Bunks | Room Divider
PuzzleBunks, Stowaways, Peacekeepers?
“What do you call them?” “How did you come up with the idea?” “How could I do this?”
We’re delighted to share more info on this project.
The Predicament
A boy and a girl, and a two-bedroom apartment in the city. Enough space, but not enough privacy. When they were small, a bunkbed, a long shared desk, and adequate storage helped, but as adolescence hit they needed their own spaces. Privacy. Room to think and grow. Their bedroom wasn’t large enough to split with a wall down the middle, and the larger primary bedroom with corner entry wasn’t a workable split either.
The Solution
A split just didn’t seem possible, but over time I thought about sailboats which are so creatively designed for maximizing storage. Surely there was a way to solve our dilemma using these strategies? I thought back to the months I’d spent living aboard my father’s sailboat. Weeks-long open water crossings, food to store, crew rotating through night watches and galley duty.
There is a place for (almost) everything on a boat. Every cubic inch is designed—storage cubbies for sails, clothes, and personal belonging. Sole plates in the wood floor that lift up so canned food and bottles of rum can be stashed. Tables that fold down when not in use, seats that become a bunk when you slide in the lee board (which prevents you from rolling out of bed when you’re sailing through the night and the boat tacks). A place for everything.
I kept thinking about the quarter berth on Renaissance, with storage below, storage to the side, mechanical equipment tucked away. Convertible spaces. And of Tiny Dancer and her salon berth used on long crossings with rough seas. Mutable spaces. Folded, stacked, carved.
Image: Amel Mango 52
One day the kids’ room solution came to me—vertical split, back to back. Nested, interlocking, like a puzzle. Shared bunk, yet divided space. We were fortunate that the room had enough space between the windows to accommodate the width of a bed. We designed a tall/wide bunk: floor to ceiling, wall to wall, completely separating the existing bedroom into two small cabins.
Design Considerations & Details
Design
Room Size: The room is 11’x11’-10” and has an 8’-9” ceiling. One side has an additional alcove (side w/ small sofa). The height allowed us to have bunks where a person could sit up at both levels and include storage drawers at floor level. If you have lower ceilings, you could eliminate the storage drawers. We used thin mattresses with memory foam toppers as a strategy for more height clearance.
Fabrication: The bunk was fabricated in panels off-site, then broken down, delivered, and assembled in the room. The walls, ceiling and floor of the bedroom are still intact—the divider is a giant piece of furniture. When we move we’ll dismantle it.
PuzzleBunk Size: The space between window trims measures 49-1/2”, and the bunk measures 44.5” wide overall (out to out). Mattress openings are 41.5”x77” which allows for a twin mattress with a couple of inches all around. The built-in shelves are 7-3/4” deep for books/alarm clocks, and we wired electrical receptacles and built-in reading lamps. The drawers on the bottom are 9” tall. There is 40” of clear height for sitting (above the mattress).
Sound: We used two layers of plywood with 2x4’s in between layers (on the flat), and filled the cavity with insulation. We wanted the space separation to be a sound separation too. You could build a PuzzleBunk with a single layer of plywood but would need to have it engineered for structural strength, especially where it supports the top mattress. You’d need more than a layer of plywood.
Storage: We left 42” clear at the end to slide in a 1m/39” wide IKEA wardrobe on the upper bunk side, and a shallow IKEA wardrobe on the low bunk side. The plywood/insulation split also occurs between the wardrobes. We customized the shallow wardrobe to function as a dressing table with a large mirror inserted on the back of a plywood box painted high-gloss pink. A sconce light and electric receptacle make this a perfect spot for hair and makeup (got the teen out of the bathroom!).
Misc Considerations: Old house with sloping floors? Ceiling? Crooked room? Make sure you account for that. If you are considering a complete separation, install a smoke alarm in each cabin, and make sure each one has a window of appropriate size for escape in case of fire. If doing a full split, you may need to add heat/cooling to one side (we added a Runtal electric radiator on the top bunk side). And don’t forget to measure your stairs if large panels are being delivered to an upper floor!
Alternate Solution Idea: While we opted for complete separation into two tiny rooms to maximize privacy, this solution could be employed without adding a second door.
If there were 30” at the end of the bed, that would be enough space to walk from one side to the other. One could utilize an existing or ready-made bunkbed and layers of plywood.
Consider this: a wood bunk bed with thick corner posts (so you can screw into them) and three to four pieces of plywood. One layer gets screwed to the top bunk side and extends from the mattress support level up to the ceiling. Then another layer gets installed on the opposite side and goes from the mattress support level down to the floor. A third piece could be installed at the head of the bed to make the bunks feel more private. The fourth side (foot) of the bed gets slid against the wall. You’d need to stabilize the plywood and attach sides to each other so everything is safe. But that’s the general idea. You could even do this with pieces of fabric - an arrangement of curtains kind of thing for visual privacy. If you want to try this, I’d love to chat and help you think it through, and see your results.
The Process
We drew the divider in great detail so most things were thought out ahead of time, found an enthusiastic furniture maker, and had a number of talks about constructability and details before he started the build. We visited the plywood supplier together and discussed the pros/cons of different wood species, pre-finished plywood vs him finishing it in the shop, cost, and who was in charge of which aspects (we did all the IKEA pieces, and the dresser insert, and a licensed electrician hard-wired the receptacles and lighting). Photos of fabricator Jeff Pizzi in his shop in Rhode Island where the bunk was fabricated, then images of what it looked like at delivery as panels.
Materials
Plywood selection is important.
Finply/Europly: We recommend using plywood that does not contain formaldehyde (most plywood does). Try for FSC Certified wood which is responsibly/ethically sourced. Higher grade “finply” Baltic Birch Plywood has thinner layers and looks nicer on the edges and is sometimes available pre-finished. It has one good face, and one less good (you will see plugs). It’s extremely hard because it doesn’t have soft wood fillers for the inner layers. Ask about the face grade of the plywood, and if there’s a A and B side or if it’s AA or BB.
Sources: Our furniture fabricator (Jeff Pizzi, Lincoln RI) sourced the plywood from Atlantic Plywood in Providence RI. It is called Europly and is a US/Canadian product made by Columbia Forest Products in NC, and has thin plys that mimic Baltic Birch. It is formaldehyde-free and FSC-certified. We selected maple face veneer (lead times vary by species). For past projects that we built ourselves, we have sourced Baltic Birch and Europly from Boulter Plywood in Medford MA. They will cut pieces to size if you give them a diagram ($1 per cut) and are really knowledgeable about products.
Cost: In terms of cost, thin-ply plywood with high-grade faces cost appx $8/sf and regular plywood costs about $4/sf. Wood and plywood prices change, so talk to your local plywood supplier and furniture fabricator. Europly/Finply is much stronger than regular plywood. 2019 Prices.
Thickness: We used 3/4” thick for most of the bed construction, but 1” thick on the side that has the upper bunk as we wanted the side rail to be very sturdy, and it has climbing holds fastened into it.
Fasteners are stainless steel with finish washers, and we discussed screw pattern with the woodworker
Wood Finish is Bona Traffic, Matte (lead time was much shorter for unfinished plywood)
Products used on the PuzzleBunks
Climbing holds are made by Tension Climbing in Denver
(love their products, but don’t use jug rungs for a ladder like we did—they are not good on the feet!)
Guitar hook is from OneFortyThree
Wardrobes IKEA
Reading Lamps are Guppy Sconces (stopped working after 2 yrs), soon to be replaced with RWB Monocle
Installation Photos:
Other Products in the Rooms
Fold-down Desk is GamFratesi NUBO via Ligne Roset
Wallpapers are from Trove in Brooklyn and Cole & Sons at Kravet/Boston Design Center
Wall shelves are from Lekker Home (BluDot/Welf)
Rugs Landry & Arcari
Best Seat in the House (for the kid with the smallest room) is from a Ligne Roset sample sale
Credits
Fabrication: Jeff Pizzi Furniture & Cabinetry, Lincoln RI
Final photos by Sean Litchfield, in-progress photos by Belinda Watt
Thank you to humor writer/ad-man/friend Tod Brubaker for helping us brainstorm names for the bunks!
Lastly, thank you to my kids who are always up for adventures in and out of the house
And to my Dad
Photos: provisioning on Margarita before heading to Las Aves Archipelago/Venezuela, 1995
This drawing is shared for information only, with the intent of helping others in figuring out their own project in terms of sizing and what might work in different room sizes. If referring to our drawings, please have your woodworker provide their own engineering calculations to ensure adequate supports and attachments. Don’t forget safe egress, smoke detector, heating etc - your local building authority can advise.
Thank you and best wishes! ~Belinda