Saturday, February 16, 2008
I've walked out of the bedroom with an unshakeable smile. A cherry wood sleigh bed with a mattress that sits so high that I need a step stool to get up to it has just been assembled by D. He let me decorate the bedroom how I wanted it. All he asked was that I keep the floral decoration to a minimum, which isn't a problem at all.After a decade of setting aside my desire for this bed (and a year of keeping a memory mattress on the floor), we splurged on it. The thing about it is - it wasn't a monetary splurge like I had been told it would be. The entire bed - including the new linens - cost us less than a new iPhone.
The bed frame is new - and purchased online on a great sale. Delivery was free, not to mention fast. It was here within a week and a half. The box springs are secondhand and purchased from Craigslist. The linens - king sheets, skirt, comforter, matching curtains - were purchased at Ross after a couple hours of hunting through the shelves.
There were a couple snags to the whole process of putting together this bed. The bed arrived in 3 major packages, none of which contained any instructions of how to put it together. After a few trial and error screws, D & I figured it out... all without taking each other's heads off! I expected to get chewed out when I put the feet of the slats on the wrong side. But once again, it was just bad memories skewing my perspective.
The second obstacle to the dream bed was finding an equally great deal on the box springs needed. I spent a week glued to Craigslist's RSS feed. I called every single listing for it. Most were already gone by the time I called or was waiting on the buyer to pick up the item. And after calling all the bedroom/furniture/mattress stores in the area, I figured out why. A king box spring requires 2 twin box springs. Each twin box spring ranges in price of $120 each to $400.
Yesterday, when all hope was lost and I was going to fork out the $250 for pieces of wood wrapped in cloth, I received a call from one of the listings that it was available. With paypal's help, D & I picked up the practically new items this morning.. Well, D did all the lifting. I just sat in the big white hick truck I borrowed from my brother. $40 and the hardest part was over.
Shopping for the linens at places like Ross tends to be like the experience I just had with Craigslist. You sometimes just can't find what you need when you need it, unless you are persistent. Some people like the challenge, and if you can handle the challenge, you can save a bundle. A king bed skirt at Linens N Things runs about $45 a pop - at Ross, $8.99. That is just unbeatable.
So tonight, I will finally sleep in the bed I've dreamt about for nearly a decade. The only thing is, I have to make sure I don't roll off it!
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