Volvo's Bed

This is a very special project, because it is not for me, but for a car, hahaha..
We had been planing and saving for some years to get a car big enough (but just enough) to sleep inside when we travel, or go to festivals. When we went car shopping, first thing we did was opening the boot and get inside. Karlos is a tall man, and he had to get comfortable laying down.
As soon as our XC60 arrived, I started to make templates for all the pieces I had previously planned in my head. It was march, and we had plans for the summer!

I started with the bed. This commercial bed was my inspiration. I made four pieces, to be stacked on top of each other when dismantled, to the exact measures the car had. 

I first made the templates in strong cardboard, and took them to my carpenter. We chose a wood 1 cm thick multi-laminate, and he cut the four pieces using my cardboard templates, although I decided only to use the top ones, the bottom pieces did not need the wood support since they rested directly and totally over the car platform. The top pieces needed a strong wood support because there is 20-30 cm flying on the air to the front seats.

With the wood pieces, I went directly to the foam shop. We chose 30 kg foam, 6 cm thick from the top pieces and 7 cm for the bottom pieces, to compensate for the wood they did not have.
I then took the pieces home.

All the fabric I bought was organic, cultivated in Andalucia and woven in Catalonia. For the bed pieces' jackets, I chose linen. 

I cut the pieces using the foam (glued to the wood for the top pieces), and made the darts and corners with pins directly over them. I sewed them with my machine, including a long zipper in every piece, and Velcro patches to easily attach and unattach the pieces together. It was intense work!

Next thing I did was the curtains. I made paper templates of every window, except the front one, which I directly bought from Volvo. I used the paper templates to cut two layers of thick cotton knit sweat, that went inside every curtain. 

These were sandwiched between two linen pieces, one bigger than the other, to make a self encased rim all around the edge, machine top stitched. I then made small round buttonholes with the machine, which I perforated with a screw, to insert suctions pads I'd bought in Amazon. 

The result was awesome! I could have used that cheap bubble plastic and aluminum foil, but the organic , dye free, natural coloured material was going to give us a nicer atmosphere inside such a small capsule we had to sleep in. And I am eco-friendly!

Next, I made the sheets with a natural coloured cotton twill. A bottom one with 4 elasticated corners, the top being wider than the bottom, and a top one with two elasticated bottom corners and a nice finish for the top.

I made two nice pillow cases with the same cotton twill, and a pillow bag to carry the pillow around the car (we had another already, so I simply copied).

All this stuff is packed with a linen-cotton canvas that we use as a base, tied to the front seats with the same ties we use to tie it together. I dyed this fabric with some black dye I had around, but it was not enough, and the colour resulted army green, which was even better. 

All the project cost around 450 euros because I was so picky with fabric, but the commercial bed (without the bedclothes) costs 650 euros, so I was still saving money.

We have slept in the car three times already, and we plan to sleep in it many more this summer. It is super comfortable for both of us, but as with a van or a caravan, your experience depends on your surroundings. Shadow is of crucial importance in summer if you go to sleep late at night and you want to sleep till mid morning. If the setting is nice, like in the Monte Urbasa camping, the experience is *****.