Ethical Beds

 

 

Although this is Number 5 in the order of projects, it seems to have taken forever to build.

The headboard and the lid of the chest began as the keel of what I imagine was a fishing boat, half-buried in the sand at Hightown near Crosby.

 

I had already made the body of the chest from reclaimed rafters and thought the two would complement each other.
















Because of the curvature of the headboard and its shiplap construction it would take three specially cut struts to support the planking at the rear.

 
I  found this 14 foot beam of wood on the shore at Burbo Bank and spent a whole day with a hand saw cutting it into 18-inch sections, originally with the idea of using them all for bedside tables.

 

But I decided to cut four of the sections into L shapes of solid timber. These were to make the legs for Number 5.

















At the half-way point, the mortise and tenon joints having been cut: the legs have been trimmed down quite a bit. I managed to salvage just enough pitch pine for the sides and bottom, although the bottom length had a hole cut to accommodate another joint. It turned out to be quite a labour-intensive bed to make, and certainly had the longest gestation!




Here you can see the finished article. These pictures are of it when it was super king-size, and I didn't have a super-king sized mattress to show it to its best advantage. I have now cut it down to king-size, which makes it a lot easier to buy a mattress and bedding for.
The inside of the lid and rear of the headboard have been painted white, as they would originally have been on the boat. The two large hinges are close together because of the curvature of the lid.
Although it is made from the keel of a boat, I wanted the shape of the headboard to be reminiscent of a ship's sail, and I tapered the side and end beams to give the bed a softer look.



Here you can see where the sides of the chest have been stepped to accommodate the shiplap construction of the lid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see in this photo that the legs are made from a single piece of timber, so the grain is continuous around the curve of the corner. The diamond shape on the lid is an original repair to the hull of the boat.

 

I particularly like the shine of the polished copper nails in the lid and headboard.
Because the legs have ended up being quite slim, the mortise and tenon joints are secured with screws through the back of the leg.

The bed and chest are a unique and distinctive combination, full of character, for the client who wants something completely different.