Finally… start to finish in photos on the project to transform the guest bedroom/study into a workspace. The aim being to have much more space and a proper workbench to leave projects out on whilst in progress and still keep a proper full-sized bed for guests. To date this has been more of an unised room for a guest bed.
After lots of searching finally settled on a SmartBett as the best wall bed. Delivered from Germany it came well wrapped in several pallets, incredibly heavy and with 47 pages of instructions and lots of parts.. gulp!
Fitting it flush to the wall meant moving some electrics as well as getting rid of the concrete(!!) skirting and re plastering the lower part of the walls..
Pulling in neighbours, Tom and Jen to assist with the final heavy lifting and shifting into place and fixing to the wall (this bit took 3 hours alone) followed up swiftly by a couple of bottles wine and dinner..
Next stage was onto modifying the desk which would serve as part of the base for the workbench. Sanding, painting and adding wheels (such a joy! going to add wheels to as many pieces of furniture as I can!)
the Worx circular saw was a total fail and was returned to the supplier. I should have heeded the reviews on Amazon about it failing to cut a straight line.
Next the hunt for a workbench… looked at all options from lovely hardwoods, poly-carbonates to ply-board. All very expensive, especially when cut to size. In the end opted for pine boards from B&Q which meant lots of fitting, cutting, gluing, clamping, fillers, sanding, varnishing, drilling, supporting ..
Sourcing a second base Biseley filing cabinet to hold tools, paints and stuff. £15 off eBay.
The end result, a room with loads more space, a double bed for guests which is mostly closed and not taking up space and a movable workbench (it can also be configured as a L shape when the desk part is wheeled around).
Last part is to fix the brackets/lever parts so half of it can be raised and stored against the wall, when not in use or access to the windows if needed.
