As in Switzerland: making a cardboard clamshell with your own hands quickly and easily

Not everyone owns large apartments or houses. Wardrobes, bedside tables, tables, chairs, beds take up a lot of space. And sometimes physically there is not enough space to put an additional sofa. In this case, you can use your ingenuity and build a clamshell. Moreover, it can be easily done from ordinary corrugated cardboard with your own hands.

Of course, in terms of strength and reliability, the material is inferior to wood, any metal and plastic. Paper furniture even sounds childish. But still, products made from it can also withstand serious and regular stress.

When starting to create furniture, you need to take into account some of the nuances. The thicker the material, the more difficult it is to work with it. But the resulting objects will also be much stronger than using thin material.

What is required to create a cardboard clamshell

To create a rollaway bed, you will need sheets of 7mm corrugated cardboard, which is usually used for packaging goods, and woven tape or braid.

The advantages of using corrugated board are lightness and low cost. This look usually consists of three layers. Its structure makes the material strong and rather rigid, and makes it possible to withstand heavy loads.

We make a pattern

Before proceeding with the assembly, you need to draw a pattern. To do this, you need to decide what size the clamshell will be. The optimal height is 25 cm, the length is 2 meters, and the width is 1 meter.

Using simple mathematical formulas, you need to calculate how much material you need to take. If the distance between the folds (zigzags) is 20 cm, then for a two-meter clamshell you will need a piece 5 meters long and 1 meter wide, respectively. The second piece should be 2 meters by 1 meter.

Putting together a wonderful clamshell

1. The cardboard must be folded in the form of an accordion, bending each 20 cm, according to the pattern. Then you should fix the zigzag structure. To do this, you need to stretch the woven tape from one edge to the other, thus fixing the folds. This should be done on both sides of the future clamshell. At this stage, it is worth trying hard so that the bed does not "parted".
2. Next, put the second sheet on top of the structure. It serves both for horizontal strengthening of the folding bed, and is the place on which the mattress will be located.
3. With long and constant use, the clamshell can be glued for its reliability. But on the other hand, the product is light and mobile. This makes it possible to assemble and disassemble it in a matter of minutes.

Perhaps the idea of ​​creating such furniture seems, at first glance, absurd. But this is not the case. Moreover, large European companies offer beds, sofas, armchairs, wardrobes, corrugated cardboard shelves at very impressive prices.

Of course, the material for such interior items differs from the usual "boxed" one: it is stronger, more reliable, and even repels water. And this furniture looks interesting and modern thanks to the efforts of leading designers.

And yet: cardboard remains a lightweight, practical and inexpensive material from which absolutely everyone can make a comfortable and practical clamshell for themselves.