Nick Makes Things Too.

Living space math, Manhattan style:
A studio apartment divided by (a ton-bunch of furniture) does not equal enough room for a couch.
But I happened to have aforementioned studio and ton-bunch of furniture, and I wanted a couch!

Master wood-worker brother to the rescue!

I've also been wanting a loft bed since I moved to the city—it's such a waste of space to have your bed on the ground! I gave my brother Nick a list of design demands (built in ladder, picket fence style guards up top, as little wood as possible on the bottom so light could get in, etc...). He drew up a plan, and we exchanged modifications via e-mail until my aesthetic demands and his insistence that it actually be structurally sound managed to be satisfied in one drawing.

And then he built it!

I am very pleased. We decided to paint it white (instead of a stain/wood finish) so we could use inexpensive, durable wood. I also like that, even though it's sitting in front of the window, a lot of light still manages to get in.

I found a super cool/cheap/well-kept antique couch on e-bay that fits perfectly underneath!

Nick built into the design a very handy shelf and storage box up top. (The pottery I have up there is a Japanese tea set that I made and fired myself in a very fun traditional raku fired ceramics class.)

My last alarm clock just died—I got this adorable battery powered one (yay, target!) to stick up there so I didn't have to run extension cords up the wall.

And the most exciting part? FLOOR SPACE! The kitties have plenty of romping room now!

And they can still climb in bed—they figured out how to make the 7.5 foot trek up to the top. This is Cerulean surveying her newly-expanded kingdom.