When art lovers, the Halls, wanted to create a private art gallery in their Isle of Man bedroom that they could view from different angles, the team at Movetech UK quickly grabbed an understanding of what was required and, crucially, designed a solution. The Halls’ bed now sits on a specially built manual turntable that they can turn to face different artwork whenever required.
Robert Hall explains: “We like art, we like big spaces to hang it in, and we like to surround ourselves with it.
“We are particularly interested nowadays in designing all our domestic interiors with this in mind. We therefore wanted to create a bedroom that was not necessarily built around the usual fixed point of the bed and which would allow us to have multiple configurations as we move our artistic endeavours around.
“Being able to turn the bed for sightline, lighting, multiple aspect and seasonal purposes was the starting point. I hunted around for someone who could handle my engineering spec with the right degree of robustness, and Movetech UK were the only people who actually understood what I was talking about! And they were spot on to work with, so everything came together brilliantly.
“When the bed is turned around a flat TV hidden on the back of the bedhead can be viewed from the rest of the room without the ‘beddiness’ of the bedroom making it feel like a bedsit, and also, of course, without disturbing anyone sleeping at the time. The bed is under lit on a sensor, so it appears to float; this is triggered automatically should someone get up for a mooch around in the middle of the night without the need for additional lighting.”
Robert Hall first contacted Movetech UK through the website, asking if a manual turntable could rotate the bed. A subsequent visit from Mr and Mrs Hall to Movetech UK’s Bolton headquarters helped the team build a bespoke solution, a turntable with a 2.7m diameter deck and a rotating frame of 2.65m diameter finished in silver gloss. Felt has been fitted to the underside of the base frame to protect the floor surface.
The turntable was also built in a modular construction to allow it to be negotiated up domestic stairways for installation on the 4th floor.
Additional design features for the bed were added by the Halls. Not being able to find a circular bed with a high spec mattress, they opted for a traditional square bed and added semi-circular seating to the edges. Not only do they create the illusion of a circular bed, but they provide a firm sitting position when getting out of bed.
“Leaving a bed from its soft edge can be a bit of a pain, so arranging the surround at chair height was also necessary, continues Robert Hall. “This turned out to be a fantastic solution. It’s really comfortable and we would recommend it to anyone.
“An interesting side effect has been that the family wants to know who will get the turntable when we pass on. Presumably they, too, have plans but we never realised we were doing something original by way of creating an heirloom!”
