My Airstream Smells Of Rich Mahogany

I have many leather-bound books. I don't know how to put this, but I'm kind of a big deal.

Ha! I've been dying to use that quote, and now seemed as good a time as any.

What do you do when a functional requirement seems to mess up the clean lines of your design? Well, whatever you do, it looks better in rich mahogany.

When we first got our Airstream, Catarina, a year ago, my wife Mary lamented that we couldn't sleep side by side. The only beds were the twins. Eventually I plan to create a front dinette that converts into a queen-sized bed, but until then, the only beds in the Airstream are the twins. Mary wondered if there were a way to fill the gap between the beds, down the aisle, and make one big bed out of it. When she uttered that thought, the idea of "Superbed" was born, and has been percolating in my brain ever since.

We won't always deploy Superbed, but right now, since our children are still small and in diapers, we won't be blocking the aisle if we do decide to use Superbed. We've also been couped up in the Airstream through several thundershowers on our various camping trips so far, and I can imagine a time when we might want our whole family to be able to snuggle up on Superbed and watch movies whilst waiting out a storm.

So I developed the idea of using two long cleats down the side of each twin bed, to support a plywood platform, where a couple of bolster cushions could be moved in to cover the center of the bed, and make the entire thing into Superbed. This is actually quite similar to the design of many dinettes, I simply applied it to the twins. The main problem with the cleats, for me, was an aesthetic one. I loved the clean lines of the curved beds. But, the cleats were necessary, so I bought a nice piece of solid mahogany, and ripped it down into a couple of 3/4" thick cleats that run the length of each bed.

But before installing them, I had to finish some trim work on the beds. This photo also shows the drawer hardware I used, matching the hardware on the the vanity.


Right below the metal trim, in the photo above, you can see the mahogany cleat. Another shot, showing both twins:


The bedroom as it normally sits:


And now, with Superbed deployed:

See-- I told you those square bolsters had another purpose!



Just a bit more trim work, installation of the curtains, and she will be done. For the time being, anyway...