My Floating Bed #DIY Project

You don't need a floating bed to have a good night's sleep, but if you must, please invest in a good mattress instead because that has a considerable effect on the quality of your sleep and, therefore, the quality of your life. I don't have to dig into the science to prove how good sleep influences a good life. 

If it's the mattress that matters, why did I work on a bed? A floating bed, rather? At first, I was into making a headboard for my old bed. I spent a long time reading and writing in my bed, and it was painful not to have a soft and sturdy headboard to lean on. 

I worked on a headboard that I always wanted to have. I had a mental picture of one. The ones I saw in the market were not within the budget I could afford and not quite the kind I wanted. My Headboard came out better than I thought. I went beyond wood and carpentry into foam and cloth. I didn't stop there. 

 

Why did I even want a headboard in the first place? I wanted to read and write in my bed; that's when I felt the need to have a reading light attached. Now that I have an electrical item attached, I thought, why not add another feature to make life easy; I added a mobile charging station on both ends of the board for my wife and me. No more messy extension cords and chargers on the bedside table at night. 

Initially, it was a standard two-pin plug, but a friend suggested I have a USB charger and remove the need for an external charger. Likewise, I had a reading light that had a small switch that was difficult to locate, especially when I was sleepy and trying to turn off the light; therefore, the same friend suggested I go for a light that would turn on and off by mere touch on any part- and no switch.

Only after I had the magnificent headboard built and attached to my old bed did I realize that I needed a more matching bed. I wasn't so confident about making a bed. But when I saw the floating bed concept, I knew I could do that. I knew I could do better. Thus, I worked on it, and I had the bed done within a few days. I brought it home and coupled it with my headboard. 

Going strictly by the recipe, I even added an LED light underneath the bed to glorify the floating effect. I stole the LED lights from my daughter's room. 

The satisfaction of having done the bed didn't last long because I felt something was missing. The headboard and the bed looked like they were from different planets. 

From my experience of working on a friend's zen bed, I knew I needed to wrap my bed in the same cloth as the headboard. I went back to the fabric store from where I bought the foam and clothes to get an additional cloth. 

There you go! The bed seemed like it had grown out of the headboard. It looked soft and comfy all of a sudden. It came out the way I loved it to be, far better than I thought I was capable of making. It was definitely an accidental success, and I have learned so much from experience. I am willing to share them. 

And finally, I have my floating bed. My daughter has taken away the LED light, but it looks great either way. The concept of having the bed floating is both aesthetic and functional; there are no issues when sweeping the floor around and underneath the bed.  

And yeah, Good Night!

Copyrighted Road in Paro?

Japanese are very serious about copyright infringements and I heard even their fruits come without seeds because they don't want the rest of the world to grow their fruits. Talking about copyright, did they copyright the amazing farm roads they built in Paro?

The farm roads Japanese built in Paro are simply the finest example of how engineering when woven with nature can become timeless. They haven't used concrete nor were the roads blacktopped, but over the last 20 years the road stood the test of time. The gravels and sand just seem to know where to remain for ages, and this cannot be an accident. Japanese found the secret to building himalayan roads. And I am thankfully loving this road on my way to meeting my son on the weekend.

How is it built?

But the sad and obvious Bhutanese story is when the Japanese left we only kept the roads, we haven't learned their ways of building that kind of roads. In last 20 years our highways were redone over hundred times and we have built hundreds of funny farm roads across the country, if we knew the Japanese way it would have saved us millions from each kilometer so far. The Japanese came to overseas and mountains to help us but we just took their kindness for granted.

I'm wondering what those Bhutanese offices, engineers, and people who were involved with the Japanese projects were doing besides licking boots. What have they learned? Or am I right in guessing that the Japanese copyrighted the road, and never revealed the secrets? We will never know how good roads are built.