We three kings

This weekend we discovered that our bedroom is approximately three king beds long. That is a king mattress, the foundation spring, and bed frame lined up like very square wise men.

But let's start from the beginning ... which was weeks ago.

One Sunday morning, when we had grand ambitions for the To Do List, I spotted a Craigslist ad for a four poster king and a tall matching dresser. We had snoozed on our last bed opportunity and regretted it, so we called up the seller immediately. Could we come see it? Sure, if we could be there in 45 minutes, because they had places to be. The sellers were 30 minutes away, and we hadn't even finished our coffee.

So, we raced over. I immediately wanted the bed, but Mike wasn't so sure, because he's one of those who has to think on things, as a matter of principle. I like to think on things, too, but once I have considered the information and options available, I can make a decision and act on it fast. Here I was thinking this is a really cool, solid bed for $175, we would be nuts not to get it! But Mike had to do the "we'll think about it" thing and we left.

This drove me batty as we drove around the countryside (not home!) discussing the bed. Clearly we didn't have our Craigslist routine down. I wanted to buy it right then and there, and Mike needed to sit on it. Finally, we were on the same page, so Mike called them back. I only hear one side of the conversation, but I never hear, "We'll take the bed." Instead, he said, "We are definitely interested."

...

...

That is not a yes. That does not confirm anything. Apparently the conversation got sidetracked in regards to the rest of the bedroom set that the sellers weren't ready to part with but would think about and call us back tonight. Mike was hoping for a DEAL!

So we waited.

And waited.

I texted the seller to clarify that, yes, we wanted the bed.

Darkness fell and there was still no call or text.

Finally, Mike called. 

We got the bed! Sigh. Of. Relief.

Two days later, on a subzero day, we hauled out our handy trailer and went to pick up the bed. We like to think ourselves fairly deft at tying things down after hauling boats, mattresses, random furniture, and junk through two moves. But when it's 15 out and a wind at 30 mph, your gloves are pretty much worthless and wrestling with straps, posts, and blankets is absolutely miserable. We cranked up the heat in the car and would thaw our fingers on the dash vents between tie downs. Awesome.

The bed was wrapped in some cushy-paper stuff, some old curtains, and my car blanket.  Improvisation is key when you are on a Craigslist adventure with us.  Unfortunately, we wound up leaving a trail of wrappings behind as we toodled down the highway. I rode in the back, neck craned to watch for any slippage as Mike tried to not be a traffic disaster while still taking it easy on bridges and turns. We had half country highway and half city traffic to contend with to safely get home. At one point a tie down came loose and we had to stop, but the bed barely slipped, thank goodness. I sat in the back and kept an eye on things and got to see the quizzical looks of passersby. In this land of SUVs and pickup trucks, it baffles people that our little ol' Elantra hauls boats and furniture. It is one of our favorite pastimes to see the triple look as we pass by. They really can't believe that my little Hyundai is pulling something.

We arrived home safe and sound with our new bed, which may have suffered some new scratches on the journey. Our neighbors must have got the memo, because just as Mike is trying to back the trailer up the driveway, everyone seems to be coming home or leaving, so we had an audience. Mike's mortal fear is backing up the trailer in front of people and now we had the whole neighborhood watching us.

Anyway, once we hauled the pieces upstairs, we realized something is missing here. We had a four-piece frame: head and foot boards and two side boards. Our mattress would drop right through. Oops. Our bargain bed frame had just become more expensive. We needed a support frame and potentially a box spring to boot. So for a couple of weeks, our bed rested against the bedroom wall while we both went back and forth on what, exactly, to get for the bed. We finally arrived on this metal, springy frame that was supposed to also work as a box spring and seemed to be getting pretty good reviews. It was cheaper than buying a box spring plus Amazon would deliver it for free, winner winner!

The frame arrived on Friday and Mike put it together in minutes. On Saturday, the real fun began.

The bed was easy to put together, the trick was supporting it to prevent torquing as we moved everything into place and screwed the bolts. Our high-tech system consisted of a ladder for the headboard to rest against, the tool box, and me until Mike had everything loosely secured and could rotate through his final tightening.

Then it was time to go meta and put the frame into the frame. We had considered building the bed around the spring frame, but we were worried that it might not fit and mess with alignment. Midway through the process, we realized we should've videotaped our acrobatics.  So, yes, we dismantled the first bed and built the second without really knowing if it would work. It took some folding and slanting of the spring frame and Mike crawling under the cage to get it all in.

Success! It fit! Then we hauled our mattress onto the frame. And immediately started laughing. We have a bit of an elevation change. Our old Ikea platform bed set the mattress only inches off the floor. Now we had a tall frame, a mattress, plus 3 inches of foam pad, making our mattress about waist height. You just kinda flop onto the bed. It's an adult bed!

We also learned why bed skirts exist. Our bed looks awesome, except for those frame legs sticking out of the bottom. I kinda want to put monster feet on them. OMG, kids, there IS a monster under the bed!! Luckily, you can get skirts for $15-25 on Amazon (which Mike thinks is too high, but they're $40 at BB&B).

Check out some of the details:

The other thing we need to get? End tables. We used some white Ikea sliding shelves behind our headboard on the old bed, but they definitely don't work with this one. It's a long drop from the bed to the floor for books, lamps, water glasses, eyeglasses, etc. Hmm ... Decorating houses definitely creates a snowball effect ... 

We're leaning against buying the nightstands and dressers that are part of this set, because we think it'll look dated rather than elegant. And it would be fun to mix some styles, so I think we're going to look at more contemporary nightstands. Maybe something white, so we don't have to worry about clashing wood?

      

    

The trick will be getting us to agree, especially because Mike is very particular about the legs/feet of furniture. A drawer is a must, I think, because we both had a tendency to clutter behind the headboard on the old bed. It's also insane how expensive these little things can be! We're hoping we'll manage to score a deal like we did with our Menard's living room set ($60 for a solid coffee table and two nightstands!). 

   

Hmm, maybe I can convince him that nightstands don't have to match anymore, and we can both get what we want? They do it on Houzz! What style would YOU choose for our nightstands?