The King Bed - stage 1 : design and planning

What does one do when they are home sick from work and not really up to doing all that much? Why they design furniture items of course. I'd had plans in my head for a bed and had kind of put them down but today I managed to get two similar designs down. Both designs use the same base structure and construction technique yet a different in their final look.

In both designs the bed and storage are separate units so that either can be moved easily. The main reason for this is that it will allow me to build the bed out in stages. Starting first with the main frame and then building in the storage when time permits.

The main difference between the two beds are the height and the bed head. The first design has a higher set bed allowing for two rows of storage underneath. The height of this one reminds me of the beds that my grandma use to have, the kind that seemed impossible to get onto as a small child. The bed head also features a modern slatted design.

The second bed is 300mm closer to the floor and only features one row of storage underneath - but hopefully the kids (when we have them) won't have any trouble climbing on and waking us up. The bed head will have some very fancy electronics built into it. The frosted glass panel will be backlit and controlled through pressure sensitive switches recessed until the timber framing. The electronic controller behind it all will be the one that I've written recently and it features 56 different special effects. Yes I do realise that its overkill for a bed head but what the pressure sensitive switches will allow us to (but not limited to) change the effect sequence (including solid colours) and set the dimmer level. (this is the design we've chosen to build)

We still have a trip planned to The Big Red Shed tomorrow to get materials for the construction. Despite the sketches below showing a very clean, neat, perfectly and somewhat anally square design, I plan on using rough, recycled and raw materials. I'm thinking recycled sleepers, old doors, rough planks etc. The aim is to combine the old world feel with elements of modern influence without being disgustingly pretentious about it. A lot of modern furniture is boring and somewhat lacking in character and texture. This is something that I will be wanting to avoid at all costs with this.