Can you believe it? A whole year has gone by since BIF moved out of the Rainstream (still no love loss there) and moved into the Dwelling. A whole year. Since the second or third day after moving in the Planner and I have been using the work platform as a make shift entryway bench. Originally I wanted a full seven foot tall bench with coat rack at top, bench with shoe cubby underneath. Then after the Pontificator bequeathed her coat rack to me the full size was dropped to a bench only.

And oh, how I have scoured the internets looking for inspiration. Having used the platform for so long the size width, height, and length had been established. I only needed to determine how I wanted to store the shoes. Did I want all the shoes available all the time, did I want individual cubbies for each set of shoes, did I want the partial hidden shoes? Choices seemed overwhelming. Even the Doubter was on board and waiting for plans as he loved the idea of the bench at the door, too. He could build whatever if the Planner would draw the design. So. Much. Pressure.

Then one day while perusing the dredges as I had seen all of the internets by now, I stumbled upon heavenly inspirations. A former torture device from years gone by. Let me memories come flooding. Nothing else would do, it had to be a former bench, a church pew, a pulpit sitter. Days, just mere hours, before traveling to visit the Pontificator, Bookface guided me to my deepest wishes. A sermon bench already once repainted in a blue gray and recovered in a whimsical, almost Native American/Southwest fabric. Haha, I don’t hold to any of that garbage, it was AI. AI had narrowed down my choosing’s and I just happened to look in the Big City #2 feed area instead of my local region. This lovely little bench 150 years old and originally from England had been on Bookface for so long it has been reduced three times. Let me tell you right now, unless the bench had been broken, I had bought it sight unseen. Love at first seat.

Not wanting to be left out of the bench fun, the Catter came to view my new purchase in person and while here the Fuzzy Foot took up residence on his golf cart. Spreading cat hairs from one house to the next claiming territory. Evil cat.

Then, oh then, a few days later two very tiny, amazon strong men unloaded our new bed. When I left for college, my rental mobile home came with a bed. When I moved in with the Planner, he was sleeping on the bed the Pontificator was conceived on, not lying even the slightest. It was the bed her parents were gifted upon their wedding day. Older than dirt and weighed more than the modern car. Somehow during the packing to move home, the mattress ended up in the college apartment dumpster. A new terribly uncomfortable bed was given to us during my pregnancy and after that it has been various foam mattress and futons since. The last time we slept in a real bed was the few month hiatus when renting a home in Asheville and it was located in a loft. A bed is a bed unless the sleeper is over 6′ tall.

When shopping at a local bed manufacturer in Big City #3, the Planner an I learned two things. One the original store was located around the corner from where my mother has worked for 30 years . Two, we could order a full size extra long bed that can be rotated and flipped. Two.five, if our room had been longer, we could have ordered a seven foot long bed to fully accommodate the Planners height when sleeping. This tiny little manufacturer has been supplying basketball player beds for generations! Who knew such options were available in the mattress industry?

Not allowing the Planner to get to comfortable, I had him outside with tools ready in less than 10 minutes. If we were having a real mattress, we were having a real bed frame. Or a real as a “temporary” bed frame can be. Ideas have been formulating for months about what kind of bed frame/storage center would work best. Building this temporary platform bed was the perfect way to both visualize and test the ideas. The platform is 23″ to the top allowing storage totes to be slide under. With mattress installed, I just barely have to raise up to sit on the bed.

Storage is critical in any tiny house. Add storage needs for people who have camping gear, winter gear, sailing gear, beach gear. Add storage for air mattress and extra bedding. Add storage for odds and ends that can’t be thrown away and be stored in the thousand degree storage unit. Under the bed storage is critical. Under the bend storage will allow so many totes from outside in the Storage Box to be brought inside including the comforter purchased before Harvey from the local thrift store. Now I really need some curtains…