frames together and to support each of the interior dividers. These guys were heavy just as boards, so when the frames were built, they were solid. They lived in the "walkway" of our room for about a week while we plotted the next step.

The support system Alex had built on the original bed included a 2x4 frame, similar to an interior wall.  The 2x4s were covered by 1x8 boards, and the legs were made out of additional appearance boards of narrower widths.  We decided to reuse some of the previous materials in building the frame for the center of the drawers.  Two of the boards were cut down to the length of the frame and anchored to the backs of the dividers and end frames, ~ 1-1/2" below the top surface.  Additional boards were cut down to the right length for our mattress to fit across on top of the "slats" resting on the ledger boards.  At the head and foot, the slats were secured into the two sides for safety.

This was also the day we started painting our room! It only made sense for the bed to be pulled out from the wall before assembly, and we took this opportunity to clean really well behind the headboard as we were not clear how easily we would be able to remove it. Thus far, that has not been my burning desire.  We finished the painting the following weekend, and it has been one of our favorite decisions so far in this home.








We found that the drawer frames could be used as cubbies while the drawers and trim pieces were addressed.  Andy and I cut down some underlayment, previously used on the slatted frame, to use as backing for the drawer cubbies, and I crawled under and hammered them in.

This winter when we pulled out our warmer clothes and outerwear, I strategized putting summer things away under the bed as we only need to access those twice a year for the changeover and it should be as easy as possible instead of my ear warmers being MIA into November...  The clear bins we use for clothing storage fit under the bed with a little breathing room, and I also stashed our summer comforter and pillows in space bags there as well near the opening for easier access.

Need a seat?

After a year of living in our home, we decided to add some storage and seating to our living room with a window seat.

The bay window in our space has some unique angles but the windows themselves are beautifully symmetrical, and we found ourselves drawn to sitting in the area.  We had tried a chair and small bench in the window area, which did not fully utilize it, flipped the room arrangement around for the love seat to fit on the shorter wall but block the light, and finally decided to take the plunge and build a permanent seat in the living and family space.

Our first phase was deconstruction and framing. Our friend Andy helped in this part and also in cutting a number of the lumber pieces so that framing came together quickly.  We removed baseboard trim around the windows so that 2x4s could be anchored directly into the studs the entire height of the seat.  

We marked the studs and used 2-1/2" nails for attaching pieces and to the walls.  When the entire surface was framed, we used 3/4" birch plywood for the base, then attached additional risers to the studs and framed out the top as well.  We used 1x4 appearance boards for the facing and Alex built up blocks inside of the cabinet to the correct height for the drawer slides to fit over the front baseboard, then I left him to the drawer devices.

Dining and office updates

During the planning phase of the kitchen refresh, we tested out a number of colors.  I usually do some narrowing of the field, then Alex looks things over and we discuss and I harass family members for help etc. These six samples were the result of two rounds of sample acquisition and I am so glad we took the time to live with them a bit before taking the plunges.

Alex was kind enough to stop at HD for the paint and it's been kind of hanging out around our place since September, to be honest.  We chose the middle of the top row for the kitchen, and the far left of the lower row for the dining room and potentially other areas.  I put up swatches of the two around the rooms we thought might coordinate, and we decided that the dining room and office could both be yellow to help them feel larger and keep us energized.

We decided to add some wall shelving and to downsize furniture wise in both of these rooms, and plotted out a course of attack.  We had a lovely baker's rack in the dining room that held plants, teas, and serving dishes, but it took up over 16 inches of floor space depth wise, and was 3 feet long.  Our dining table is non-negotiable in this room, and hutch holds our wine glasses, adult beverages, and heavy jars of canned foods, so we decided the rack was the best option to leave.  Craigslist turned up no buyer, so it was picked up by the kind folks at the Brown Elephant, a resale shop we love (ok, Jenn loves, Alex cringes when he is drug into) that benefits a great medical group.

The office contained a desk our movers called "Big Bertha" and took all four seriously strong men to move it.  I loved it for storage capacity, but finally had to admit there was just not room for it in our 11X12 office that serves as Nyobi's entrance and contains the exterior door as well as access to the furnace in our utility space and our fuse box is in the middle of a wall. I would spend hours organizing the workspace, only to find it buried a day or two later and we just couldn't justify the space occupied (44 inches wide, 24 deep) for how little it was being used.  We had some wall-mountable cabinets stacked on top of the desk and decided to pull the trigger and hang them with the exit of the desk.

I list these kind of related projects together because this is really what Alex has to work with.  I insisted we do all of these basically at the same time, my brain insisted we paint the walls before hanging these new shelving options, but we had to dispose of the desk before that could happen.  We spent several hours disassembling drawer mounts for potential reuse, and smaller subsections from the large frame.  We had also ordered a really cool little circular saw for small cutting jobs, and it made short work of cutting some of the non-cutting surfaces, and made friends with our beautiful shop vac.  After these pieces were removed, we stacked up the pieces on our deck, hillbilly style, and got to work prepping for paint.

To the left is the first wall in our dining room - without anything else going on it is BRIGHT and sunny in daylight.  The baker's rack had been living in the corner next to the window for reference.  The two photos to the right are of the office (at night), obviously the curtains will be changed out and we have some additional plans for the middle of the room that don't involve the remnants of a desk Alex describes as having been "constructed through use of occult forces." 







A lot more has been happening, but this is the kind of non-exciting, unglamorous preparation that goes into our decisions and we wanted to put it out there that our place is often in disarray while we work on things.  Painting is not high on Alex's list of fun activities, but it is such a game-changer on space and we are on a mission to get the lame flipper gray out of here and on with our lives.