Last weekend, the suitemates built a loft in their room. It's a nice loft. Pine. Six and a half feet high. It easily doubles the space in their room. The only problem is that having their mattresses up so high makes it really, really hard to climb in to bed. Matt had a solution: he would build a rope ladder.
So today, armed with a hand saw, a slow power drill, a length of blue and white nylon rope, and a two-by-four, he set about constructing his ladder. It took him at least an hour to cut the two-by-four into six steps. After that, it took him another 30 minutes to drill the holes for the rope to pass through. Michael and I then chimed in on how we thought he should attach the ladder to the loft. Upon reaching a decision, Matt attached the rope and I helped tie on the steps.
The ladder was ready for its trial run. It looked good, but to say it didn't work would be an understatement. It was nearly impossible to get above even the second step because as soon as one did, the entire ladder would swing out parallel to the underside of the bed. If the climber managed to hang on, he would then find himself with no handholds to use to vault up onto the mattress. Michael, Matt, Kristy, and I all took turns trying to climb up the disagreeable ladder. None of us succeeded. The project (and a good chunk of Matt's day) was a bust.
Not to be discouraged, Matt decided to make a swing out of the rope and one of the steps. Unfortunately, he didn't have much success with that, either. It caused to entire loft to sway and bend, so, like the ladder, it had to come down.
