Last you saw our new bed Ed – aka, the Edland four-poster bed from Ikea – he looked like this (read more about how we chose him here).
He has since been assembled – and even slept on for one night. And thanks to the Skorva steel support beam (also from Ikea, which is mentioned as a must-have along with the bed in the “good to know” section) Ed can, in fact, hold the weight of 30 dead people (aka: our incredibly heavy mattress) plus the weight of two DIY enthusiasts, their beefy chihuahua named Hamburger, and their baby girl (when she’s in there for a morning snack).
Constructing the bed was a remarkably easy process, especially considering I defied Ikea’s instructions and did it all without a partner (she was on baby duty). But since all of my hands were occupied during the construction phase, I did very little in the way of photographing. Thankfully I can use the Ikea instruction booklet to help re-enact a few scenes.
Like this one, where I hollered “Honey, fetch me my screwdrivers!” – to which I got a glare and an invitation to get them myself, since she was otherwise occupied with Clara.
Or this one where I took my partially constructed bed frame on a magic carpet ride. “A Whole New World” may or may not have been sung as we soared through the clouds.
And of course this is a perfect depiction of the moment when I called Ikea to place an order of Swedish meatballs only to learn that they don’t employ a fleet of food delivery people. Boo.
Ok, so none of those really happened. But I thought it sounded more interesting than the whole “then I put in another screw” play by play. So let’s just fast forward to the after:
Although I should clarify that I definitely got Sherry’s help when it came to wrangling our mattress up onto the frame, which almost killed us- but it’s done and we’re euphoric. It’s a whole lot better than the whole mattress-on-the-floor look that we were rocking since moving in:
Clearly we still have some work to do in the bedroom, but we’re really happy to have Ed as our starting point (especially since he ended our over-two-week marathon of sleeping on the floor).
We love the fact that we’re sleeping higher than we have for the last 4+ years since the Edland is a good foot or so higher than the Malm that we had (and loved) in our old house. But it’s still comfortable to climb in and out of for Sherry (short) and me (tall) so that’s a good thing. And have no fear, Burger can still get into bed – even without the help of the bench that we placed at the foot of the bed as our version of Doggie Steps. Burgmeister doesn’t even need it and instead prefers to take flying leaps to demonstrate his Rottweiler-like agility.
And even though we have plans to change out the fan for a less conflicting ceiling fixture someday, at least we still have enough clearance to use it if we really needed to. You know for some reason in the middle of winter. Seriously, how funny is that perfect little fan facilitating pocket of space up there? Although it might come in handy after we’ve painted the walls and want to ventilate everything and help it dry faster.
Speaking of painting, our next step in the bedroom will probably be to get some color on the walls (we’re thinking a gray-ish blue with some green undertones to work with our whole teal vision from this mood board of yore) – which should make our new white bed frame, er Ed, really stand out. We also want to get a new duvet (not only to change things up a bit, but also because something a little bigger will cover the bedsides more and result in fewer sleep fights over who has more of the covers). And we’ll happily be able to reuse our beloved existing West Elm duvet in the guest room once we get a full sized bed in there (it’s a full/queen sized duvet, but we always thought it was better suited to a full sized bed, which is exactly what we have planned for that room). Slowly but surely…
Psst- To anyone who missed our Nate Berkus appearance, it seems as though it’s going to rerun today. Why are we nervous all over again? Gah.
Love the bed – and that master bedroom is HUGE! Can’t wait to see all the improvements you make to your house!
Wow- your room is really coming together! I can’t wait to see it painted. I checked what time the Nate show airs- 8am. D’oh! (It’s 10:30 here in Houston).
Have any of you said “oh man, I miss the old house” yet?
Hey Celise,
Not once! Unbelievably we’re just so into our new one that the old one is the last thing on our mind! We were itching to move as soon as we laid eyes on this house back in the fall, so I think we’re definitely “over” the last one, as sad as that sounds. It’ll always have a special place in our hearts, but there’s no place we’d rather be than our new house.
xo,
s
Wow, it looks like the Nate Berkus show is playing everywhere BUT our local Richmond stations!! very lame.
I know! Story of our lives! We don’t even get to watch it today, but at least we have a VHS tape of the first time it aired (we drove up to DC to watch it).
xo,
s
The bed looks great guys! I can’t wait to see it once you get the bolder color on the walls – I love the look of white against a strong color – as evidenced by my color choice for my daughter’s room, as seen here – http://heidishappyhome.blogspot.com/2010/12/heidis-room-part-1.html
Just got back from an IKEA trip myself – needed some sort of storage solution to wrangle all of my one year old’s new toys – and the Expedit 2×4 was the perfect solution!
I’m totally watching you on Nate right now! I’ve never seen this show before and flipped it on and there you were!
Can you move your bed to the south wall? (assuming your bed is currently on the east wall) You are blocking the door, bad flow, bad vibes. But the bed is otherwise gorgeous.
I love the white/blue/wood floors palette! Can Burger get up there on his own? That’s impressive for a little guy! :)
Love the bed! I have always wanted a 4 post bed, but never had a big enough room – maybe someday!
I know you aren’t done with your amazing bedroom transformation, but I have a question – are you going to keep your bed where it’s at? I’ve read that it’s not good feng shui to have a bed in a direct line with the door.
Okay, anyhow, cant wait to see what color you pick!
Hey SB and Kristen,
We tried a bunch of different bed placement ideas and loved this layout the most since it makes the room feel most balanced (it has two off-centered windows as well as that enclave in the wall so it’s kind of a challenge). We’ve always heard it’s bad Feng Shui to have your bed face the doorway directly (since dead people were carried out feet-first or something?) but regardless of all that we’re really more about function and balance and serenity in a bedroom than following Feng Shui rules like they’re unbreakable. To each his own though!
xo,
s
This must be fate; I’m staying home today because my little boo-kie has an ear infection, but it means I get to watch you all on Nate. I was sad that I missed it the first time. I love everything you all do and you guys have me wanting a nice little rancher for my next home.
So this might be a silly question, but is that just your mattress resting on the beams, or do you have a boxspring under there too?
Just a mattress- we actually don’t own a boxspring and didn’t want to buy one if we could help it. It’s laying on wood slats though, which Ikea sells to function just like a boxspring for a fraction of the cost. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Wow! The bed looks really great! I’m not going to lie, I had my doubts but it works perfectly and looks fabulous. Glad to hear it is super sturdy with the support beams.
Love the bed! The height and the sleekness look great in your new room!
Oh, John, thank you for giving a voice to those illustrations this morning. I seriously cracked up. Especially the part when you had to get your own screwdrivers. We can relate to that haha.
Loving the new bed & glad Burger can hop that high, though I am surprised he can make it!
Those instructions are hilarious! Are you going to be getting a king-sized duvet/comforter? I’m curious because we registered for a King size for our upcoming wedding in hopes that it spills over the sides for a bit more of a luxurious look, while giving us lots of extra covers – with 2 people and 2 dogs there never seems to be enough!
Yes! We’re hoping that a king sized comforter paired with our tall queen sized bed will add up to some nice spillover on the sides!
xo,
s
Is something wrong with me when the first thing I always check for on this blog is new pics of Clara?
By the way, great looking bed….
If you’re really concerned about the fighting over the covers, you can always get two twin sized comforters, one for each of you. We do that at our house and it has been helping us keep the sleeping peace for months. Best decision we ever made. The hardest part is finding covers that aren’t too childish, and I’m thinking it might require a little sewing to get something I love, but that’s pretty doable.
And it’s a big bonus for our dog who sleeps in the middle, since now he can choose to be in our out of the covers. Also saving me the hassle of being awoken by a dog who wants out.
Hey – just wanted to share that those amber lamps you liked/had in your mood board are on sale now at Crate & Barrel (online). Not sure if you’re still interested since you haven’t bought your duvet cover…
Love the Edland bed! Wanted to have it as our master bed, but our new house has sloped ceilings in all the bedrooms, and a four-poster is too tall (near the headboard). Do you think it would look weird if we cut down the posts some?
Thanks for the heads up Sarah! As for the Edland bed, we’re not sure if it’ll look weird to cut down the posts a bit. Maybe just a little would look good but too much might look off. Good luck!
xo,
s
We solved the competition for blankets after a trip to Switzerland where there were two duvets on the bed (and no top sheet.) On our king bed, we each have a twin sized duvet. To make the bed, we simply prop up the pillows and fold the duvets in half (the short way) and neatly place them side by side on the bed. At night, we unfold and turn them the long way. If we want to stick our feet out, there are no sheets to wrestle with, if our feet are cold, we just tuck the duvet under. The duvet covers get washed regularly as does the bottom sheet.
The best part? My husband can’t steal my covers! (In the mornings, his duvet is dragging on the floor, but I’m still covered and cozy!)
Where is your bedding from? Love it!
Hey Kim,
West Elm a while back. Maybe try ebay?
xo,
s
I really like the bed.
The bed is great but every time I see pictures of your room I end up drooling over those floors. This may have been asked before but are you planning on floors like that for the rest of the house? You guys don’t really seem like the parquet type. I can’t wait to see the progress.
Hey Amy,
We can’t wait to keep all the hardwoods (including the parquet) and refinish them all in the same rich stain color to keep things more cohesive and add to our house’s flow.
xo,
s
LOOKS AWESOME!
I humbly request a video of Burger leaping onto the bed! :)
Have you guys thought about putting molding on the walls? I think it would not only add some nice architectural interest to your walls but it would compliment Ed and really up the moody factor that you guys want to achieve with your paint. Something like this would, in my opinion, look hawt in that room of yours… http://2ndfloorliving.com/2010/07/vote-to-paint-or-not-to-paint-the-molding/
Hey Melissa,
Fun! Thanks for the link. It’s always a possibility!
xo,
s
Well done, John! I’m glad Ed the Bed is all set up. It looks fantastic.
jbhat
I was skeptical at first, but I really love the bed. I am so inspired that I might run out and purchase one for myself. But before I do… I have a quick question: How tall are your ceilings?
Hey Kelly,
They’re just standard height (8 feet). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Hi John and Sherry! I may have the perfect paint color that you described for your bedroom (gray-ish blue with green understones). The color is called “Silver Mist” by Sherwin-Williams and it has everything you described. I color matched it to Behr’s paint and primer in one so I only had to use one coat for my bedroom. It is fabulous!
Looking good! That fan just clears, doesn’t it? We actually use our ceiling fan a lot in the winter because we have super high ceilings, and we use it to push the heat down that gets trapped up there. :)
Love the bed, how hard would it be to disassemble and put together again?
Hey Joyce,
Not too hard. Assembling it wasn’t as bad as I thought- it was a bit time consuming but nothing was extremely difficult or anything.
-John
The bed looks fab and I can’t wait to see what else you do with the room! I am curious though about sleeping on a bed without a headboard. We finally got a headboard because I couldn’t stand that the pillows would always migrate back and get jammed into the space between the bed and the wall. Do you guys anticipate having this problem with the new bed? If so, how can one avoid this?
Hey Sara,
It actually does have a headboard- it’s just not very big. If you click the link to the Ikea bed, on their site you can see it more clearly. It definitely keeps any pillows from falling between the bed and the wall. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Your Ikea choices always look fabulous, but I’m wondering how you get past the quality issues that you encounter with a lot of their products? Did you consult any reviews?
My fiance refuses to purchase anything more than a picture frame from the store because of some bad experiences. He’s in love with Room and Board and Design Within Reach. Furnishing our condo is going VERY slowly. I like the look of a lot of their stuff but am always uncertain about my purchases there and am not sure how to convince him that it’s ok to dip his toe in the Ikea pool.
Hey Erin,
We base most of our re-purchasing decisions on past experiences with products from certain companies. Since we have been very happy with all of the Ikea furnishings that we personally have purchased (not one bookcase, chair, bed, dresser, or other product that we’ve used for years has given us any problem), we are happy purchasing from them again. Since it sounds like your fiance has been let down by them in the past, it makes sense that he would have a different opinion about their stuff though.
xo,
s
I have searched the site, but cannot find it. I remember John made you the coolest poster showing a time line of your life together and separate. Where is it??!! :)
Hey Nichole,
Here’s the link to John’s timeline postcard: https://www.younghouselove.com/2010/07/wedding-week-iii-celebrating-our-third/
xo,
s
just wanted to mention a GREAT blue/gray with greenish undertones for you!
cashmere gray by Benjamin Moore
Oh- the color it sounds you are looking for is JUST what I painted (am still in the process of actually) my livingroom/dining/kitchen area. It’s by Benjamin Moore and it’s called Silver Marlin. My friend describes it as a “mature gray”. In the morning light, it’s a silvery-gray, in the afternoon it’s more of a light sea blue, and in the evening, the green tones really come out. Please, please, please look at this color… I have a feeling you’ll really just adore it!!
Thanks for the color suggestions guys! We’ll be sure to check them all out!
xo,
s
I spray painted the ceiling fan in my daughter’s room because it was primary colors (and thereby, offensive to me).
Simply Recipes has the most awesome swedish meatball recipe ever… and it’s simple. http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/swedish_meatballs/
I also caught you two on Nate’s show today; thanks for the heads-up on the rerun!
May I suggest stratton blue, a benjamin moore historical color? Its a very soft blue grey green but still pretty rich in color. Pops nicely contrasted with white trim. We just painted our master bedroom with it and I love it.
I was just at West Elm this afternoon and they have the cutest Burger plates! They are grey and rectangular (about 3″x5″) and have a black silhouette of a chihuahua on them. So cute!
I looked online, but couldn’t find them, so I think they may be a new item. You’ll have to keep your eyes open for them. :)
We’ll have to look for them! We love any and all Burger paraphernalia.
xo,
s
Your floors are AWESOME, I love them!
Looking forward to seeing your choice of fixture for the bedroom ceiling – I have been wanting to install a ceiling fan in ours b/c I get so hot at night and it keeps things cool – but then I am always torn about it when I see you guys remove yours. Aesthetically fans are probably not the best thing in a small-ish room. So confused!
Hey Jillys,
You can scroll back a bit in the comment section here for our thoughts on how to remove bedroom ceiling fans without sacrificing their function. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Wow your sheets are PERFECT for that crisp white frame! I love it! =)
Good choice! <3
Nice looking bed. Love the shot of Burger trying it out.
Just curious about the whole ceiling fan vs. table fan debate. We have a ceiling fan in the master bedroom that I would love to replace with a more stylish light fixture, but I can’t get DH to agree with me. What type of table fan do you use in the bedroom? And how do you incorporate it into the overall design without it taking up too much space? Seems like a table fan might be as much of an eyesore as a ceiling fan.
BTW, love the 4-post bed! Our room is a tad too small for a 4-post bed, so I just used the headboard portion. It was a craigslist find and I added some curtain rod finials to the top to finish it off.
Hey Renee,
You can scroll through this tour of our old house to see how we incorporated table fans into our bedroom and Clara’s bedroom without much trouble. As for type, we like high quality brands like Hunter so they last a while and put out some serious air.
xo,
s
You guys are so on top of things! 8 months later and I’m still sporting paper shades in my bedroom!
Oh and those Ikea drawings are hysterical. Especially the one where the phone cord is attached to an actual Ikea. Don’t they know that phones these days don’t have cords! :)
Ed the Bed looks great! We are getting rid of ceiling fans in our room and the kids’ room at the new place, too. We always have floor fans running, and the unused ceiling fans just take up visual space.
We love our comforter from The Company Store… it’s the Supersized Baffled Down Square Comforter. The queen size has plenty of extra material and keeps quilt fights to a minimum. The “extra-warm” keeps us toasty even on cold Alaska nights, but might be a tad warm for Richmond.
I’m a Charlottesville-raised transplant to the last frontier, and I love seeing what you’ve done with your house(s). The Anchorage real estate market is totally depressing– the average home sells for a little over $330,000, and they are not in great shape at all! So we’ll have plenty of work to do when we finally buy, and I’m grateful for the inspiration!
Our mattress have been on our floor since the moment we plopped it down during move in. That’s 2.5 YEARS ago. sigh. I have been eying the edland since it still came in yellow but the hubby wouldn’t have any of it because it wasn’t “his style”. Today, I forwarded your post to him and wouldn’t you know, he has acquiesced. Thank you, thank you, thank you for helping me get off the floor!!!! :)
Wahooo Elsie! We’re so excited for you. We now know that a floor-bound mattress gets old quick!
xo,
s
Ed is lookin pretty good. Do you plan to get rid of the fan completely?I’ve found that I actually use my ceiling fans more during the winter than the warmer months. With the thermostat set at 71 degrees my bedroom gets unbelievably hot at night. the fan, left on the summer setting helps keep it more comfortable.
My pups sleep in the sunroom at night but with all those windows it’s pretty chilly down at ankle level. They are burger size and are quite pathetic in the cold. But, the fan on the winter setting keeps it much warmer in there with the help of a space heater. The space heater seemed to do absolutely nothing at all before I turned the fan on.
Hey Erin,
We prefer a high powered table fan to a ceiling fan in the bedroom (and in Clara’s room as well). We made those switches in our last house and were really happy with how well table fans could cool and ventilate a room without feeling heavy and bulky like a ceiling fan can. But of course we know that there are many ceiling fan enthusiasts (and we happily had them in our sunroom and den, we just wanted our sleeping spaces to feel more open). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Quick thing about the fan…see if it has a reverse flow switch on it. It’s amazing how much of a warming thing they can be in the winter as they push the hot air down into the room. You may end up loving it and not wanting to switch to a different fixture!
The “magic carpet” descriptions of IKEA’s painfully non-literary instructions were hilarious! I’ll have a much better attitude the next time I’m trying to figure out what the heck that little ghost-like character is instructing me to do…
okay are your floors just 2×8 planks of stained wood or what? I love them they remind me of my house I use to have and I want them again. My husband does not want to lay that again he prefers the snap together stuff now.
Hey Lesley,
They’re extra wide planks of reclaimed pine. Definitely nothing that snaps together, but oh so beautiful. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Ahh, I feel ceiling fans are too bulky and less than attractive as well. Especially compared to some of the more interesting table fans they have now. I have relatively low ceilings and the fans make them feel even lower. I just realized actually, that when I painted the ceilings in my living room I forgot to replace the blades on the ceiling fan/light fixture. I kind of dont want to put them back on now. Is there gonna be a huge hole to cover if replace the base/light fixture?
Hey Erin,
That really depends on what you find when you remove the fixture. Most fixture boxes are a standard size (for huge fans and chandeliers and small pendant lights and flush mounted fixtures alike) so hopefully you won’t have a huge hole back there. Good luck!
xo,
s