More on furniture

[mdlbear]

As I mentioned in this downwhen post, it looks as though we're going to be swapping the functions of the sewing room with those of the music/media alcove. The (new) music room wants to stay useable as a guest bedroom. And since it's, um, small, this raises the question of what kind of furniture one might be able to shoehorn into it to provide sitting space by day, and sleeping space by night.

What I came up with is basically a pair of daybeds or trundle beds, overlapping in the corner opposite the door. Because they'd be wider than a comfortable seat, they'd need a back support that they can be rolled out from underneath; it would presumably be cushioned and have storage inside.

Probably either a lot of carpentry or a lot of cash. Probably the former.

Comments

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

Think in three dimensions, to maximize the use of the space available. You can put a sofa, or even a sofa-bed, under a loft bed. Or you can put a desk (possibly containing your mixing board?) under a loft bed. You can have a single bed with a bunk bed crossing it at right angles. And you can put large cushions on a bed, against a wall, to provide back support for seating.

[mdlbear]

I've done many of those things elsewhere; I think what's going to work here is two single beds at right angles. Or slightly narrower than single beds: 30" would be better for seating and the combined width is the same as a queen-sized bed. It would mean custom foam work and carpentry, though.

I'd rather use storage and thin cushions. Storage underneath, too.

Oddly enough, I think pretty well in three dimensions even though I can't parse 2-D icons at all.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

I can't draw, and even if I could, it's rather awkward to try to incorporate graphics into LJ posts. But I still think you don't need custom foam work and carpentry, nor odd-sized beds. I was trying to find pictures on Ikea's website that I could Photoshop together to try to convey what I meant, but too much of what they use is Flash now :-(

[mdlbear]

The beds need to be no more than 30" wide because that way they'd combine into a queen sized bed (which we have sheets for), which is the absolute biggest we can squeeze into the room.

A loft or bunk bed is out of the question: the ceiling is too low, and it wouldn't sleep two. (Kat has an Ikea loft double bed; her room is significantly bigger and even then it's pretty tight.)

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

If you don't mind my asking, how high is the ceiling, and what are the other dimensions of the room?

Ikea has a bunk bed that has a "full" (double-bed) mattress on the bottom and a twin on top. But a lot of the best space-saving designs I've seen involve putting a loft and a normal bed at right angles, with one end of the lower bed underneat the loft, and a desk under the other end of the loft (although this may need a custom-built loft, because the cross-members tend to fall in awkward places otherwise).

Oh, incidentally, the Ikea website also has a downloadable "room designer" program that's kind of fun to play with.

[mdlbear]

ceiling-to-floor is 95"; the room is 9' by 10'6", with the door on one of the short walls, a window on the other, and the closet on the end near the window on the same side as the door.

I see where you're going, but I definitely want to allow a couple to sleep together comfortably, and have room for five people (four with instruments that stick out on the sides) to sit.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

That's a pretty standard ceiling height, and most loft/bunk beds seem to put the bottom of the mattress at about 64" off the floor, which doesn't give the person on top very much space. (My son and his friends often turned their college dorm beds into lofts, though, and put other furniture underneath. Of course, they were college kids - young, agile, relatively slim, and not subject to bad backs.)

How about a futon-style bed? Basically it's a double-bed-size mattress on a folding frame; folded, it's a sofa, but lay the back down, and it's a bed that a couple can sleep in. You'll probably need another smallish sofa - if you use a "daybed" sofa, a third person can sleep on it, although the room will be rather cramped when both beds are opened out - and a desk or table of some sort, with a chair.

[mdlbear]

We've had a full-sized futon in there; it works, but it's a tight fit and too low for musicians to sit comfortably. A daybed plus a trundle bed might work.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

The futon my son had (tucked under the loft bed) was about the height of a normal sofa, or only slightly lower than a regular bed. (And way back in the 1950s, my mother had a living-room sofa that looked just like any normal upholstered sofa, except that when you released a hidden set of catches, the back folded down flush with the surface of the seat, creating - yep, another double bed.)

A daybed plus a trundle bed wouldn't allow a couple to sleep together, though.

[mdlbear]

I think most of the trundle beds I've seen can be raised up to the level of the bed they trundle under.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

I didn't know that - the only ones I'd ever seen were pretty old-fashioned, only really big enough for a child, and the top of the trundle was lower than the bottom of the main mattress. (I used to hate to have to sleep on one, because I'd always whack my head against the bed frame when I rolled over in my sleep.)

[mdlbear]

About 40 years ago my parents outfitted their guest rooms with single+trundle beds that went together. I've taken advantage of them several times. ;)