Wood Barn

We’d been waiting a few months to tackle our bedroom make over which had given us plenty of time to think about what we wanted. As time passed, my ideas crystallised into a vision for our bed.

The bed, in a bedroom, is usually the main piece of furniture, the hero in the room. It sets the tone for the room and everything else flows from it.

It’s position was an easy choice, the place where we could admire the wonderful view while waking up in the morning, opposite our new double sliding doors.

I played around with lots of ideas, large and chunky, four poster, a branch-like construction to name a few. In the end, after research, I loved the idea of a large, dark bed, contrasted by appearing to ‘float’. The design’s block like darkness softened by appearing to be suspended in mid-air. I also wanted a huge dark headboard that would also appear like partial cladding of the wall behind. I recognise this wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea (the builder I was working with thought I was bonkers at first), but I was determined it’d work.

I had no idea of the engineering required to construct the floating element but set out some drawings and decided to ‘give it a go’. The idea is simple enough and it helped seeing others online. Build a low, small frame as the base and then attach a larger mattress sized one on top. Anchor the whole thing into the wall at the head and it shouldn’t tip when perching on the end. The two frames would be clad with the same oak boards, stained with black Osmo, as I’d made for the ceiling. Oak boards would also serve as a massive headboard, secured to the wall using battens.

I made the decision to stagger the boards on the wall to create an uneven edge to soften it against the contrasting wall paintwork. Rather than having a black rectangle on the wall, we’d have a more haphazard edge.

I prepped the oak boards exactly as before for the ceiling, taking care to vary the amount of stain on each one (easier said than done) before waxing with Fiddes clear wax to soften and prevent snagging. The boards are smooth but maintain a lovely rough texture.

The hardest part and the bit that needed someone more skilled than I was the electrics. To fit the sockets and recessed lights took some effort and forethought. The very cool reading lights took some finding but complement the contemporary feel of the piece and were expensive. We also fitted LED light strips around the headboard and the smaller base of the bed. The latter are on a motion sensor and are perfect for late night trips to the bathroom!

We adore this big piece of furniture. It’s very solid, very practical and definitely is the centre piece of the room, as it should be. I’m glad we were brave and decided to try something a bit different. It paid off for us.

Cost: Oak Boards £1,053, Reading Lights £255, Osmo Wood Stain £35, Fiddes Clear Wax £30, LEDs £80, Total £1,453