Because the Star House is apparently not enough (seriously, what is wrong with me?) I got it into my head that I needed to get back to using Ziggy Starbus for things. Granted, it's status as Glorified Metal Tent is not always conducive to spending a lot of time in there... makes me kind of regret not tearing off the walls and insulating it when I first got it. But, I remind myself, my graduate school degree was contingent on Ziggy's "completeness"... so yeah... I like being graduated and if I'd taken on insulation I might still be there.
I digress.
Ziggy was set up as a retail-ready space for grad school reasons, but that layout has never really quite worked for me. All the shelving I had in there would be great if Ziggy ever lives in a cart pod and doesn't move much, but to be actually mobile that shelving is pretty useless. Also, with teaching and all, the idea of pursuing retail seems fairly insurmountable... I mean, I'd have to TALK to people. So... I don't really know what Ziggy is for yet. I still get nervous driving it (must get over that), but during the nicer months it will be a nice dreaming studio. I'm also wanting to use it for camping-- it will need to go to What the Festival this summer to transport the Star House, and then we could just stay in it... if it had a bed...
This was what I decided needed to be remedied post haste.
I did a lot of searching on Skoolie.net for ideas of how people had created sleeping space that could be converted-- Ziggy is not big enough or laid out in such a way that a permanent bed makes sense. I got the idea to try to create a couch/bench that converted to a bed. I found some great plans that used basically 2 interlocking slat frames that slid out to make a wide platform and thought I'd try that.
Here's my Saab convertible carrying 15 1x4's... the Home Depot parking lot men gave me odd looks...
I digress.
Ziggy was set up as a retail-ready space for grad school reasons, but that layout has never really quite worked for me. All the shelving I had in there would be great if Ziggy ever lives in a cart pod and doesn't move much, but to be actually mobile that shelving is pretty useless. Also, with teaching and all, the idea of pursuing retail seems fairly insurmountable... I mean, I'd have to TALK to people. So... I don't really know what Ziggy is for yet. I still get nervous driving it (must get over that), but during the nicer months it will be a nice dreaming studio. I'm also wanting to use it for camping-- it will need to go to What the Festival this summer to transport the Star House, and then we could just stay in it... if it had a bed...
This was what I decided needed to be remedied post haste.
I did a lot of searching on Skoolie.net for ideas of how people had created sleeping space that could be converted-- Ziggy is not big enough or laid out in such a way that a permanent bed makes sense. I got the idea to try to create a couch/bench that converted to a bed. I found some great plans that used basically 2 interlocking slat frames that slid out to make a wide platform and thought I'd try that.
Here's my Saab convertible carrying 15 1x4's... the Home Depot parking lot men gave me odd looks...
Here's my "wood shop." DAMN I miss having our sweet sweet shop at the Bison studio. Now I'm like... I have a saw...
Here's the beginnings. I'm using the pre-existing drawers to form two side supports and am hack-rigging that middle shelf in to create support for the middle. That's a thing Andreas made for Ziggy last year that has been just kicking around, and those fat boards were things we'd used to level the bus for the final show. How lucky that they happened to be the right length! Also, let's hope I'm cool with the bus being not-level....
I should have taken more in-progress shots, but I got wrapped up in the whirlwind of "shit now what?"
I quickly realized the sliding frame method wouldn't work-- between the width of the original bench and the fact that I had all 1x4's, the slide-out width difference was miniscule. So I improvised some madness. Now it hinges open. So here it is mid-work. The front edge is hinged and every other slat is attached to that back rail. Since this picture, I attached 2 legs on each end that stick up (I pretend they're decorative) and 2 more on that back rail that hinge. This does, of course, create an uneven surface for sitting, but it's going under thick foam so I think I can get away with it.
I quickly realized the sliding frame method wouldn't work-- between the width of the original bench and the fact that I had all 1x4's, the slide-out width difference was miniscule. So I improvised some madness. Now it hinges open. So here it is mid-work. The front edge is hinged and every other slat is attached to that back rail. Since this picture, I attached 2 legs on each end that stick up (I pretend they're decorative) and 2 more on that back rail that hinge. This does, of course, create an uneven surface for sitting, but it's going under thick foam so I think I can get away with it.
Here it is folded out. I realized after the fact (oops) that of course now one set of slats is lower than the other. I was going to sand down the sharp edges of the slats the middle, but my foam is so dense I think I can skip it.