The wife is doing Annie Kids at her elementary school and has demanded requested that I build her two bunk beds for the purpose of the show. At first I was going the direction of building two standard platforms, but with a dimension of 6'x3' and then using 2x4's as legs and bolting it together, setting the top bunk about 4' off the deck. I was figuring on a ladder on the front and back (opposing corners) to stabilize against lateral forces and seeing if it merited additional crossbracing from there. From what I can see, most commercial (read: IKEA-like) bunk beds use the ladders for the shear bracing.
In doing some research, I looked up some blueprints for making bunk beds (for home use) and found these- http://ana-white.com/2010/09/classic-bunk-beds-cleverly-designed.html
I love me some Ana White and have used a handful of her ideas for building furniture at my house, but I feel like the 1x stuff might not hold together. I'm guessing it's fine since people have built this design without much complaining from the peanut gallery It'd be nicer since it's a lot lighter than 2x4, but also more expensive where we are. Lots of tradeoffs here.
Anyone have experience with safe and economical bunk beds? These are small kids so 6x3x4 is plenty big. I can't rule out more than one kid on top at a time. They will not be standing up on the top bunk beds.
While we're at it, anyone got cheap ideas for flats that can be freestanding and painted on both sides that can be swapped inbetween scenes? I came up with a 6'x3' broadway hard flat with hardboard on both sides that fits into a 3'x3' base on casters using 10" metal L brackets to lock it to the base, but in materials it will run about $75 apiece. The brackets are $25 of that, so I'm thinking smaller ones might be more cost-effective, but too small and you get the wobble factor.
I'm trying to convince her that investing in reusable flats that can accomodate 2-3 scenes per show will last her forever doing these MTI kid/Jr shows. Wanted to sell her on periaktois, but she can't drill into her stage to set a pivot point and storage is at a premium. There'd be nowhere they could live in the offseason.
Thanks in advance!
In doing some research, I looked up some blueprints for making bunk beds (for home use) and found these- http://ana-white.com/2010/09/classic-bunk-beds-cleverly-designed.html
I love me some Ana White and have used a handful of her ideas for building furniture at my house, but I feel like the 1x stuff might not hold together. I'm guessing it's fine since people have built this design without much complaining from the peanut gallery It'd be nicer since it's a lot lighter than 2x4, but also more expensive where we are. Lots of tradeoffs here.
Anyone have experience with safe and economical bunk beds? These are small kids so 6x3x4 is plenty big. I can't rule out more than one kid on top at a time. They will not be standing up on the top bunk beds.
While we're at it, anyone got cheap ideas for flats that can be freestanding and painted on both sides that can be swapped inbetween scenes? I came up with a 6'x3' broadway hard flat with hardboard on both sides that fits into a 3'x3' base on casters using 10" metal L brackets to lock it to the base, but in materials it will run about $75 apiece. The brackets are $25 of that, so I'm thinking smaller ones might be more cost-effective, but too small and you get the wobble factor.
I'm trying to convince her that investing in reusable flats that can accomodate 2-3 scenes per show will last her forever doing these MTI kid/Jr shows. Wanted to sell her on periaktois, but she can't drill into her stage to set a pivot point and storage is at a premium. There'd be nowhere they could live in the offseason.
Thanks in advance!