Our New Bed
We got rid of our waterbed.
That actually reminds me of a story that is really funny. Our waterbed mattress had a sponge in it to reduce waves. The problem was that you could never get all the water out of the mattress. When "empty", it still weighed at least 400 lbs. So, when we decided to get rid of the bed, I took it out on the patio of our Brooklyn apartment one night. I cut it into ribbons with a large kitchen knife. Innocent enough...until you consider the "Rear Window" perspective: a guy is on the balcony across from your apartment building. He is sillhouetted on the patio by bedroom lights. He is hacking at a large roll on the patio with the largest kitchen knife you've ever seen. Liquid is splashing all over. He's sloshing around in it. He is obviously struggling under the weight of these large hunks of stuff that you can't quite make out in the darkness. "Is that a body rolled in a carpet?" you wonder. I'm surprised the cops didn't show up. I'm also mad I went to all the effort to hack up my victims out on Long Island when my patio would have been just fine.
Anyway. I needed to get a new bed. We purchased a memory foam mattress - a "cool wave" memory foam mattress from Costco for $800. We love it, but it's a tiny bit warm. "Dang, Jen. Guess you'll have to sleep naked."
To save money, I decided to build the bed platform. Two pictures inspired me.
A basic scandinavian, modern, teak platform bed frame
A clock that uses bright LEDs to display the time through wood veneer. The "block of wood" suddenly displays the time. "Hey, you means there's a clock in there! Cool!"
Tristan helps me do all the drilling for LED lights.
A close up of the light pattern. I call it "Milky Way Eclipse". Yup, cheesy. The idea was of a planet eclipsing the Milky Way.
I've never applied veneer before. Heaven knows why I choose a $110 piece of teak for my first try ever. Youtube is inspiring, you know? Here, Jackson is helping me work out air bubbles and glue the veneer back down. If you ever want to do this, call me. I'll give you the low down.
The finished piece without oil. Still had to make the footboard. Notice there are no holes. The holes are behind the veneer and awaiting several strings of LED Christmas lights which, hopefully, will light through the wood and create a great lighting effect.
We wanted storage. So, low and sleek wasn't exactly the goal. These voids are so large that BOTH Jackson and Sydney can easily sit inside one. Hide and Seek gets pretty difficult with this bed available.
It works! Execution was perfect. So the burden is on the design. It's pretty close to what I envisioned. I like the look. The proportions are off a bit because the headboard is too high. Jen doesn't want me to change it because, with pillows, it looks more proportionate. I'll fix that later, when I install the lights. By the way, not all the lights are installed. I got impatient. You get the idea.
Here you can get an idea of the intensity of the lighting with the night stand lights on.
Now you can see the footboard, the proportions of the whole project, and, most importantly, the stark contrast between lights and simple, elegant, unilluminated teak. That was part of the idea: to contrast the modern style of the teak with the cool gadgetry of the LED lighting inside the wood. It's tough to get a better picture of the bed. Our room is small and the lighting is your typical dungeon basement lighting. Our bed will feel less insecure when its been released into its natural habitat, a New York loft.
That actually reminds me of a story that is really funny. Our waterbed mattress had a sponge in it to reduce waves. The problem was that you could never get all the water out of the mattress. When "empty", it still weighed at least 400 lbs. So, when we decided to get rid of the bed, I took it out on the patio of our Brooklyn apartment one night. I cut it into ribbons with a large kitchen knife. Innocent enough...until you consider the "Rear Window" perspective: a guy is on the balcony across from your apartment building. He is sillhouetted on the patio by bedroom lights. He is hacking at a large roll on the patio with the largest kitchen knife you've ever seen. Liquid is splashing all over. He's sloshing around in it. He is obviously struggling under the weight of these large hunks of stuff that you can't quite make out in the darkness. "Is that a body rolled in a carpet?" you wonder. I'm surprised the cops didn't show up. I'm also mad I went to all the effort to hack up my victims out on Long Island when my patio would have been just fine.
Anyway. I needed to get a new bed. We purchased a memory foam mattress - a "cool wave" memory foam mattress from Costco for $800. We love it, but it's a tiny bit warm. "Dang, Jen. Guess you'll have to sleep naked.
To save money, I decided to build the bed platform. Two pictures inspired me.
A basic scandinavian, modern, teak platform bed frame
A clock that uses bright LEDs to display the time through wood veneer. The "block of wood" suddenly displays the time. "Hey, you means there's a clock in there! Cool!"
Tristan helps me do all the drilling for LED lights.
A close up of the light pattern. I call it "Milky Way Eclipse". Yup, cheesy. The idea was of a planet eclipsing the Milky Way.
I've never applied veneer before. Heaven knows why I choose a $110 piece of teak for my first try ever. Youtube is inspiring, you know? Here, Jackson is helping me work out air bubbles and glue the veneer back down. If you ever want to do this, call me. I'll give you the low down.
The finished piece without oil. Still had to make the footboard. Notice there are no holes. The holes are behind the veneer and awaiting several strings of LED Christmas lights which, hopefully, will light through the wood and create a great lighting effect.
We wanted storage. So, low and sleek wasn't exactly the goal. These voids are so large that BOTH Jackson and Sydney can easily sit inside one. Hide and Seek gets pretty difficult with this bed available.
It works! Execution was perfect. So the burden is on the design. It's pretty close to what I envisioned. I like the look. The proportions are off a bit because the headboard is too high. Jen doesn't want me to change it because, with pillows, it looks more proportionate. I'll fix that later, when I install the lights. By the way, not all the lights are installed. I got impatient. You get the idea.
Here you can get an idea of the intensity of the lighting with the night stand lights on.
Now you can see the footboard, the proportions of the whole project, and, most importantly, the stark contrast between lights and simple, elegant, unilluminated teak. That was part of the idea: to contrast the modern style of the teak with the cool gadgetry of the LED lighting inside the wood. It's tough to get a better picture of the bed. Our room is small and the lighting is your typical dungeon basement lighting. Our bed will feel less insecure when its been released into its natural habitat, a New York loft.
Comments
Thanks! :)