CASE STUDY 1 - Spare/Utility/Study/Play room

Living in Central London, but coming from a large family abroad and with lots of friends as well as relations, Ginette has frequent visitors many of whom stay for a week, or more, at a time.  By incorporating a double ‘WISKAWAY’® Wallbed in a special STUDIO RANGE Cupboard Surround, with integral wash basin as well as other cupboard space, in the smallest room in the flat, just off the kitchen, she can put up her guests in total comfort, but still make good use of the room when the guests aren’t there.

So the room ‘doubles’ as a drying/ironing room, a daytime play room for the younger children and somewhere for the older children to do their homework after school (at a desk located opposite the bed), while Mum prepares the evening meal.

The ‘WISKAWAY’ Wallbed can be stowed away freshly made up for the next guest(s) and can be down and ready to jump into, in literally seconds, when required.  As it is designed to be used every night with a hotel quality Interior Sprung Mattress and folded away fully made up, complete with all the bedding, including the pillows it’s perfect for those extended visits from family and friends from abroad.  The plain white finish on all the cabinetwork helps to make this small room look and feel bigger.

 

CASE STUDY 2 - Studio Flat

Having been lucky enough to find a really good-sized studio flat with period features, David did not want to spoil it by having a divan bed waste valuable space during the day and give the place a ‘bedroomy’ feel when entertaining.  Neither though did he want to compromise on his comfort at night.

The answer was to incorporate a double ‘WISKAWAY’® Wallbed into a whole wall of bespoke STUDIO RANGE units with two double Wardrobes, Open Shelf and Low Storage/Bookshelf units and with additional, matching Low Storage/Bookshelf units on either side of the chimney breast, on the opposite wall.  This still left plenty of space for two large sofas, a coffee table and a tub chair, plus a gate-legged dining table with folding chairs in the bay window area. 

A hotel quality, de luxe Interior Sprung Mattress provides top ‘divan bed’ bed comfort at night and by using a valance on the Wallbed, it even looks exactly like a conventional divan bed, when folded down ready for use.  David choose a black bed frame to go with the 'Black Ash' units. Matching wallpaper, picture and bedding complete the effect.  When the bed has been made in the morning it can be folded away, fully made up, in literally seconds, leaving a large comfortable studio room in which to entertain, or just chill out. 

Come night time, it takes less than a minute to move the tub chair aside, push back the two sofas, which are on castors, rotate the coffee table through ninety degrees and pull down the bed, turning the large day-time studio into a spacious and luxurious bedroom.

Visitors seeing the room by day would never guess its night time secret!

CASE STUDY 3 - Childrens bed/play room

Although a fair sized room, having a conventional bed permanently in place would have severely restricted the available play space in Christopher’s room, so his parents opted for a single ‘WISKAWAY’® Wallbed with plenty of made-to-measure STUDIO RANGE Wardrobe, Storage and Display units to help keep everything organised, tidy and flexible.

The single Wallbed with adjacent Bedside Table and light, matching ‘Dennis the Menace’ duvet set and wallpaper, all housed in a double Cupboard Surround, provide the perfect sleeping space at night. (Note how the special 270 degree hinges allow the left hand bifold door to be folded right back, out of the way, against the side of the bed housing).

In the morning, the bed can be folded quickly and neatly away, fully made up, behind closed doors to reveal a generous living/play area.

 As Christopher grows up, a simple change of wallpaper and bedding will transform his room into a comfortable teenager’s bed sitting room.  By replacing the single Wallbed and Bedside Table with a double Wallbed the room could be further upgraded, without the need to change any of the cabinetwork.

 

CASE STUDY 4 - Sebastien & Dominic shared room

Space limitations meant that brothers Sebastien and Dominic had to share a room and maximising the available space was key, so their parents opted for two single ‘WISKAWAY’® Wallbeds with bespoke STUDIO RANGE units along all four sides of the room.  Thus the two Wallbeds were housed in separate single Cupboard Surrounds, separated by Open Shelf units from each other and from three double Wardrobes along one return wall.  The wall opposite the ‘bed’ wall was taken up with Low Cupboard/Bookshelf/Display units and a special double Desk unit was constructed along the window wall for the two boys to play, study and work at.

Hotel quality Interior Sprung Mattresses provided ideal support and comfort at night and the beds could be folded away in literally seconds, complete with all the bedding, in the morning.

A comfortable twin bedroom at night, this super-versatile room doubled as a spacious and flexible play/study/living area for two during the day.

 

CASE STUDY 5 - Nick & Natasha home office/guest room

Natasha, who is a hospital doctor and Nick who is an engineer both need to work, or study regularly from home.  With only a very small oblong room available for use both as a home office and a guest bedroom, the solution was to incorporate a double ‘Horizontal’ ‘WISKAWAY’® Wallbed in a special STUDIO RANGE Cupboard Surround with matching single Wardrobe and Top Storage/Display unit.

As they favoured a more traditional look, they opted for a paintable MDF unit with mouldings on the doors, which they subsequently painted themselves.

Whilst the shape of the room did not lend itself to the incorporation of a ‘Vertical’ Wallbed, a ‘Horizontal’ ‘Wiskaway’ King Wallbed provided the perfect solution and, although the room in question is very small, they have created a cosy home office, overlooking the garden, which can be converted in just seconds, to a comfortable double guest bedroom when parents, or friends come to stay.

 

CASE STUDY 6 - John home office/guest room

John’s business involves him working from home fairly regularly and initially he used a desk located in the hallway of his small flat.  Following a decision to completely remodel the layout of the flat, however, he decided to move his desk into the (very) small guest bedroom, so that he could work undisturbed and in greater comfort, but he still wanted to be able to accommodate family and friends overnight.

The solution was to incorporate a double ‘WISKAWAY’® Wallbed into a special STUDIO RANGE Cupboard Surround, with Top Storage Box and with matching Wardrobe and Display units on the other three walls.

The result was a spacious home office where John could work undistracted during the day, whilst the double ‘WISKAWAY’ Wallbed could be quickly and effortlessly deployed, to accommodate guests in comfort and style at night.

 

CASE STUDY 7 - The one bedroom flat

Sometimes, depending on the layout, a ‘WISKAWAY’® Wallbed can be the ideal choice for a one bedroom flat, as illustrated here.  The flat in question consisted of an open plan living, dining and kitchen area, a bathroom and an awkward, oblong shaped ‘bedroom’ connecting the two.

The bedroom needed to incorporate extensive cupboard/storage space and a double bed, but the shape of the room made this quite challenging.  A further problem was that the owners did not want friends and visitors to have to walk through their bedroom to get to the bathroom.

Although the shape of the bedroom was not suitable for a ‘Vertical’ Wall Bed, the solution was to incorporate a double ‘Horizontal’ ‘WISKAWAY’ Wall Bed into specially designed STUDIO RANGE units, together with two large double Wardrobes and plenty of Shelving/Display space above the bed - all cleverly concealed behind closed doors during the day.

Visitors to the flat requiring the bathroom pass through a spacious ‘hallway’, with no clue as to what lies behind the cupboard doors!

Come night-time, the room converts in seconds to a luxurious ‘secret’ double bedroom.

 

CASE STUDY 8 - 'Garden' bedroom

You don’t necessarily need to be short of space in order to justify installing a wallbed and there are cases where incorporating a ‘WISKAWAY’® Wallbed makes perfect sense, even when the room in question isn’t particularly small!

One such case is where access to the garden is via a bedroom, but where a conventional divan bed would get in the way and/or the owner does not want guests and visitors to feel as if they are invading someone’s private space, when accessing the garden.  The solution is simple – fold the bed away and use the space all day. Shown here: a double ‘WISKAWAY’ Wallbed in a STUDIO RANGE double Cupboard Surround, with a matching single Wardrobe.

 

CASE STUDY 9 - Staff accommodation

The ‘King & Keys’ Public House is located in a historic building in Fleet Street.  This was one of a chain of Pubs in which the owners had decided to upgrade their upstairs staff accommodation.

In this case, because the room was very small, a ¾ size 4ft (120cms) wide ‘WISKAWAY’® Wall Bed in a simple STUDIO RANGE double Cupboard Surround was specified but, there was a further problem in that the stairs were really narrow and spiralled round, so that even a flat packed 4ft. Wallbed would not fit up the stairs in one piece!

The solution was to make a 2-part double ‘WISKAWAY’ Wallbed, essentially two special 2ft. (60cms) wide single wallbeds which were bolted together, on site, to operate as a double bed and were used in conjunction with a double hotel quality Interior Sprung Mattress.

[The same principle can be used to make other (bigger) sizes of double ‘WISKAWAY’ Wallbed, in two parts, to fit up narrow stairs/through tight spaces.   If desired, these can be used with two single mattresses of the same, or even different, firmnesses which can be zipped, or Velcro’d together for use as a double mattress, but can also be used as two independent single beds, with the bedframes unbolted].

The pictures show clearly, the flexible rubber bedding retaining straps which hold the mattress and bedding in place, when the bed is folded away.  The straps are permanently attached to the head end of the bed and are stretched across the length of the bed and hooked onto the foot end, in just seconds in the morning, when the bed has been made.  At night, the straps are unhooked from the foot end and stowed safely out of the way, at the head end of the bed.

Also clearly visible, is the way in which our special 270 degree STUDIO RANGE cabinet hinges, allow the bifold doors to be folded right back out of the way (space permitting), onto the outside of the sides of the bed housing.

 

CASE STUDY 10 - Holiday flat

A ‘WISKAWAY’® Wallbed can transform a holiday flat, by providing extra living space during the day and/or additional overnight accommodation for friends and family.  These days many people invest in a holiday home, often somewhere warm, abroad and it is often a case of trying to squeeze accommodation for as many people as possible into a limited space!

The pictures here, sent to us by one of our customers with a holiday home in Portugal, illustrate how a double ‘WISKAWAY’ Wallbed can be simply built into a compact space, to provide a really comfortable night’s sleep, whenever required.  This bed was installed and the unit in which it is housed was designed and built, by a local carpenter.

Sliding doors, especially sliding mirror doors (which make the room look bigger) are a popular way of a concealing a wall bed but, when the bed is down you cannot access the adjacent storage space without first folding the bed away again.  

In order to help finance their holiday home, many people will rent out their property, when not actually using it themselves and this is where a ‘WISKAWAY’ Wallbed really comes into its own - being safe, simple and easy to use, as well as super comfortable and completely tenant-proof!

 

CASE STUDY 11 - Hotel Syndicate Room

There are numerous applications for ‘WISKAWAY’® Wallbeds in hotels and holiday accommodation.  Smaller hotels and holiday flats may use wallbeds as the main bed, in order to create more living space during the day.  Larger hotels often use wallbeds for family rooms, which have a conventional double divan bed and so can be used for business clients during the week but have one, or more, additional wallbeds, hidden from sight behind cupboard doors, so that the same room can be used for families with children on weekends and at holiday periods.

Another application for wallbeds in larger hotels is their use in Syndicate rooms.  A Syndicate room is one which does not have a bed on display during the day and is hired out for meetings. In order for such rooms to earn their keep around the clock, however, they can be fitted with a double ‘WISKAWAY’ Wallbed, concealed behind cupboard doors.   When the day’s meetings are finished, the room is cleaned and the bed brought down, already made-up and the room is ready to be let out for an early departing single night stay.  Come morning, the room is cleaned, the bed made up freshly, ready for the next guests and folded away and then the meetings can begin.

As most hotels have their own special look and style of cabinetwork, we usually just supply and fit the Wallbed and Mattress, as was the case here in a number of syndicate rooms at the Aztec West Hotel in Bristol. The hotel choose anthracite bedframes to match their dark wood cabinet doors.