Cozy sleeping nook

When the bedroom is spacious, you can place the bed in the most convenient layout — with the headboard against the wall. This is especially important for a double bed: access is preserved on both sides, and a nightstand with a lamp can be placed on each side, with a bedside drawer for bedding arranged rationally.

If there is a free corner with a small wall section at the head of the bed, use the design proposed by the Hungarian magazine “Ezermeszter”, and the room will seem larger and more spacious.

All this is thanks to a built-in corner wall cabinet behind the bed that combines the functions of several pieces of furniture at once. Its top panel is, in essence, a long open shelf that will hold a night light or lamp, an alarm clock, a transistor radio, photographs, and other decorative items that add coziness.

The panel below is another equally capacious shelf that will also accommodate many necessary items kept within reach — books read before sleep.

The cabinet compartments can be used in different ways. The corner wall cabinet is also convenient because it can serve as an addition to an existing bed, whose design will need corresponding changes.

As for a homemade bed, it is best to use ready-made spring mattresses available for sale, to whose plank frames you only need to attach simple legs made of wooden timber (this has been described repeatedly in our magazine).

Considering that during the day the bed can serve as a sofa, it is advisable to upholster the mattress with suitable upholstery fabric for soft furniture. At the same time, the visible side and end parts should be covered with decorative panels upholstered in the same fabric.

It is more practical to make the wall cabinet not as a single unit, but, for example, of three independent blocks: a head (end) block and two side blocks. Placed next to each other, they form a corner wall.

The blocks are made to a single scheme, although each may have some differences depending on its intended functions. We will consider the simplest option, where one side section has sliding doors, and the second and head sections serve as bedside nightstands. Bedding is stored in one of them in the morning — and the bed becomes a kind of sofa; in the evening, conversely, sofa accessories are placed in the other: soft armrest bolsters, foam cushions, and a throw blanket.

Chipboard or veneered furniture panels will serve as the material for such a corner cabinet; all main horizontal and vertical panels, shelves, and doors of the structure are cut from them.

Let us consider making the head section. Its box consists of two vertical panels — sides — and two horizontal ones — top and bottom. Round dowels and screws are used for a stronger joint of the mating panels. If the structure is not intended to be disassembled, the joints are reinforced with glue (carpenter’s, casein, or PVA).

Under the top, a shelf is built in on the same fastening elements; in turn, it serves as the lid for the bedside nightstand niche. For this purpose, two more vertical panels are built into the frame on the bed side: a fixed lower one the height of the bed and an upper one attached to it with a piano hinge — the nightstand door.

Magnetic latches are provided so that the closed door is held securely. And to make it convenient to open, the necessary hand cutouts are made in the front edge of the nightstand top.

The last element of the head block (and the others as well) is a back wall made of hardboard, which is nailed to the frame with small nails, giving it additional rigidity and strength.

It should be noted that the head block in the corner does not reach the side wall of the room, but only to the front edge of the vertical panel of the side block, so that the nightstand door can open. Only the top of the head block reaches the wall — it is 250 mm longer than the bottom. This eliminates the gap at the corner joint of the blocks.

It has already been noted that it is better to assemble the side blocks as separate units. This general solution is more practical: if necessary (for example, during repairs or when replacing wallpaper), the cabinet can be moved easily.

If the cabinet blocks are made of furniture panels, only the sawn edges of the panels will need additional finishing: they are edged with special plastic or veneer strips on PVA glue, followed by ironing. Panels made of chipboard can be treated with wood stain and coated with varnish. The wall cabinet will also look good if painted with light-toned enamels.

«Modelist-Konstruktor» No. 9’2000