The Murphy Bed: Install

The Murphy Bed: Production

The Murphy Bed

We recently began fabrication of a cabinetry and casework project for a couple living in Pacific Heights. We first met back in September of last year to discuss transforming an upstairs office into a library of wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling shelving with one provision: one wall of shelving needed to incorporate a Murphy Bed so that the room could serve as a guest bedroom for overnight guests. The clients also wanted the style of the casework to reflect other elements of the Victorian architecture of the home: trim profiles, raised panels, decorative edging, crown molding, etc. With all of this in mind, we left the meeting and set to work on a set of drawings that would give some perspective to the layout of the new interior.

Though the perspective drawings we provided served as a good visual tool for design, they did little in terms of helping to understand the exact spatial constraints that would be imposed by the perimeter walls of shelving. This would be especially critical around the murphy bed. At our next meeting we used blue tape to mark out on the floor exactly where the shelving and murphy bed (in the down position) would be. This, along with budget concerns, led us to the conclusion that one wall of shelving should be eliminated so that more space could be created on the sides of the murphy bed. The revised floor plan below was the result.

After finalizing the design and budget, as well as providing profile samples for the clients' approval, fabrication was set to begin. A friend had given us a tip about a 3-D modeling software called "Google SketchUp" (available as a free download online) that could be used as a tool for building a virtual model of the cabinets (as opposed to the time consuming task of drawing them out by hand.) The software proved to be very user friendly and exceptionally useful in situations where wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling cabinets are concerned. You can work backwards from your maximum dimensions of height, width and depth. In the end, any dimensions which you have not already had to figure, the software can provide for you. However, the "cut list" phase remains part of the process.

And lots of coffee gets us through it. Thank you, Vega.

www.vegaatlangton.com/Vega/Home.html

West Portal Redwood Deck

Here's one from the archive. Completed several months ago, this was a deck replacement project for a couple living in the West Portal neighborhood of San Francisco. The scope of work here was to simply "replace in-kind"; meaning, to remove the 30+ year old redwood deck and replace it with a new deck that maintained the same design, size and shape as the old deck. The only deviations from the original design were in order to satisfy the building department by bringing the new deck "up to code" (raising the guard rail height and installing a hand rail for the steps.) Below is a glimpse at the before-and-after.

Here, the main deck is completed and the stairs are in progress. The decking is 2 inch X 4 inch redwood. Available in 20 foot lengths, the decking runs continuous from end-to-end with no breaks. Using a product called "ShadoeTrack", the decking is attached to the structure with screws from the underside so that all fasteners are concealed. The guard rail posts were rough-cut to length and taken back to the shop for fabrication.

One challenge to the project was access. With no tradesman's alley, the only choice was to bring the new material through the house to the back yard. The old deck was dismantled in sections and stacked temporarily on one side of the property while new materials were stored on the other. After the new deck was completed the old deck was removed, piece by piece, through the house and then hauled away.

The finished product...

A nice design feature from the original deck, the stair treads are framed, or "boxed", using 1 inch X 4 inch redwood. This gives the treads a heavier, "slab-like" appearance. The treads were face screwed using 3" stainless steel trim-head screws.