After over two weeks of doing it, sleeping on the floor is officially getting old.
So we bought a bed frame. Oh happy day! We had big plans for possibly building one (using one of Ana White’s amazing tutorials). And we debated just getting a cheapo-metal frame and laying slats of wood across it so we could rest our mattress on that (so we could DIY another upholstered headboard down the road). But in the end the four poster bed that caught our eye back when we whipped up this future bedroom mood board won out (click here for more mood board details).
One of the issues is that our organic mattress (which you can read about here and here) is super thick and made of extra dense all natural latex rubber. So as I’ve weirdly described it before, it’s heavier than thirty dead people. To this comment John always responds: “How would you know that? Even serial killers don’t attempt to carry thirty bodies at once.” So although I will specify that I haven’t actually carried thirty dead people, the mattress is as heavy as I would imagine that scenario to be. Seriously, it weighs a ton. Which is why we worried that a normal metal frame meant to hold a boxspring and a regular (much lighter) mattress wouldn’t exactly adapt very well to wood slats and a box-springless super heavy mattress. And the idea of buying a $600+ organic boxspring to make a cheap-o metal frame work quickly became a not-so-cheap-o solution, so we tossed out that possibility as well.
It definitely would have been fun (and kinda romantic) to build a bed frame together like our Bower buddies, but our aching backs won out and we decided we were done with sleeping on the floor. Over it. Seriously spent. Imagine Ben Stiller emphatically saying “I’m finished with the checking of the bags conversation” to that flight attendant in Meet The Parents. That’s how emphatically those last few sentences should be read. Warning: Ben tosses out a the word beeyotch (without all the eee’s) at the end of this clip in case you’re at work/with a tot.
And with the chaos of the holidays, bed-building just wasn’t going to happen for another week or so. Which is how we got to the purchase of our new queen sized white Ikea four poster bed. And since his official Ikea name is Edland, we like to affectionately refer to him as Ed.
But right now he’s looking like this in our house:
Here’s hoping he’s not too hard to assemble and can handle the weight of thirty dead bodies. We’ll be back with pics when he’s all set up after some not-floor sleeping (we’re gonna give him a test run and tell you all about the comfort-factor tomorrow).
Yay for a new bed frame!!!
Hey Youngsters! Merry Christmas! I’m going to assume you had a white one.
I can’t wait to hear how this bed works out for you guys. I’ve been wanting this one for a while. The bedroom in your new house looks twice as big as your old room.
Better get it set up fast so Burger can snuggle in. Happy New Year!
Woohoo, bed! Here’s hoping your new bed can hold 30 dead bodies– er, I mean your super heavy mattress!
Also, I love that clip, we quote the “I am finished with the checking of the bags conversation” line a lot in our house (especially after our last vacation when the airline almost lost my d60 AND my laptop).
What a gorgeous bed, can’t wait to see how you style the room!
Unrelated note: it’s a bit sad how frequently I checked this site over the last few days. I know it was the weekend but for once free time was abundant and I was looking for a YHL fix! Thanks for posting!
Love that bed! And I may be a little biased, but I love the curtains on your mood board too. We have those very ones in our dark green living room and they’re amazing!!
I love this! The pictures are so gorgeous; can’t wait to see how you guys make it your own!
“Ed” is going to look so beautiful once he’s setup in your room. I cant wait to see it! :)
Love it! I can’t wait to see what else you guys do.
Yay! I believe that’s also the bed AB Chao got for her daughter when she secretly made over her room one summer.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/abchao/3778366851/in/set-72157621790898487/
We had our mattress on the floor last year around this time. We were adding on to our house. I have to say that I slept really well at the lower altitude. Plus, our house was so cold from having a big hole on the back . . . our bed was so warm and cozy with all the blankets. But I am glad it’s all over with.
Like.
Did you go out to Ikea yesterday? I feel like that could have been the most miserable shopping experience!
We actually had some visiting relatives who passed Ikea on their way and brought it to us! Love them so much for braving the Ikea crowds to grab it for us!
xo,
s
Love it! “ED!” Haha. Can’t wait to see what you guys come up with!
That was one of my favorite moodboards you ever did! I’ve been eying that bed on Ikea ever since you posted it. We also have a super heavy queen sized mattress. 30 dead bodies is a good approximation of the weight, but I think it’s even harder to move than dead bodies, because it’s heavy AND floppy!
We have a beautiful bed frame that my grandparents received as a wedding present in 1940, but something more modern would look better in our bedroom. I’ve been thinking about moving that bed frame into our guest room, and buying the Edland for us. Can’t wait to see how the Edland works out with your mattress!
Hope the four of you had a wonderful Christmas together!
–Addie
i have had this bed frame in the pale yellow for the past few years – back when it was part of the hemnes set. i love mine!
I’ve had my eye on that bed for over a year and I’m so glad you bought it! Can’t wait to see what you guys do with “Ed” in your new bedroom!
Cool bed…….can’t wait to see this room evolve. Hey….at least you weren’t preggo anymore. Can you imagine having to get up to use the restroom multiple times a night from the floor? EEEEEEP!
Tee hee. We had to sleep with our mattress on the floor for four years!!! LOL. Not that we couldn’t afford a bedframe, but our ocean-front apartment in Rhode Island was SOOO small (hey, when you want to be ocean-front, you make sacrifices! ;-) ) that you couldn’t get one up the stairs and around tight corners and then set it up in that teeny, tiny bedroom (where our queen mattress *barely* fit on the floor).
And when we bought a house (in Texas) we made up for lost time and got a four-poster canopy (king sized, no less!) bed for our new room too (Pier 1: on clearance! Cheap. Yay.) :-D Awww… how nice it is to sleep off the floor!
Our queen mattress is in the guest room now. And where? You guessed it. On the floor. Tee hee. We should probably get on that… getting a queen-sized bedframe! LOL. :-p
Have fun with the beginning of your room makeover! We *almost* went with that Ikea bed, but wanted a kind-sized since our dogs sleep with us and hubby thrashes like a fish out of water. LOL. :-p I’d love to know what you think of the bed!
p.s. The opening sentence of this blog post today… umm… err… sounds kinda naughty. LOL. :-p I got a giggle out of it.
Haha, it does sound kinda funny now that you mention it…
xo,
s
It is going to look fantastic! We have the R&B Architecture bed (scored on the cheap from CL!) and we LOVE it!! Can’t wait to see the progress your new house takes!
I can’t wait to see how the bed looks. I am chuckling at the thought of putting that bed frame together. I love Ikea but sometimes it takes more time than I imagined to get the bed, desk, blinds….whatever…together. Have fun:) susan
I had my eye on that one too. I’m looking forward to seeing how it looks in your house. I’m also looking forward to seeing what else you bought at Ikea, I know you can’t get out of there with just one item!
Hey Felicity,
We actually had a suuuper amazing family member bring the bed over to us (since Ikea is 2 hours away and they were passing it by on their way to our house) so they grabbed it for us. We’ll definitely be making another Ikea run a bit later for other house stuff down the line!
xo,
s
Love the bed choice! We have a similar bed from a macys clearance store! Try James River Gray paint by ben moore! That’s what we have and I love it against the white bed! Check it out!
Hee hee – that comment above made me laugh! The bed is actually fabulous and its going to look so great – cant wait to see is assembled
Rachie xo
Oh I love the Edland series!! Yay for you guys!!
I remember checking that bed out in the store and the posts were, erm, shaky, to put it mildly. I have a feeling it was a bad putting-together job on the part of the store people, but I’m curious to hear what your experience is.
Can’t wait to see the new bed frame! I’ve liked that frame for a while now :]
goodness, your bedroom is the size of my whole apartment! i’m so excited to see what you do with it! i’m really hoping for the teal walls, just so you know. because, well, my opinion matters after all! ;) my friend shannon and i are overly excited to see all the projects that are coming. we’re living vicariously through you guys….
whatever you do, it will be beautiful. love the bed! happy holidays!
I love this bed! I’ve had my eye on it for a year or so!
We got a new bed frame from IKEA about 6 wks ago and love it! We had the Malm (just like your old one) for 4 yrs and were tired of being so low to the ground. This one sits so high and feels very luxurious. :)Hopefully yours takes less time to assemble. We started ours late one night and ended up sleeping in the guest bedroom that night because there were way more parts than we anticipated. Can’t wait to see how it turns out and whether or not you get a new duvet! :)
thank you @reyanna! i giggled at the bedroom humor in the opening line of the post too (even if it was unintentional!) ;o)
in other news, LOVE the bed frame, especially against the smoky slate/ bold teal walls!
where did you find the first inspiration picture (with the dark walls)? did that photo help motivate your moodboard or did you see the pic after you’d decided on the bold walls and white bedframe, etc? thanks!
Hey MichelleG,
We linked to where we found both pics in the sentence before them, so hopefully you can click on those links for more info! We actually found those pics way after we did the mood board, but we’re sure lots of people go with saturated walls so the cool white frame really pops. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
You made a good choice. We have a tempur-pedic and I think it’s about as heavy as 50 dead bodies – no box spring base (we too thought it crazy to spend $1000 just on the box spring base). We bought an Ikea wrought iron bed 6 years ago (with the wood slats on the bottom) and we’ve had the tempur-pedic on it for almost 3 years now – it’s holding up GREAT (King size too). I love the slat beds – LOVE them.
love that clip, and it is so well timed to see it! you have no idea — I am dying in laughter right now. Way better than yelling!
Love the bed frame — you gotta celebrate. I mean I love your whole DIY attitude and am amazed at your projects and the results! But you gotta pick your pleasures; life’s short.
Good luck with the assembly. I got the Crate and Barrel Sloane bookshelves and media center — 10 hours later, I could sit and admire them. Course, putting a 1/4 of it together the wrong way didn’t help. I seriously believe those who write directions for companies need to proofread and have more audience awareness. no guessing games, just spell out every little step and I’ll skip something I might already know.
okay, I’m done now :-)
We are considering to get that one http://www.maisonsdumonde.com/UK/en/produits/fiche/canopy-bed-amsterdam-50170391.htm but we think it won’t fit well enough since our apartment doesn’t have a high ceiling…
We envy you!!!
We have a memory foam mattress and bought a “box spring” (made for foam mattresses) so we could use our traditional four poster bed. It is odd. Kinda creaky and just not as stable feeling as the old platform bed was.
I have fallen in love with a cheap-o Ikea bookshelf for my bathroom. The closest Ikea to me is Atlanta, which is about a 4 hour drive. I thought I was just going to buy it online and have it shipped, but I didn’t realize Ikea doesn’t ship with FedEx or UPS, they do truck delivery from the nearest store. That $60 bookshelf would end up costing me over FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS to order online. I’m heartbroken!
Slightly off-topic, but do you guys don’t just love this:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40185756
Friends have a daughter (called Klara and a year older than Clara) and she loved to play with mine while they visited.
(Yes, I bought a felt breakfast set for MYSELF. I’m childish like that. Who can resist plushy bacon?)
Hey Sammy,
Oh my goodness- that is soooo cute! Love it! I’ll have to get one set for Katie over at Bower Power too since she loves bacon!
xo,
s
I love that bed! I’ve ogled it too, but ended up having my grandpa weld a headboard I designed. I can’t wait to see what you do with this bedroom.
“Here’s hoping he’s not too hard to assemble and can handle the weight of thirty dead bodies.”
Thirty dead bodies and two live bodies, actually.
Funny post because we also own a Savvy Rest mattress (have had it for 4.5 years now or so), and it is a king size. You are so right about it being heavy! Heck, since ours is even bigger, I think it is more akin to the weight of 40 dead bodies!
I’m anxious to see how you like your new bed, because we bought a frame with wood slats that I wasn’t wild about when we got our mattress. Like you, I hesitate to shell out the $$ for the foundation/box spring. And like you, we’ve been considering building one of Ana White’s beds LOL.
We’re moving in a month so I’ll let you give me a head start so I can figure out what we want to do in the bed department!
I love this bed! When I was buying a new bed frame this time last year the Edland was was of my two contenders. However in my case the IKEA Hopen frame won (thanks to its dark wood color). I can’t wait to see how you all style the new bed- and the house!
ps- I also convince friends who live in northern va to pick things up for me when they make their (easy and short distance) trips to IKEA. No shame :)
im always amazed at how the extras in movies can keep their straight faces. If I was sitting there watching Ben Stiller do that whole scene, i would be busting up laughing.
I cant wait to see that bed frame up!
I’ve been eyeing 4 poster beds for the last two days since my other half mentioned getting a king sized bed to replace our double. Can’t wait to see what you end up doing with this one! Love the teal and mustard combo in the moodboard – gorgeous :)
We have been sleeping on an air mattress for over a year now! Not that we can’t afford a new bed, but because we moved from Northern Michigan to South Florida and left the majority of our belongings in storage in Northern Michigan, including the BEST BED I HAVE EVER OWED! (Bed didn’t really fit in the VW bug. I find it hard to spend the money on a new bed, when we have a great one in storage. Sadly we did not make it back to Northern Michigan over the summer to bring our stuff home so we are buying a new bed! And YEAH for giving ourstuff in storage to charities who need it when we get back. Life is GOOD! :)
I have been eyeing this bed for so long! the only thing that have stopped me from getting it is that there is not headboard. I cant wait to see how you tackle this. I also wanted the one with the squars bars but it looks like they dont have it any more.
Love the mood board! Just wanted to let you know that as I was browsing the Crate & Barrel website, I noticed that the amber table lamps are currently on sale ($39.95 instead of $79.95)! Just thought you’d like to know :)
I have one of those natural latex rubber mattresses, except mine is four layers -which is the equivalent of 40 dead people!!
I have an old danish bed frame with floating headboards. The roll-out slats just weren’t cutting it for me.
Last year I went and bought the Sultan Laxeby Slatted Bed Base (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20125971) – oh, I SOOOOO recommend it.
Building it took blood, sweat and tears – LITERALLY! Lifting those 40 dead bodies back on to the frame was a nightmare but when it was done it was nirvana!
I have found that the items I purchase from IKEA (frames, vases…) are very poor quality. What do you think of the quality of their furniture? I’ve been saving up for a new mattress and bed frame, for what seems like forever, because they are so expensive! I never considered IKEA, but now I’m curious.
Also, why are you tired with the mattress on the floor? I ask because I’m about to order a new mattress, and I’m sure mine will be on the floor for a while. Is it very uncomfortable?
Hey Agent Scully,
We have never been disappointed with Ikea furniture. We had our last Ikea bed frame over 4.5 years and loved it (we sold it with the house, which is the only reason we’re not still sleeping on it) and also have enjoyed everything from Ikea chairs to dressers and have heard amazing things about their sofas as well. As for the mattress on the floor, it was more getting up from that low of a level that was annoying. And since we hop up to let the dog out and get the baby and all that, it just felt so exhausting to pull ourselves up from the floor a few times in a row while still being half asleep. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
I’m so happy to hear you went ahead and bought your bed. I’m a big proponent of “doing” the master bedroom first. You need that oasis. Just started a mattress fund – going to splurge on the same mattress you bought. Ours is making me older than my years very quickly. That bed frame is going to be perfect!
I love the new bed frame! And even more than that, the thing I cannot seem to get over is your bedroom floors!! I am in love. Every time I see them my heart skips a beat! Do you know what kind they are??
Also I have a somewhat random question to throw at you. I, like you, have a love for older homes and their undeniable charm, especially when fixed up to your own tastes. However, my husband and I are just starting the search for our first home (we’re not planning to buy anything till spring) and he is finding that he’d rather buy a brand new home (which in this market, the cost of a new home is pretty comparable to older ones) so that he can have new appliances and not worry about the pluming, insulation, etc. So my question is, do you have any tips for finding older homes in good shape that just need some cosmetic changes, or is bad pluming/insulation, etc just part of the risk in buying an older home?
Thanks, you guys are awesome! :)
Hey Jana,
They’re reclaimed pine floors with extra wide planks. Hope it helps! As for old homes vs. new ones, that’s really all personal preference. We would never buy a new home just because we love the charm and the architectural detail and the history along with the established landscapes and lot sizes of older homes but some people love new plumbing and insulation so a new home is their dream! We have found that old homes can be built really solidly and well (especially brick ranchers- they’re constructed like tanks) and they also have clearly already stood the test of time, which is sometimes more comforting than a new one that just went up- but again it’s definitely a personal choice.
As for how we shop for an older home, we usually just look to see if it appears to be well maintained and hasn’t had a million owners (our first one only had two before us, and our new one only had three) and of course we pay for an inspection to learn as much as we can about the home before we buy it. So far the two homes that we purchased were extremely well maintained and have only needed cosmetic updates as opposed to full overhauls. And remember, if an older home is even just 15K cheaper than a comparable new one (or a lot cheaper than that, which has been the case for us in both home buying instances) that’s still a lot of money that can be put towards anything that might need replacing down the line, from roofing to plumbing and appliances or windows, etc.
xo,
s
Well done! I have been admiring that bed frame for quite a while. Can’t wait to see how it turns out for you.
Oh, I am so in love with that first room you posted! I am totally into the dark rooms with stark white trim these days. Absolutely beautiful!
Also really like the palette of the mood board you created. I cannot wait to see what the two of you come up with. What an exciting time for you (and your readers like myself!)
Hi Sherry and John,
First of all….I love your blog!! Second, I hope you both had a wonderful, first Christmas with your beautiful daughter! And lastly, I know that you said you liked the amber table lamps from Crate & Barrel…just wanted to let you know that they are 50% off right now ($39.95!).
Have a great day!
Wahoo! Thanks for the heads up!
xo,
s