Turning a HOL side table into a single bed with drawers

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Materials: HOL side table; Observatör cross-braces

Hol’s dignified and delicate design merits more than its fate as a mere “side table.” And I really needed a single guest bed and a lot of storage in a room that was less than 2 meters (7 feet) wide.

I started by building a simple bed frame out of thick 10 cm by 10 cm pinewood lumber. The structure measured 2 meters in length by a little under 1 meter in width. I set the platform, also made out of pinewood planks, at a little over 50 cm off the ground. I then used the four side faces of Hol (conveniently sized at 50-by-50 cm) as front covers for four deep drawers built out of particleboard, each set on small wheels.

Bed1

I placed the top face/cover of the Hol cube at the end of the bed, on the side that is mostly hidden from view. To secure the entire structure I used screws, small L braces, as well as Ikea Observatör cross-braces. To confer a measure of uniformity to the bed, I stained the whole structure – with a couple more coats on the pinewood parts to best match Hol’s slightly darker wood shade.

Once dry, I added a single futon mattress and voilà! The bed is convenient, elegant, and durable: I’ve had it for over 10 years now. The photos were taken very recently.

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