Building a Bedstee

And on the history of a Dutch alcove bed

We are building a tiny house in a former building construction unit next to our house. We wanted to fit all the comforts of a home into 20 m² without losing the Dutch 1932 farm-style that reflects our own home.

The living space contains a bed, a kitchen and a place to sit in the form of a small dining table situation. There’s a closed off bathroom that we still need to complete.

For the bed we chose a built in bed with panelling and a beamed ceiling. In Dutch we call an alcove bed a bedstee. A bedstee is a sleeping place incorporated in the wall panelling in the form of a cupboard and closed off with doors or curtains. Bedstedes were widely used in The Netherlands until the beginning of the 20th century, especially in the countryside on farms.

One of the advantages of a bedstee is that it can be built into the living room, while it is still invisible during the day because of the closed doors. A separate bedroom is therefore unnecessary. Another advantage is that a bedstee can easily be warmed up in the winter by the body heat of the sleepers, because it is a relatively small space (the cupboard is no larger than the bed itself).

I’ve designed the bedstee using IKEA PLASTA units. There are five cubbies with shelves and basket drawers and there’s one large hanging closet space. I chose drenched garden wood for panelling as it kind of gives off that barn-style vibe. When Bo had it all joined together I painted all the wood in Vert de Terre by Farrow & Ball and the walls, ceiling and windows in Wimborne White also by Farrow & Ball.

The mattress size will be 140 x 200 cm so just large enough for two people to sleep on. It’s going to be so awfully cosy.

The wallpaper is Claudia’s Friend by Laura Ashley. It’s quite cheap wallpaper but I was looking for a ditsy floral print and I didn’t want to break the bank.

There will be a TV on this wall so it will also double as a sofa bed. When we are done building (and making lots of dust) we’ll add two LURÖY slatted bed bases on top of this construction and on top of that a mattress. I can’t wait to curl up with Christmas and watch Christmas movies in the bedstee. It’s like having a wee holiday in my own garden.

Lots of Love, Yvonne