So, it’s spring and that means time for new stuff. This weekend I have been on a domestic rampage. My previously extremely unergonomic pit of a bedroom has now been transformed into a much more pleasant space. I threw away loads old clothes and securely disposed of (i.e. with fire) five years’ worth of useless paperwork. Then I moved the bed to the back of the room in the centre, which leaves me with a nice usable area at the front. Jack Dove (creator of the lightboxes The XX use, http://jackdove.bigcartel.com/) came over to help me put up some new shelves. He is very good at manual stuff and can make almost anything physical. We used 5″ wood screws to drill straight through to the 2×4 wooden structure under the plasterboard, which we found by knocking on the wall and listening for the change in echo. The rails and brackets came from Screwfix, around the corner.

Heartened by our success with the shelves, I decided that I could really set off my new bedside with some kind of table for potential books, phones and glasses of water. No more reaching over the side of the bed and knocking pint glasses over in the middle of the night; a revelation. I took a palette from the street and cut down a spare piece of MDF with a rather terrifying heavy duty circular saw in the workshop. I then used two 5″ wood screws and an electric drill with a screwdriver bit to screw one into the other. Here is the result:

I’m very pleased with it. The back is hollow and set away from the wall by about 3 cm, leaving space for pipes and the concealment of electrical sockets for a lamp and phone charger. It is functional and (I think) aesthetic. More importantly, it was very easy to make.