Oscar's Castaway Cabin Bed

My brilliant son, Oscar, shares the family's love for the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' ride at Disneyland Paris. We were there this summer (2022), and Oscar, my wife Nici, and I discussed sorting out his room and making it more of what he wanted. Whilst eating at the Captain Jack restaurant, I offered to turn his cabin bed into something a little more like the surroundings we were in.

Now, I have no background in carpentry, last having done something like it back in 1st year high school some 35+ years earlier. I'd never attempted anything so large. It had to be safe and secure too, as Oscar was going to use it daily. It would be his sanctuary when the world got too much, a safe place. Most of all, it had to be *his*, and not something inflicted on him by well-meaning but ultimately erroneous parents. Oscar had to be involved in every major decision about the project.

First up, here's the inspiration pics for the project, taken while we were on holiday:

Another major inspiration for the project is the amazing videogame Sea of Thieves. Of course, as many will know, it has adventures in the game based on the Pirates of the Caribbean films and the ride, so the aesthetic matches perfectly. This video illustrates this perfectly, and we'll come back to the work of Relanim later.

The only way I could approach this project was as a huge model - one that had to be safe and stand up on its own feet. Here are the usual step-by-step pics. (At time of writing, we're still waiting for the fake leaves that will be the roof of the castaway cabin.)

At all stages of construction, the bed still needed to be useable at the end of the day. I'm pleased to say that I was able to do that throughout the build. All told, I think it took about five days, spread out through the month while I waited for wood.

The bamboo came from UK Bamboo Supplies Ltd, who were absolutely blimmin' brilliant. The basic wooden posts hiding behind the boards on the long wall and elsewhere, and making the frame for the window, came from the local Homebase. The reclaimed scaffold boards were found on Amazon, as were the fake candles and plastic plants, and the undyed cotton fabric, the hemp rope, and the two shelves. The 'oil lamp' was IKEA, as were the netting bags. The cutlass was from LARP Warriors and is magnificent. There are other bits and pieces found in local thrift and antique shops.

The window is a dead cheap 19-inch monitor from Amazon, and an AGPtek HD media player running the files downloaded from YouTube on to a USB memory stick I've had lying about forever. The monitor has decent speakers, allowing the beautiful ambient sounds Relanim recorded for their videos to help Oscar relax before he goes to sleep. Sea of Thieves is a ridiculously beautiful game, and having that visible through the window is fab.

Some very cool old-fashioned square headed nails were added to hide screws and add atmosphere to the thing. Similar upholstery tacks will be added later to hide the remaining screw heads.

One thing I discovered to my cost was that the dark bamboo, when I cut it in half, has a lethally sharp edge. The term 'razor sharp' very literally applies - you could shave with that edge. Whatever you do, make sure you cover or sand off the edge. I used rolled-up spare cotton, bound with string to keep the nautical-looking theme, and pinned it to the bamboo to protect my son from harm. UK Bamboo Supplies Ltd sent the yellow bamboo pre-halved, with the edges already sanded down.

As you can see, I had a little help on this job from Weasel.

We weren't able to get plastic palm leaves of the size we wanted at a price that wasn't insane. Instead, I used the last of the cotton to put a roof on the shack, then I stapled stalked leaves to the monitor frame and central bamboo pole, and scattered the fabric leaves and rest of the stalked leaves on the roof. 

You can also see in this pic how the monitor sits inside the support frame. It's open at the back to allow ventilation so the monitor doesn't overheat. There's distance between the monitor and the plastic glass (from cheap picture frames) with the edges having leaves intruding. That slight gap gives a better feeling that you're looking at an actual view than it would have done had the monitor been up against the 'glass'.

From inside, the effect is that the cabin is surrounded by the jungle. It works really well. Oh, and I added a big plastic fern growing into the cabin at the foot end of the bed.

I am stupidly proud of how this project has turned out, particularly how happy my son is with it. With the curtains closed, it's a private, safe, warm place for him to find sanctuary in. Most importantly, it's what Oscar wanted.

I hope you'll take inspiration from this to give your own projects a try. It's remarkably easy to get amazing effects with the simplest of materials, even if you're not entirely sure what you're doing - like me!