ALMA MINI COT REPURPOSING (Full Utilization)
(Please click each image for a larger version.)
It all began with buying our son’s first baby bed. Acquired in 2009, the Alma Mini was undoubtedly a great purchase. Already with desirable transformative qualities by its own design, it was the perfect choice for small quarters. Featuring patented no-tools-required setup with two base height settings (“bassinet” and “crib”), easily and compactly foldable, this castor-mobile cot showed its great potential from the very beginning.
Baby and parents had a great run with it for about 10 months, and then, sadly, we had to face the fact that the length of the fast growing cot occupant was prompting for a bed size upgrade. As a result, the infant gentleman was equipped with the larger Bloom Luxo bed, and his parents were left with the beautiful Alma Mini and no one to utilize it any longer. That seemed like a shame!
Luckily, at around the same time, we were in need of a room divider to section off a work area (a.k.a. The Den) as it would have been unsafe for both baby and work projects to cross paths. Conventionally sold barriers were not a good option for our situation as most were not wide enough and almost all seemed like they would not fit esthetically in the space.
So, the designer wheels quickly turned in response to this lovely coincidence. One more careful look at the specific workings of the crib structure, and a plan was quickly crystalizing in my mind. As seen on Fig. 1 below, the cot was very easy to take apart, it was only a matter of removing about a couple of dozen screws. From there, all it took was a bit of playing around with how to rearrange the four folding panels (marked in teal on Fig. 2) in order to produce a 4-fold accordion.
Unused stays from the Bloom Luxo were shortened to the proper size and used as mounts to secure both ends of the structure to the wall and the bookcase, as shown. Some additional hardware was purchased for latches and to secure the gate into a sturdy straight position, when needed. The 4 crib casters were installed into newly drilled openings centred at the bottom of each panel.
Et voilà! A room divider-gate on wheels was born!
I think it was very lucky that the width of the entryway into the den worked perfectly with the finished size of the structure. Well, everyone gets lucky once in a while… And my good fortune with the Alma Mini was yet to continue…
We were left with the four corner panels of the cot (rendered in orange on Fig. 2 above). I have to admit that I had not conceived this second idea at the same time as the divider one. But once I glanced at the unused parts, it was immediately clear that these 4 will connect together perfectly to make a…. tall box sort of thing?
Yes, there was no bottom panel, but if I was to make one…. Could it become storage box? Yes, quite an unusual one, but I was never one too much for the usual, anyway. A couple of corrugated plastic boards cut to size quickly solved the missing bottom issue. (Which was supposed to be only a quick temporary solution, but they fit so nicely that they remain until this day, years down the road).
The placement of this (very handy as it turned out!) storage box, as seen in the photos below, became part of another practical space divider at the other end of the sitting area.
Conclusion
The Alma Mini Cot Transformations was a greatly satisfying project in a number of ways. Firstly, of course, it never fails to feel good knowing that the right thing was done. In this case, a need was met, with repurposing and recycling decidedly taking place. Original thought and good effort were applied and the result was highly successful, both functionally and esthetically. On this small scale, interior design felt at one of its best for me. ♦
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