Young House Love

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Assembling Our Edland Bed From Ikea

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).

Edland Ikea Box

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.

NewBed Screws

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.

NewBed Magic Carpet

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.

NewBed Calling Ikea

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:

NewBed Straight On

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:

DayOne Bedroom

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).

NewBed Side Shot

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.

New Bed Fan Clearance

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.

Comments

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Hey Melissa,

      Good news! We’re actually on intermittently for the whole house, so you might be able to catch us judging the contest throughout the show!

      xo,
      s

    • YoungHouseLove says

      The four posters are wood along with the sides, headboard, and footboard – but the slats that the mattress rests on are metal beams that brace the whole frame. Very strong indeed.

      xo,
      s

  6. annabelvita says

    Looks great, although I can’t wait to see it without that ceiling fan!
    My boyfriend and I are currently sharing two (british) king size duvets and a mahoosive blanket because our bedroom is so freezing.
    I think bigger covers look so much more luxurious because of the way they spill over the bed. Plus there’s more to go around.
    He still accuses me of jeopardising the duvet though.

    Reply

  7. Meg says

    Your room is a perfect size for that bed(and Burger looks so regal on it too :))

    I can’t wait to see what you do with the bedroom, there are so many great options! :)

    Reply

  9. Peggy says

    Fans are helpful in cold winter months, too. Your fan probably has a switch on the base, and you can reverse the way the blades rotate for winter. It will force the warm air that rises down into the room. We use that feature
    at our house. You two look great on Nate!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Hey Peggy,

      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

  11. Alisa says

    I’m just jealous you guys have the option of removing the ceiling fan. We’ve wanted a 4 poster bed for forever, but no ceiling fan in the middle of a Texas summer (even with the ac on!) is an absolute nightmare. I guess I’ll just have to live vicariously through you :) Looks great!

    Reply

  12. tanyad says

    Oooh I spy some paint sample cards near the door! I like all 3 of those colours and am wondering if you’ll give us a hint to the one that you are drawn to most?

    I can’t wait to see what you guys come up with for this room!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      None of those won out, and we now have five more paint swatches on the wall. We’ll definitely post about the decision making process along with the before and after painting pics when we get there!

      xo,
      s

  14. Aimee McM says

    Love the new house and the bed…once again, I’m reminded how much I miss Ikea…the closest one is a 6-hour drive. Re: Paint color…I wanted a blueish-grayish with green undertones for my dining room..similar to a Pottery Barn look that was going on at the time but not as dark. Also wanted no-VOC…found the color “Organic Garden” at Home Depot in their no-VOC line. Everyone who comes in wants to know the color.

    Reply

  15. Kara says

    Love the new bed!

    That reenactment was too funny, you two crack me up… thanks for the laugh! This is my first day back in the office after Christmas and no one is here, so I needed that.

    Reply

  17. Sabrina says

    It’s lovely, and I can’t wait to see how the whole room turns out! Oh, for having bought something more standard than a California King bed. I wish I could buy a standard frame and make it work.

    For toddler-climbing-into-bed purposes, we like the Ikea Molger stool.

    Reply

  21. Jen says

    Ugh, I forgot about the ceiling fan! When I saw the previous post, I fell in love with that bed and totally planned on getting it for myself. Thanks for posting this! I think I’ll be going with the Malm. Sigh, maybe one day I can get the four-poster.

    Reply

  22. Becka says

    Hi Sherry

    I just wanted to let you know that West Elm is having a huge sale. I am in Florida and they are having an additional 20% off the already sale price. This is something to check out. Happy Shopping.

    Reply

  24. pam says

    Nice! (Does any decorating choice cause more controversary than a ceiling fan?? Yes, I love mine!) Broke the news to DH last night that I’m saving money for an organic mattress…hoping our backs will hold up until the bank account fills up!

    Reply

  26. Brandi says

    What will you be replacing the cieling fan with? I would love to replace ours but we live in Texas and we NEED a fan of some sort! The bed looks great and your master is so nice and big!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Hey Brandi,

      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

  27. Stacie M. says

    Looks great! I know exactly how heavy your mattress is. My SIL has one of those and I helped her move it in September. I will never do that again. I never even knew a mattress that heavy was possible.

    Reply

  28. emily says

    simplify me!

    we’re expecting in july so we will be simplifying our life by cleaning out an old storage/junk/tool room and converting it into a tiny cozy nursery. i can’t wait to go through that stuff and get rid of all the unnecessary goods.

    Reply

  31. Stephanie Phillips says

    Is that a new chair as well??

    I LOVE the bed. I love that you are starting in the bedroom, as we have left ours for last and it bothers me every single night. Give me some good inspiration!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Hey Stephanie,

      That’s the same leather chair from Target that we had in our last bedroom (it was on the wall opposite our bed, which wasn’t pictured much though).

      xo,
      s

  32. Mary says

    Companies that sell duvet covers don’t get it. How can a size labeled as Full/Queen possible fit both size beds?
    They are 2 different sizes!!
    We have a queen bed up on risers so I ended up buying a King for a longer drape down the sides. But it’s still too short at the foot of the bed. I’ve decided to make a custom one. It’s just sewing straight seams…so easy!
    Sherry, you need to learn how to sew.
    Think of all the things you could make for your home & Clara.

    Reply

  33. Jaime says

    I do love your bed but I love your floors even more – is that original tongue and groove wide pine planks?? I would love to get my hands on those and stain them up a slightly medium/dark brown color, so yummy. You are lucky.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Hey Jaime,

      They’re reclaimed pine boards (extra wide) that were added in the 70’s. Love them! And of course we’d love to refinish them along with the hardwoods and the wood parquet flooring in other rooms of our house (all in the same rich tone) so they feel more cohesive. Someday…

      xo,
      s

  34. Cher says

    Check out Silver Sage from Restoration Hardware. It is a great blue/silver with Green undertones. We have it in our house and it looks great with white. Also it is an excellent quality paint, so you dont need too much.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Hey Cher,

      We love that color! It’s actually really similar to what we had in our old bedroom though, so we’re hoping to go with something a bit bolder and more saturated this time- to really make the bed pop.

      xo,
      s

  36. JAG says

    I love the way the bed looks in your room. What are the dimensions of your bedroom? It seems rather large, but sometimes photos are deceiving. I want a similar bed frame, but I think our bedroom is too small to pull it off.

    Reply

  38. suzannah says

    I’m watching the re-run of the Nate show this morning. I must say, so far I’m pretty disappointed with how these two rooms are shaping up. With all that ribbon I’m surprised they didn’t do a large graphic on that back wall or make some quick toilet paper stuffed pillows with all that material and a glue gun or even the staple gun.
    You guys look great! Thanks for the heads up about the show. I missed it the first time around!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      In the end they really start to perk up! All of us (Nate included) were cringing for a while… but they get there in the end! I guess it’s just like all other home improvement undertakings, nothing happens in a split second – so time really is the key for most projects.

      xo,
      s

  39. Taylor @ thehouseonpennylane says

    Thanks for the heads up on the re-airing of the Nate Show episode. It was just in time for me to flip over to watch the entire episode.

    I’ve always been fond of the IKEA Edland bed. It’s great that you guys have a large enough bedroom to pull it off! I can’t wait for more!

    Reply

  44. Andrea says

    We’ve been looking at this bed for a while now too, but my Husband doesn’t think it’s sturdy enough…what do you guys think now that you own it and have slept on it and all?

    Reply

  47. heyruthie says

    Dear Ed, You = Instand Drama. Luv, ruth

    Dear Universe: why did my family have to bequeath me all these “valuable” (read: not my style) furniture pieces?

    Reply

  48. susan says

    I never did get that run your fan in reverse to push down the warm air in the winter thing. Moving air still feels cool to me. Love the new bed. susan

    Reply

  50. Melissa @ Sassy Mommy says

    OMG… the “pictures” of you “working” are priceless with the comments. I was laughing out loud in my cube at work- so now I sound like I am the crazy one- ha ha. As for the idea of the Swedish meatball delivery- such a good idea! And oddly- the view from my office is of Ikea in the Chicagoland area. I have taken my lunch at times just to wander. Love the bed!

    Reply

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