A bed that gives the room back

When we were living in a small flat in Streatham with our first child on the way, we were sorely lacking space. The bedroom had an old built-in unit that was dated and a bit drab, and the bed took up the whole room, which didn't suit a household with a dancer in it, two people starting yoga, and a baby who'd soon need some floor to roll around on. So I designed a folding bed for our own flat.

I wanted it to feel Scandi and properly made, so it's birch plywood throughout, with swan neck reading lights inside because we read in bed most nights, and book storage on the outside along with a wireless charger and space for a glass of water and tissues. Underneath the folded bed there's an extra drawer, which had to open whether the bed was up or down.

Getting it in was the real puzzle. The stairs up to the flat turned back on themselves with some tight angles, so everything had to be flat-packable, and I knew we'd move one day, so it also had to come apart again. I started from the mechanism supplier's guidance and reworked it in my own material and detailing. Fitting takes about half a day.

That decision paid off when we moved to Staines. The bed came apart, came with us, and needed only a small modification to work around a picture rail in the new house.

We've used it for over ten years now, across two homes. Straps hold the duvet in place, it folds up in seconds, and the room becomes a yoga space, a dance floor or a playroom. The finish and the thickness of the ply are what I'm most pleased with, but the real value has always been the space it gave us.