This Bed's For You

Among all of the preparations for the new baby, it has been tough to find time to work on the Airstream. So, I just had to make some!

Work continues on the curbside bed. With the frame built, the next step was to skin it in the 1/8" bending birch plywood.


As you can see, I still don't have enough clamps. I have to make do with what I have.


Next, I used the router to cut out the holes for the drawers.


Then I stained and coated with several coats of spar urethane. I thought I took some pictures of that step, but I must have forgotten. Looks basically the same as the streetside twin I did a couple of weeks ago. The next step was to veneer the drawer fronts in ribbon-striped African mahogany, and put it all together.


I really love the way it turned out. The photo isn't great, there's not quite as much contrast between the two species in real life as there is in the pictures. In fact, the lighter grain in the ribbon stripe matches the birch carcasses pretty much exactly.

And, here are both beds test-fit in the trailer:


I love that this curved corner is now the view from the front lounge area. Before, the corner that protruded into the walkway was actually pretty sharp. It was also fairly beat up from decades of folks banging their shins into it. Now, I imagine I'll still bang into the corner every now and then, but it doesn't seem to be quite so dangerous or painful.






I really love how the curved corners turned out, and I owe JP and Carlos for the inspiration, as well as their detailed posts and photos on the Airforums that showed me how to do it.

I still have the final trim work to do, and a little more detailing on the drawer front veneers, but the beds are just about done. Now, on to the next project!