The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California

The Practical Built In Funiture

Bed Base

This bed base is illustrated in Fig. 28. Here you have a simple wood frame of 1x10 pine boards inside which 11/x1 1/2 -inch strips form a ledge to receive the mattress slats. You can greatly strengthen the frame by inserting short lengths of 2x2 into the corners and fastening the boards to them with glue and screws. These 2x2 pieces should help to keep the frame positively square. You should carefully check for this before the glue sets. A strip of wood nailed diagonally across the squared frame will keep it that way while you are working on it.

In one side of this frame are openings for two drawers. These can be made in the same manner as the frame, or as detailed in Chapter 3. If they are to be opened rarely, about once a season, they can be made in the form of box trays, with the bottom merely nailed to the underside of the sides and back. They will be more difficult to slide in and out, but this may not be so important. If they are to be used frequently it is better to make them as actual drawers. In this case the sides will extend down to rest on the slides, and the bottom will be set up to clear them.

In either case the slides will extend all the way across the bed, although the drawers need not. In fact the drawers will be much easier to handle if they are no more than 3 feet long. If extra storage space is needed, another pair of drawers can be inserted in the other side of the bed to run on the same slides. In any case the slides must have raised sides (called guides) to keep the drawers exactly square with the sides of the bed.

To prevent dust from getting into the drawers they need to be closely covered with sheets of 1/8inch plywood, as you see in the detail drawing, Fig. 28. These can be fastened at both ends under the slat support. In addition it may be advisable to attach a canvas covering to the back end of the drawer. This can be tucked in around the drawer contents each time the drawer is closed.

Besides having tight and rigid corners, the slat supports are best carried across the bed ends as stiffening and secured throughout their lengths with glue and No. 10 screws. A pair of blocks screwed to the drawer slides, after everything else is finished, will stop each drawer from going in too far.

Another way of keeping the bed absolutely square is to use a sheet of 1/4 -inch plywood to fill the entire space below the slat supports. If this sheet is square to begin with and fits snugly, the bed sides cannot move in relation to it. For a bed more than 4 feet wide, you would probably need to insert this plywood in two sections, but that should not affect the rigidity.