Headboard with adjustable backrest?

[mikehalmarack]

Been racking my tiny brain for a while over this. I want to make a rectangular, plywood, double bed headboard.This with two top hinged upholstered panels, each of which pulls out independently at the bottom to form an angled back rest for either party.

Working out how to set and lock the angle without (or even with) mechanical gubbins protruding and breaking up the comfy simplicity is beyond me.

I've almost decided just to manually whack a pillow in behind the bottom of the backrest to set the angle but was looking for something a little more mechanical. Any suggestions?

[newshound]

It's a great idea. I guess the top of each board needs a roller at each side running in a vertical guide. Height could be controlled by a concealed cord. I reckon there is a commercial opportunity there for a neat domestic version of the standard hospital arrangement.

[mikehalmarack]

Thanks for the encouragement! :-)

If the rollers were on the end of an arm and the other end of the arm was a fixed pivot point, then when the arm was at right angles to the board the board would be quite firmly positioned. But when the angle of the arm was more acute, there might be a lot of disconcerting springiness.

[Tim Lamb]

Gas struts?

My wife uses a triangular pillow which lives on the floor when she is not reading.

[Mike Barnes]

If there's enough room you could put the bed a few inches from the wall and tilt (half of) the headboard backwards. That should be much easier, mechanically.

[S Viemeister]

Dowels on the board, at each side. A long channel in the supporting frame, into which the dowels fit. J-shaped 'jogs' in the channel, to hold the headboard at any of three or four different heights/angles. You'd lift the board up and out to adjust it; should be quite steady when in place.

[S Viemeister]

Should have said _upside-down_ j-shapes.

[Chris J Dixon]

It seems obligatory that any makeover programme has to leave a bed piled high with cushions of assorted sizes, however small the room. Where do they go at night?

Chris

[The Natural Philosopher]

since they all give me asthma they are flung as far away as possible.

Like bad pennies, they always return

[Jabba]

[e-mail] scribbled...

One of them cases where it would probably pay to buy one.

Backrests.aspx

[Bob Minchin]

Something based on a traditional deck chair type mechanism perhaps?

[mikehalmarack]

Sounds great! I'm struggling to clearly envisage it but when I do, I'm sure it will be very close to what I'm looking for.

[mikehalmarack]

We won't be short of raw material with our "healthy" diet.

That's got an appealing simplicity to it, though I need to consider later geriatric stumblings. Not that much later, judging by my current nimbleness quotient.

[mikehalmarack]

Down with the dandruff and cat fluff I guess.

[mikehalmarack]

Yes that's a sturdy sounding option.

Referring back to the thread concerning the dampness of the stone windbreak I live in, it's going to be a heavily curtained four poster, built on the basis that we won't be able to seasonally hightail it to southern Spain or Portugal indefinitely. So all variations and other activities will need to take place well within the heavy curtain screening.

[mikehalmarack]

My current psychological disposition means that I need to spend all my dosh on wine and sun seeking. Anyway, my wife gets a buzz out of locating the tool I've been looking for hours, to do a 5 minute job.

[mikehalmarack]

That's a lot like my hazy perception of what S Viemeister wrote and it seems like a solution.

[Adrian C]

As part of my job I occasionally end staying in some posh hotel rooms.

8 pillows on a bed. Crazy.

[Jabba]

[e-mail] scribbled...

Okay, so that's your sex life sorted...

[mikehalmarack]

There but for chemistry.