So where shall I start? Of course how can I forget my first large local order! How excited I was to get an order for a playhouse bed 10 minutes up the road. The brief was quite detailed, when I turned up at the client's house it was clear that the boss was the little boy that the bed was for. He showed me a bed he had found on the internet that he liked on his Ipad, the design was basically a stone age cave, with a bed at the bottom and a playhouse above, I instantly had some ideas how I could give it my magic touch as this bed he showed me was very basic and unattractive. It was clear to me that the little boy loved the concept of the playhouse and the cozy cave for the bed, he also was mad on dinosaurs ( aren't they all? ). Oh yes he also wanted a slide.
The initial obstacle I could see was the fact that the bedroom in which it was going was a dormer bedroom ( angled ceiling ). After measuring up though and taking into consideration the child's size I reasoned it could still work. So I wanted a way to add a dinosaur theme to the design whilst retaining the basic ideas that the little lad had drawn up, oh yes he had drawn up his own design complete with bullet points and all.
My concept was for the cave to have two openings, one for the top, one for the bottom these openings were to be shaped like the jaws of a T Rex which would be very noticeable as soon as you entered the bedroom, especially when the lighting inside the caves was switched on.
On the other side of the bed would be the slide, which would have a gentle curve so that it wasn't dangerous. this side would also have a couple of openings in it one door shaped for access to the slide and another little window opening, giving it a Flintstone's house like feel. All the external panels would be painted with a stone like effect usage natural sponge in a light and dark grey, it would also have cracks routed in to add depth.
Access to the playhouse is gained through the front which has dinosaur footprint shaped holes to climb up, there is also a fireman's pole at the front to slide down. I still thought it was lacking in detail on the inside however, and so I opted to paint the inside of the playhouse with simple cave painting style art in striking red and black, and in the bed cave I routed a huge Velociraptor sketeton on a panel on the ceiling, hoping that this wouldn't be too scary, I put the business end of the dinosaur with big scary teeth at the bottom end of the bed just in case. This was an example of me going above and beyond the call of duty as it wasn't in the brief, but it was these details that make it so special. For practicality the bed also had two large sliding drawers underneath for storage.
When I arrived at the property to install the bed in the half term holidays, I was greeted by " the boss " and half the kids in the surrounding area. "See, I told you I wasn't lying" he said to theme as we began unloading. The installation went very well although there was a moment when I thought the slide wasn't going to go up the winding stairs. The end result was amazing slide up the winding stairs and into the bedroom. "
This is just like a dream come true@ cried the little lad I was so pleased to see his excited face as he and his mates piled in and began playing in the playhouse, slide and the fireman's pole. I can remember as a child making dens at home out of sheets draped over the back of the sofa and being upset when they had to get taken down, so I can only imagine how happy that little boy will be to have that playhouse be in his room until he is much older.
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