We did something truly terrifying this past weekend… we bought a bed!
I have had SO MUCH anxiety over this purchase.
I stalled as long as I could, but with our closing day less than a month away (and my mom coming down right away to help us move) we decided we really couldn’t put it off any longer.
We knew we wanted a king size bed, and I knew I wanted an upholstered headboard – which seems like two big decisions taken care of, right? (Upgrading to a king was really the goal here – and then we’ll put our current queen bed in the guest room.)
But, wait…. First let’s talk about the headboard. When it actually came time to SHOP for the bed, I had to decide if I really only wanted a headboard or if I wanted a whole ‘bed’. I knew I didn’t want a footboard – I like the idea of my bedding draping over the end of the mattress, but I hadn’t give much thought to an upholstered box for the mattress. And, if you don’t buy the whole bed, then I guess you need a bed ‘skirt’? And, that just sounded old-fashioned and made me think of starchy, ruffley burgundy fabric – or maybe hunter green.
So, I decided we would be shopping for a whole bed. (But now I’m wondering how my bedding will hang down over the upholstered frame – because I really don’t want to tuck my comforter/quilt/duvet things under the mattress..) It seems to me like it my bedding may make an awkward ‘bump out’ motion where it hits the frame.
Then this upholstered box raises the question of how tall will the mattress and box spring be once you set it in there?
Well, that depends on how thick the mattress is. A pillow-topper, for instance will make the mattress thicker. And, some mattresses are just ‘naturally’ thicker than others. And, we laid on so many different mattress sets– in several different stores – and how in the world are you actually supposed to know which mattress feels best?!? (And, did you know they make mattresses that cost upwards of $15,000??) And, of course there’s a “low-profile” box spring option if the mattress you choose is too tall… And, all of this is important because we had to decide how tall we wanted the headboard to be…
I’ve been eyeing up upholstered headboards for a long time. You can get them most anywhere – and they’re all just a little different. There are different shapes; there are rows of nail heads across the top – or maybe on the front – or maybe both. Most come in several height options, and some are completely customizable.
The bed we chose – which we gravitated to in two different stores – comes in either 54” or 64”. We looked at one 64” headboard in the show room and it seemed so imposing – like why in the world would you need that much “board” over your head. So I went home to measure what we currently have. Our current headboard is 53” – and I’ve always liked that – so I opted for the 54” option.
But then, today I’m sitting in the Mockingbird Crossing model home again – and because I had a tape measure in my car – I decided to measure the headboard in the master bedroom – which looks very appropriate with the tall ceilings in there…. And, shit, it’s 66” inches. Then I went upstairs in the guest room (which has an upholstered headboard) that I thought it looked a little low – and, of course, it’s 54”. Bwah.
I think it’s too late to change my mind because we had to choose the exact fabric we wanted for our headboard – from about 100 samples. And, we had to choose the color of our decorative nail heads, and a custom order has been placed – which after all of that will take 10 weeks and won’t even be here in time for our move-in and my mom’s stay…
I won’t even tell you that we briefly entertained the idea of an adjustable bed – not like Sleep Number, but like a Craftmatic hospital-bed-like set up. (Don’t act surprised, you know we are old beyond our years.) BUT THEN – you have to decide if you want each side of the bed to be able to move on its own – which seems like the ideal set-up until you realize you then get two twin beds, and two separate twin fitted sheets which just seems a little too Ozzie and Harriet. (Did Ozzie and Harriet have separate twin beds? I don’t even know who they are – I’m just typing words…)
You get the point.
The first bed pictured is what I thought I wanted. The second bed is the one we wound up ordering. And, the third was an inexpensive option that we threw into the mix just to really drive ourselves nuts.
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