Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I've looked at a ton of plan and still don't know what the best height would be for the benches around the table in a Standie or a TTT. There wouldn't be any height restrictions because you would be able to stand up in the trailer. I am talking the height from floor to wood bench height with 4" to 6" of cushions. I am open to all suggestions, well at least ones that don't tell me where to go.... lol.

I swiped that dimension off a pop I used to have. It was 13" from the floor to the top of the plywood seat. Then there were 4" cushions on top of that.

I've since tried 11 3/4" from the floor. That's a 1 x12 piece of wood, with half inch plywood on top. That worked good too!

Mike...

Your making it for you so try the overall height of your favorite kitchen chair.

I agree, measure a chair that you feel good in, and ask the rest of the family

John

Oh, in the Generic ET it's 12". (11 1/4" plus 3/4" boards on top). Then 4" cushions on top of that, for a total of 16"





Mike...

...yep, somewhere in the neighborhood of 16"s+-(including cushions).....................................

a typical kitchen chair is about 18". Table is about 30". One key thing to keep in mind is that relationship. A too short bench with too tall table will make you feel like a kid again!

Mark

The trick is that the height determines whether you have a "sitting up" or a "relaxing" seating position.

Higher seats (say, 16-18") are best for eating at the table and they also help shorten the leg space required - if you sit very upright, you can squeeze two facing people and a table into less than 6 feet.

Lower seats (say, 12"-14") are better for lounging around, reading, watching telly, etc, though they spread you out so you need more length - it's harder to get two people sitting facing each other, unless they do a "you put your legs there and I'll put mine here" sorta thing.

In each case, these heights are measured to the middle of the cushion - for most ordinary foam upholstery, it's reasonable to assume that it will squish down to half its original height when sat on. So Mike's are 14" by this method - 12" solid plus half of a 4" cushion.

Table height needs to be related to seat height - somewhere around 12" above the mid-cushion height. Table height works 'the other way round' to seat height - if the table is high relative to the seat (say, 14"), you need lots of elbow room, whereas if it's low relative to the seat (say, 10"), you can eat with your elbows in by your sides, so that needs less width.

Andrew

Great info Mike and Andrew!! On my current Widget build, I went with 14" from the floor to the top of the bench. We haven't decided on 3" or 4" cushions but after reading some of this stuff I think 4" will probably be the ticket.

Jeff

Wow, Great Input.
I'm not as worried as I was, in fact i'm not worried at all now. Your posts made perfect sence. One assumption I am going on... is the 4" of foam will be enough to sleep comfortabilly. I know the foam as different squish rates of what ever it is called.

Mikes pics also helped with visualizing the proportions once I had some measurements and Andrew's points never occured to me. Brilliant.

Thanks again for all the input. It makes the saying


"measure twice cut once" take on new meaning.

Just measured mine and its 15 1/2" from the floor to the top of the bench, then 3" mattress. If you chair at your computer desk is adjustable try raising and lowering until you find a comfortable height and measure, then build to match

DougH wrote:Just measured mine and its 15 1/2" from the floor to the top of the bench, then 3" mattress. If you chair at your computer desk is adjustable try raising and lowering until you find a comfortable height and measure, then build to match

I just measured my computer chair height and got 15". Thanks. that's a good way to try out some different heights.