The Bed the John Built

I have been very bad at blogging lately.  We've been so busy as of late that I just haven't had (or made) the time to sit down to write some blogs.  But I'm going to change that now!  John's off to Hawaii today for work (I know, rough job he has), so my plan (or hope) is that I can blog every day he's gone AND while I am down in Hawaii too (as I'm joining him next week :) ).

So, blog #1 - the bed the John built.

In late July we finally decided that we needed to buy a new mattress.  We had been talking about it probably since we first got married, but put it off because it was going to be a big purchase.  More recently we had been talking about it more and had toyed with the idea of asking our families for money towards a new mattress for Christmas, but the last week of July we both had had enough of bad sleeps and John was having a hard time getting to sleep (which does not happen for him), then finally we decided we just needed to do it.  So we went out mattress shopping and bought a lovely new high mattress.  I say high because our old mattress is like 6 inchs high...

 Here are two pictures of our Ikea bed frame with both mattresses in them for comparison.

Low Ikea bed

New Mattress in Ikea bed

There is such a huge difference that for the first couple of days I felt like I was going to fall out of bed!

Now along with this new mattress, we also needed a new bed frame, as our Ikea one has been moved twice in the rain and particle board doesn't stand us as well after that.  So John decided that he wanted to make a bed.  He's has a strong desire to learn to woodworking and would like to make furniture for us, so this was the perfect chance for him to get started.  Plus beds are easy to start off with.  He had to stay home to wait for our mattress to be delivered, so he took the day off so he could make the bed.  Here is a progression of his work throughout the day (he posted them on Google+ for me to see how it was going while I was at work).

The whole thing came together quicker than I expected, which was great because it meant we got it up to our room quicker.  The only downside to the whole thing is that I have to literally climb into bed, because it ended up being a bit taller than he expected.  But as I've gotten used to it now, I'm more ok with it because it is so much better than practically getting up off the floor.

Here is a picture of the final product.  Not bad eh?

 

I am so proud of him for how it turned out.  I love that he likes working with his hands and wants to make things.  It reminds me of my Poppy who made many different things for me throughout my life which have all been so special.  I'm excited to see all the future things John will make and for him to grow in his skill, for now I think he's off to a great start!  Next step, bedside tables, so that we don't have to get our of bed to open the bottom drawer!