As a junior in college I needed to loft my bed a little bit so that I'd have room for storage underneath. I didn't want to use the typical cinder blocks, they're heavy, unstable, and unsightly. I also didn't want to spend much money. I came up with the idea to use tree branches as legs for the bed. They were free, lighter than cinder blocks, and they branched out naturally helping to stabilize the legs. I scrounged through the woods near my house in NH for already downed wood that was still solid, branched nicely, and big enough. I screwed these onto two cross pieces and then laid slats over the cross pieces. This was version 1.0 of the Tree Bed. It lasted for 7 years and many relationships. It moved 3 times in NH, then to California, and finally to Salt Lake City. In fact, I slept in it last night.This morning though I started to dismantle it. I'd been wanting to really remake the frame of the bed for a while. 1.0 was stable enough and sturdy enough, but I'd had to retrofit a few braces to keep it running, and a couple of the mattress slats had cracked. Tonight I'll sleep on version 2.0. I've reused 3 of the 4 legs from version 1.0. Khola and I found a nice new fourth leg when we were at the dog park this morning. The new upper frame has been completely redesigned around a queen size mattress, and the desire to make the bed more easily transported. I plan to cut the bed in half width-wise so that it can be removed from the r
oom. I'll then re-assemble it using two metal plates (which I'll have to make at some point) and some beefy bolts. One of the big problems with version 1.0 is that there were almost no braces or diagonal members in the design. This allowed the frame to twist and deform easily and didn't allow me to support the mattress slats in the middle. Version 2.0 uses two diagonal struts from running between opposing corners of the frame. Since these members are primarily in tension I decided to use cables. They're lighter, and they can be unhooked and reattached once the bed is cut in half. Plus, I can use cable tensioners to adjust the tension, something that would be impossible with wood cross members. I'm also using the cables, in combination with small support blocks, to provide support to the mattress slats. In this regard wood cross pieces would be better, but wouldn't look as cool.I've also added a pretty neat little feature. There's a small halogen lamp hidden under the bed which points at the back wall, under the bed. The lamp switch is mounted to the back leg and you can easily switch it on and off from bed. This makes for a really subtle and slightly surreal night-light. It also provides incentive to clean under the bed.
Overall I'm really happy with how this is turning out. I need to go and buy a queen mattress for it, and there are still some decorative things I want to do to give it a more finished look, but right now the structure is really solid, relatively light, and will be sort of easily transported. I think this version ought to last me another 7 years at least. Hopefully more.
You can check out more pictures on my Flickr account: My new bed
