Safe under the mattress
No space under your bed to stash your bits and bobs? No problem – just make some! Jeannie cleverly created this storage space inside our old mattress base (I just hope she doesn’t think she can store her excess shoes in here now…)
words Lee Stopforth production Lee Stopforth and Brian Khumalo photographs Evert Theron
With winter in full swing we’re all finding ourselves with unneeded clothes cramping our cupboard space. Storing out-of-season clothes is a major problem for guys and gals, but an easy solution is to make use of the space under your bed. Aaah, but your have a double mattress and can’t fit a storage drawer under your mattresses? Well, who said anything about having a storage drawer under your mattress…
Difficulty rating
3/5
Shopping list
Materials
Pine laminated shelving (cut to size)
4 x 800mm x 200mm
4 x 664mm x 200mm
Extension ball-bearing draw rails
Ebony stain
Roller and paint tray
No 10 biscuits
16mm self-tapping screws
30mm chipboard screws
Corner blocks
3mm masonite cut to size
2 x 800mm x 700mm
Alcolin glue
Tool List
Cordless drill
32mm spade drill bit
4mm drill bit
Spirit level
Stanley blade
Tape measure
step 1 First measure and then mark out the desired size for the drawer that you would like to slide into your mattress base. Cut open the fabric on the side of the bed to expose the raw wood and to gain access to the previously unseen insides of the base (bet you never thought you’d one day be operating on your mattress!). Now it’s important to carefully check to see if your bed base will allow the size of drawer you require – if not, you might need to adjust your plans for what you want to store in your bed.
step 2 Using the biscuit cutter, cut groves in all the ends of the laminated pine shelving that need to be joined. Apply the glue in each
hole, insert the biscuit, clamp and then allow time to dry for 2-4 hours.
step 3 Finally, it’s time to prepare the base. Remove any obstacles from inside and then check to see what inner support is needed in order to allow the base to receive and store the drawer. Jeannie was on top of her DIY game as she cleverly used some off-cut supawood from our DIY studio to create the necessary side support that would hold up the mattress (although an off-cut from the laminated shelving would work just as well). Reinforce as much as possible as you have removed some support. Jeannie secured the new inner support to the existing framework with corner blocks and 30mm chipboard screws. This new piece will now add to the support and accommodate the drawer.
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