Airstream Remodel Episode 11: Part Bed, Part Catapult

A bed is probably one of the simplest pieces of furniture imaginable. You need a few legs and a platform, slap a mattress on it - Boom: bed.

But of course, nothing in Pauline is ever THAT simple. Because we have such limited space, we need to maximize our storage capacity under the bed, meaning the simple structure described above must morph into the sort of structural engineering marvel that would make the designer of the Golden Gate Bridge weep for joy. A huge shout out to the Trav.Elish blog for their post on building their bed. We made some significant adjustments to their design to suit our needs, but their post helped SOOOOO MUCH in the initial planning stages.

We started by framing out the basic shape: a 60”x80” rectangle on legs. This bed will fit a queen size mattress, positioned perpendicular to the length of the Airstream.

This gave us an idea of how far back the bed could sit and let us start figuring out where the legs would go, how we would fit in electrical and plumbing, etc. We disassembled everything and painted it, then put it all back in place. This is the point where things are going to get kind of technical. If you just want to see the finished product, scroll to the bottom.

The side and back boards of the frame are 2x6s. The slats (1x3s) are resting on a 2x2 in the back and a 2x4 in the front. The legs are made of two 2x4s screwed together. In each leg, one 2x4 is longer than the other. The 2x6 frame piece sits on top of the shorter 2x4 and screws into the taller 2x4.

Next, we assembled the mattress platform. We’ve seen designs that use a solid piece of plywood for this, but memory foam mattresses can mold if there’s no circulation underneath, and we’ve heard that a plywood base is less comfortable than slats.

We used 17 1x3 slats spaced about 2” apart. Jared’s design called for the mattress to extend past the slats and also rest on the 2x6s that make up the frame. By doing this, we were able to shrink the overall dimensions of the bed by about 2 inches, which may not seem like a lot, but it allows us to push the bed farther back into the curve of the wall, adding precious inches back to our bathroom. The slats are level with the frame pieces, so this should still give us an even surface for the mattress to rest on.

The slats are attached to three separate perpendicular boards: a 2x4 at the front which is where you will grab on to lift it, a 2x4 in the center which will prevent it from sagging, and a 2x4 in the back to connect all the boards together before the hinge. As you can see in this picture, the hinges (there are 4 total) are connected directly to the slats. The 2x2 beneath them is not connected to the slats at all. It is just there to support the weight so that the hinges don’t have to support any. We used 2” screws to connect the slats to all the perpendicular boards so that they wouldn’t come loose when we get to the next step…

Gas struts! The black and silver arms on either side of the bed assist with lifting the platform and hold it up once it is open. This makes it much easier to lift and means we don’t have to prop it open when we need to get underneath. Without the weight of the mattress on top, the struts are currently a tad overpowered for the frame, so when you lift it, you have to hang on or the bed will try to catapult itself out the back window.

Jared mounted the legs that support the center beam on hinges so they could lock up and out of the way when the bed is lifted. Just one less thing to maneuver around under there! This center board is also supported by brackets that are screwed into the frame on the sides. When the bed is lowered, the center board just rests on them.

Last, but not least, Jared anchored the frame to the wall using 2x4s to make sure everything stays in place while we’re in motion. As you can see, the hot water heater, water filter, electrical system and batteries are all housed under the bed. While our design may not be the simplest, it will make our life much easier when we need to access these systems. We will also build in ventilation to make sure that everything under here stays cool and dry.

PS - You may notice those 4x4s standing over to the side. They support the front of the bed, but they will also support the wall of the closet on the left and the wall of the bathroom on the right. Since we don’t know the exact position of those structures yet, we haven’t anchored them in place.

Eventually we’ll go back and create a headboard and footboard to conceal the rest of the frame that isn’t hidden by the mattress and to add some extra storage, but for now, it’s time to move on to cabinets!