Inside Aaron’s Apartment: A Most Amazing Bedroom | Hacker News Reader

Inside Aaron’s Apartment: A Most Amazing Bedroom

haighteration.com

107 pointsgeuis53 comments

The Murphy bed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy_bed) is a traditional solution based on rotating the bed 90 degrees to form a wall, rather than sliding wood on/off it to form a floor. This guy's solution seems nicer in a way, but a bit more complex.

Actually I've wondered why Murphy beds, or something similar, aren't more common in space-constrained housing. They don't seem all that complex. The only widespread example I can think of that people actually use is Japanese sleeping on roll-up futon mattresses that can be put away during the day (though western-style beds are now common there also).

They seem to be making a bit of a comeback actually particularly in spare bedroom/offices.

My mom built a "library" in their house that has one and my sister in-law recent switched the futon in their spare to a Murphy bed. I think part of it is design, newer ones are very slick.

By raising the bed a few feet off the ground you get a fair amount of storage space which is often in short supply in space constrained apartments. A friend uses 4 ropes on each side and motor / pulley system in his attic to raise the bead to the sealing which has the advantage of not requiring you to do anything to the sheets, but takes a little extra work. He even had someone paint the underside so it looks interesting up there.

And, I find people using inflatable mattresses for spillover guest bed's which take up vary little room.

I've seen multiple apartments in old SF buildings that have a unique style of Murphy bed.

Two units next to each other will each have one room (bathroom or kitchen usually) that is elevated a few steps up.

That extra space allows for your neighbor to have a large drawer at ground level that contains his or her bed during the day. In effect, you're storing your bed under your neighbor's apartment. Unlike a vertical Murphy bed, you can use a heavy mattress and you don't have to make your bed to put it away.

It's pretty smart, but the person I knew who had one never used it because the building was old and he was convinced his bed would be full of spiders. :)

What about bedsheets, pillows etc. Also it seems it is hygienic to let the mattress air dry. I like this guy's sliding lego house: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juWaO5TJS00

I live in a new highrise (<10 years) building in SF and my bedroom has a murphy bed.

If you're interested in Murphy bed-style furniture, these guys make some amazing looking stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAa6bOWB8qY

I'm much more interested in buying/engineering something like this, instead of raising my floor and getting motorized.

My grandparents have a Murphy bed in their apartment. Their reason for buying it at the time was they also used the flat as a small doctor's office and the bedroom was the waiting room during day.

It has a wooden back plate on the underside so that it looks like a large black wall closet when hidden.

I think one advantage of this system over the one from the article is that it requires less vertical space.

Cute & fun, but not engineered very well. In order to have the sunken bed:

  - he's raised the floor (effectively lowering the ceiling)
  - cut his floor space dramatically
  - made the center of the room unusable (stairs)
  - introduced a dependency between electricity & sleep
    (though there's probably a manual override)
  - made it harder to change his sheets
  - annoyed the neighbors (power drill to open the bed)
  - made moving day a royal PITA

I think a bunk bed w/o a lower bed would be a better, cheaper, and less problematic solution.

Yes, the electrical component is unnecessary. He could have quite simply built a raised floor (as he has done, maybe 1ft off the ground) cut a hole in the middle, stuck in a mattress and then during the day had a board that covers the top to create a complete "floor". Definitely cute and fun, but impractical and over-engineered.

How would you feel about sleeping on a sunken bed, which would be under a removable section of floor during the day?

Reminds me of this:

JERRY: (To Kramer and Morty) What is this about?

KRAMER: I'm completely changing the configuration of the apartment. You're not gonna believe it when you see it. A whole new lifestyle.

JERRY: What are you doing?

KRAMER: Levels.

JERRY: Levels?

KRAMER: Yeah, I'm getting rid of all my furniture. All of it. And I'm going to build these different levels, with steps, and it'll all be carpeted with a lot of pillows. You know, like ancient Egypt.

exactly what i was thinking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQyXeLSL0II

Just an FYI, but that wiring is way out of code.

Edit: The reason I bring this up is because if it starts a fire no insurance is going to cover the lose. You'll be out of pocket big time in an apartment.

That's another good reason why you should consult your landlord before embarking on this type of project.

The article said the landlord lives above him and gave him the OK on the project.

> if it starts a fire no insurance is going to cover the [loss].

Are you sure about that? On what evidence are you basing this claim? I've been searching for the last 20 minutes, and all I can conclude is that this is a very subtle and complex issue:

http://www.doityourself.com/forum/electrical-c-d-c/410442-ca...

He's got an electrical junction in an uncovered box. That's a fire hazard. And even if he boxed it properly (by removing the outlet box and replacing it with a junction box) it would be against code to plywood over the frame and make the junction inaccessible. To do this properly he could have left the original outlet accessible in a little well and ran an extension cord to it, or he could have run a wire into the back of the box, through the wall, to a new outlet box higher up. He would have had to keep it directly above the old box to avoid trying to snake the wire horizontally through framing, but that would probably be ok.

Now that I think about it, there is probably a code violation in having his new outlet so close to the hvac vent, and also having it horizontal without using a covered floor-style outlet.

It's San Francisco. The parts of the city that haven't burned down yet, and been rebuilt, will burn down eventually. :-)

I guess if this works for him...

And people will give him kudos for designing and making this.

But it really looks to be overkill. When I was in college many years ago--and I imagine it's still done--we solved this problem by making loft/bunk beds.

Engineering isn't just about making something whiz-bang; it's also about seeking simplicity and the best cost solution.

I did the same thing in my first apartment, which I shared with two friends from college. My room was too small for anything but a bed and one wall was 9 feet, so I built a high platform for the bed with a lower 3' platform as a landing, and a set of stairs leading up to the landing. Underneath the landing I had a closet, and under the bed I had room for a small home office.

This is cool and all but I have some concerns about his long term exposure to formaldehyde from the building materials.

Per EPA website:

"In homes, the most significant sources of formaldehyde are likely to be pressed wood products made using adhesives that contain urea-formaldehyde (UF) resins.

Formaldehyde, a colorless, pungent-smelling gas, can cause watery eyes, burning sensations in the eyes and throat, nausea, and difficulty in breathing in some humans exposed at elevated levels (above 0.1 parts per million). High concentrations may trigger attacks in people with asthma. There is evidence that some people can develop a sensitivity to formaldehyde. It has also been shown to cause cancer in animals and may cause cancer in humans. Health effects include eye, nose, and throat irritation; wheezing and coughing; fatigue; skin rash; severe allergic reactions. May cause cancer."

source: http://www.epa.gov/iaq/formalde.html

Neat, but I'd prefer a bunk bed (motorized if you want to preserve the geek factor) so that all the dirt from my shoes don't fall onto my pillows through gaps between those plywood panels. If this is on the West Coast, I'd also be worried about getting my head smashed with that printer in the event of a midnight earthquake... but maybe that's just paranoia. This looks like a really nice way to make the most space out of those old apartments with unnecessarily high ceilings.

I appreciate this apartment in China. It's incredible. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg9qnWg9kak

That looks like an accident waiting to happen. Especially with the chair on casters so near the edge of that massive drop covered in pointy corners.

That's exactly what I was thinking, I know I'd find a way to injure myself if I had one of those.

Best ad for not hosting with inmotionhosting.com I've ever seen.

Webcache of the actual post: https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http%3...

Most people can't fathom what would lead a person to do this -- those people pick new surroundings, and don't see a reason modify their existing ones to suit their needs.

This is what sets engineers apart.

Being stubborn as all hell?

"What do you mean 'can\'t'?" I'll turn this hp jetdirect into a router bwahahaha!

Attitudes like this lead to spending three sleepless days getting an obscure Linux variant running on a Powerbook G4 with nothing more than two old forum posts and a pot of coffee.

And yes it's fun as all hell. :)

>two old forum posts and a pot of coffee

Something about this made me laugh.

50 years ago: "I'll make this work with nothing but duct tape and chicken wire!"

Today: "I'll make this work with nothing but two old forum posts and a shitload of coffee!"

Love it.

Your comment makes me very happy I don't own a hp jetdirect, or I might've ended up wasting my easter.

just seems like epic procrastination to me.

This apartments reminds me of other clever one room apartments:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juWaO5TJS00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4yJGTPUR_0

78sq ft in NYC (no kitchen, shares bathroom, $800/month):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4FoAr8i26g&feature=relmf...

Pics of tiny apartments in expensive cities like this make me downright claustrophobic, no matter how cleverly they've been arranged. I'd much rather take the salary hit and live somewhere quiet with a yard and a few rooms.

This CoralCDN link works: http://haighteration.com.nyud.net/2012/04/inside-aarons-apar...

Hey gang - Andrew here, author of the article. Yes, apparently this news.yc post has brought our little site down. Working to get it restored. Who knew people would get so jazzed about a modified bed?

Site's back up. But please, be gentle.

Seems neat. Why not put the bed on a lift-suspension system. I've seen some ads in the Paris metro for a motorized bed. Push a buttom bed goes to the ceiling, push again and bed comes back down.

I knew a guy back in college we called "6-8" because he was 6'8" and we weren't terribly creative. He lofted his bed, but found that he couldn't sit comfortably under it... so he put a winch on it.

When the project was finished, every single member of our chapter could stand underneath his winched to the ceiling bed, except for 6-8, who was two inches too tall.

Eventually, he dropped out of the engineering program and went for a business degree. When we went into the attic one day and saw his winch was attached to a hole drilled into a diagonal roof support beam, we remembered why you shouldn't let non-engineers build housing enhancements...

At first I thought the cube-like stairs were the part which dropped down into the floor when the knob is turned, like something out of a futuristic movie.

Was just a little disappointed when I saw that that wasn't the case :)

I saw way crazier feats of room engineering at GaTech fraternities.

I even remember a funnel like apparatus to a toliet so that people in the loft did not have to climb down to take a leak.

It was rather gross.

I think they got DDOSed by HN. Website down.

Use a hammock

Server is caput.

Here's a webcache link, hopefully it works for others too:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?sourceid=chrome...

That is not the whole post. Just the front page of the blog.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?sourceid=chrome...

thanks, I updated mine with this one :)

full page cache link: https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http%3...

I would have used a foldable bed.

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