The Bed aka Hubba Hubba

Okay all kidding aside, here is the video of the bed.
We were going to buy an 8-12 inch foam mattress and if/when we go full time we probably will just before we do that. For now though they are to expensive to warrant purchasing for part time folks.

What we got is a queen size mattress and we only got it because they didn't have any full sized ones in our price range. There was one that inflated itself, monitored it's air pressure and kept itself at the right spot for just over a hundred bucks but we didn't want to spend all of that. It also sort of creeped us out. I mean would you want an 'intelligent' mattress?
When I built the van bed I sort of went off of the one in our bedroom, and morphed it to fit the van. The van bed is sort of a mish mash of a full sized futon bed and whatever fit.
We got the twenty dollar queen size then followed with the clearance Star Wars sheets.
I know your jealous. It's okay they are that cool.

We test drove them that night as well. The lights worked in the van, the bed worked in the van. I got super excited and couldn't sleep well. The thing that I'd wanted to make was made and it worked.
    "IT'S ALIVE! IT'S ALIVE!!" so were the mosquito's. I will definitely be make some screens for the windows.
Since we were in our own backyard for the test drive I brought my laptop out and connected to our wifi and we watched some Netflix from the van before bed.
It was a great way to spend a Saturday evening.
Here's that video.

Remember Keep the shiny side up.
Trevor Marty

A Realistic Bed Build

 

     Well, I guess I’m a day late and a dollar short, but here it is anyway...Monday’s blog on Tuesday.

You see I wanted to include the bed build into Mondays blog because it’s finished.

Well sort of.  The ‘sort of’ only means there is always something more you can do to it.

I’m sure if we wanted we could have sanded the boards, stained them, or both. We could have measured better, and probably not scuffed the walls up while we installed the silly things.

However, we didn’t do those things what we did do though was this.

Build the legs and support parts, then measured a few times, scratched our heads, made more coffee, and finally cut the one piece of ¾ inch plywood we had. I have actually had that piece around for probably close to 10 years. It’s held a motorcycle, leaned against the door, been set between two saw horses with a sheet for a table cloth and a bunch of good food on it for my wedding rehearsal dinner, and probably more that I can’t remember. Now it’s going to be a bed for my wife and I as we begin another chapter in our lives and travel the country.

      It took quite a while to settle on the design we did because there are just so many good ones out there. Just when we thought we had decided we’d be astounded by someone elses design. What finally made us decide what we wanted was a realistic look at my own abilities. Don’t get me wrong I’m not downing myself at all, but a construction guy I am not. It’s only recently that I’ve been able to tell the difference between my thumb and the head of a nail. 

     I think to set oneself up for success you have to have a realistic view of your starting point or you’re just going to get disappointed. Doing this project has helped me to actually get some ‘street cred’ and walk into Menards or Home Depot head held high shouting to the world “I know what a hammer is.” as I strut down the long aisles.    

     The hinges in the middle of the bed were given to me by an 95 year old WWII veteran who lives two houses down from us. His gutters needed cleaning and he couldn’t get up that high on the ladder, so I did that and he gave me four hinges and an on/off switch which will also be used in this build.  I’ve tried to include photo’s in the blog because I know not everyone has the data plan to watch the video, however there is also a video.

Thanks for tuning in and having a look here.

Next week we’re going to have a look at the components I’m going to use on the electrical install.

Until then see ya

    Trevor Marty

PS The video is under the photo's.

This is how the legs look.

Under the bed.

I just used what screws I had around.

It's true. You are cool. Thanks for reading this.

My baldness laying in the bed.

Two different colored socks and a bird feeder.

Great Storage!