While After Dark has a LOT of furniture and access to private play-spaces, we totally get that 95% of the kinky world has neither the budget nor the ability to dedicate an entire space in their home for their lifestyle. Doing so can lead to uncomfortable conversations with family, heavy expenses, and can't be done without voiding your lease.
However, we also work with folks to develop their own kinky spaces discreetly and on a budget. While we work with a local fabrication business to do some more of the heavy lifting (and custom machining), there's a LOT you can do on your own to maximize your possibilities.
1. Under the Bed Bondage: probably the most common, this option uses rope, straps, or chain to hold someone in place on a bed. The genius is that the person's own weight h0lds the straps in place. Simply make an X (or even better an I) shape out of rope, secure the ends to some chain so you can easily clip carabiners to the ends, and put it between your mattress and the box-spring/bed-frame.
2. Spreader bars: possibly the easiest thing to build, you just need a drill. Get thick oak dowels, and drill a hole on the end. Take large eye-screws and twist them into the end of the dowel. Use a screwdriver, small pry-bar, or tool to give you grip on the eye-screw to get it all the way into the dowel. Now you've got something that will hold your partner's arms and legs apart, and fits into a duffel bag or at the back of a closet.
3. Hinged hide-a-ways: You can put a cabinet door over anything, and we do mean anything. Want to build some toy racks in your room and cover them up? Build a frame around your toy rack, and put a door over it. We've some friends who have an entire space that has clothing and jewelry racks on one side of plain cabinet doors, and they flip to display lots of toy racks. Theirs are also fitted with locking hasps to keep them closed and inaccessible to prying friends and family members.
4. The good old chest: The footlocker was a staple of summer camps and travel until the late 90's. You can still get them, and they still look nice enough to double as furniture. However, as the old saying goes, they don't make them like they used to. Mostly made from particle board or lauan plywood, the framing is often not strong enough to hold up as a real piece of furniture. However, with the right application of some 2X2 boards, screws, and wood glue (always use glue as it's stronger than most wood), you can reinforce a cheap footlocker into something you could jump on. And while eye bolts look out of place on a chest, a set of surface mount bolt on D rings look great at all 8 corners. You can pick up all the hardware you need from pretty much any hardware store and some even carry footlockers.
5. Clothing/fantasy-wear, blankets, and hides: Any good outfit can set the mood in a way that even the best dungeon space can not. Why get caught up in building yourself a sexy space, when you can set up your space with velvet blankets, leather or sheepskin hides, rubber sheets, large votive candles, and any other accoutrements to transform the ordinary into the sensual. Why stop at rose petals when you can cover the bed in suede or microfiber blankets. Places that sell discount home goods and overstock items are your friends here. Just always be careful when real candles are involved, as you should definitely get distracted.
6. Portable furniture: While the After Dark furniture is designed to travel, it's also NOT cheap. That doesn't mean that you need to spend the money on hospital grade upholstery and cast iron fittings for your own furniture. There's tons of free designs online to make home-built furniture that breaks down through either hinges or unbolts. If you're looking to pay someone to build it for you, we're happy to recommend local craters, but you can also find pre-made plans and crafters on Etsy and other platforms.
7. Eyebolt Clamp or C-Clamp with 1/4 20 female sockets: The C-Clamp pretty much attaches to any
furniture, and an Eyebolt Clamp is designed to go around structural pipes (NOT YOUR PLUMBING). If you've got a bed-frame with round posts, then 4 of these will just tighten down to those nicely. If you're looking for something to attach to a wider range of surfaces, they make C-Clamps that have threaded holes for bolts. "1/4-20" is one of the most common types of eyebolts, and can easily be screwed into these clamps. It's also the universal bolt on the base of all cameras and camcorders, so if you're looking to make a naughty video at home, it does give you a way to secure your equipment to a desk or table. Just be aware that whatever you're attaching them to needs to be strong enough to take them struggling. We like door frames, heavy furniture, or just a 2X4 board. With something universally clamp-able, you can pretty much put attachment points anywhere you want.
NONE OF THESE ARE FOR SUSPENSION. Anytime you want something for suspending someone, you need to consult someone who's a specialist in these things. There are folks within the community who are certified riggers, structural engineers, and other specialists who can assist you if you're looking to take someone off the ground. However, NOTHING here is recommended for that, and we would never give such advise in our blog. If you want to do that kind of modification, we're happy to point you to someone who can give you professional advise.
We do encourage you to avoid a lot of mass produced things from the big online retailers as much of that stuff is cheaply made overseas. Transportation, mark-ups, and shipping increases the cost unreasonably. Getting local builders or building it yourself will almost always be cheaper and certainly more tailored to your wants and needs.
We know that the world is a difficult and complicated place right now, but know that we care for you all and want you all to stay safe while having fun. If you've ever any questions about this sort of stuff, we'd love to help you out or direct you to the fabrication business that builds our equipment. They do custom home modifications as well, so you can get a lot of bang for your buck!