Making it Lovely

Tag: bed

  • Hello, Quincy

    Hello, Quincy

    Spoiler alert: I bought the Quincy bed from Ethan Allen.

    Quincy Bed from Ethan Allen

    And now, the thought process behind the purchase.

    Our Hoffman bed from Room & Board was great. If we weren’t changing sizes from a queen to a king, we would have kept it, and I would recommend it to anyone in the market for something upholstered. That said, I figured that if we’re about to get something new, it would be fun to switch things up a bit and go for something else.

    Not a brass bed. Too on the nose with the Victorian. Nothing too mid-century modern either. As much as I love the style, I don’t like it as much for this house. I love a good Jenny Lind and I’m still glad we bought one for Eleanor, but wouldn’t it be weird to have matching mother/daughter beds? (E has one for her doll, too.)

    Turned wood though — we’re getting closer! I do like all those antiquey cannonball and four poster beds.

    Painted Red Cannonball Bed, Martha Stewart

    Antique Spindle Bed

    Antique Four Poster Bed
    Images: Martha Stewart, Royal Design Studio, Country Living

    I featured the Quincy in a past edition of Making it Yours. The bed was definitely the star of that look, and I immediately thought of it as a possibility for the bedroom. Knowing you like something in general and knowing it’s the right piece for a specific spot are two different things, but yep. That bed would look amazing in this house. It’s expensive though, so I started looking around at other options. Maybe there was something out there that was even better? Or the same look for less?

    Four Poster, Cannonball, and Other Decorative Beds

    1. Washed Wood Bed, Anthropologie
      Maybe too simple? Compared to the other options, it is.

    2. Soraya Four Poster Bed by Bebe Furniture, Wayfair
      Nice, but do I really want a four poster bed?

    3. New Haven Maple Tall Cannonball Bed, ShaKa Studios
      Three wood finishes and several headboard shapes to choose from.

    4. Spindle Bed, Rosenberry Rooms
      Really cute. Twenty colors and wood finishes to choose from.

    5. Avignon Headboard, Serena & Lily
      I’ve featured this one on the blog before and I love it, but it only comes in a queen size.

    6. Cordevalle Santa Rosa Four Poster Bed by Universal Furniture, Wayfair
      Another four poster. The Holcomb Bed from Horchow is identical, or nearly so.

    7. Cambridge Bed, Serena & Lily
      I would like something like this more for one of the boys’ bedrooms.

    8. Claudette Headboard, Ballard Designs
      Nice curves, but I think I would get tired of putting a bird on it.

    9. Stinson Wood Bed, Pottery Barn
      The barley twist posts are paired with a simple curved headboard to keep them from going too fussy/traditional.

    10. Barrett Poster Bed, Ethan Allen
      Those are some good-looking pencil posts.

    Lots of options. There were more too, but those were the tops and I didn’t love any of them like I did the Quincy. Which brings us to the lookalike: the Soraya Regency Panel Bed by Bebe Furniture, from Wayfair.

    Quincy Bed Knockoff or Lookalike

    And actually, there are plenty of lookalikes out there, but that was the most similar one I came across. They’re all, Quincy included, modeled after antique cannonball beds (which you can still find, but almost always in smaller sizes). That particular one was less expensive, but only available in white (I wanted black), I didn’t like the added trim along the top of the headboard and footboard, the spindles aren’t as interesting, and it doesn’t have the small brass details. At that point, it seemed worth it to go for the bed style and color I wanted all along. Since the Quincy is currently on sale for 15% off, it was only a difference of a couple hundred dollars; kind of a drop in the bucket when you’re already looking at a pretty pricey purchase.

    Quincy Bed, Ethan Allen

    The Quincy Bed from Ethan Allen

    We went to check it out in person, and then placed the order. No word on when it’s arriving quite yet, but when it does get here, we’ll likely have to hoist the headboard up over the back porch to get it up to the second floor. Should be fun! Should be worth it though, too. It’s the kind of bed that can go country, traditional, whimsical, modern, or classic, depending on the bedding, furniture, and surroundings. The kind of bed we can be happy with for a long time.

  • See Ya, Bed

    See Ya, Bed

    Oh, hey there, empty bedroom. Why not throw another room into the started-but-not-yet-finished mix?

    The Bed is Gone

    A couple of things happened at the same time. The first is that a mattress company reached out, interested in working together on a post (which will go up next week). Brandon and I bought our queen-sized upholstered Hoffman bed from Room & Board back in 2007 when we moved in to the bungalow. While it has held up beautifully, but both our family and our bedroom are larger now. A king-sized bed has been on the wish list for a couple of years and I figured if we were going to get a new mattress, we might as well take the opportunity now to make the switch to a king.

    Then while we were considering the new mattress, our friends’ bed broke. They were thinking of either finding a bed on Craigslist or picking something up from IKEA, and when we mentioned that we were thinking of selling ours, they said they’d take it. We gave them the ol’ friend discount, and we brought it over yesterday (leaving us with a temporarily empty bedroom).

    So… we’re updating the bathroom on the third floor. August’s room is being redone. The kitchen is getting a new stove at the very least. Another bathroom is waiting on electrical work to be done so we can wallpaper. The wood flooring in the hallway still needs to be completed (it’s also waiting on electrical work). And now we’re changing up the bedroom, at least a little with a new bed.

    Since so many things are in flux, I’m trying to step back and keep the whole house in mind so that it’s cohesive. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying about decorating that “if you love it, you’ll find a place for it,” and it’s true to an extent. You also have to be a good editor though, because if you’re anything like me, you can love four thousand chairs and a good number of rugs — doesn’t mean you’ll find a place for it all! It’s a balance of taking stock of what you have and what you need, planning ahead, and leaving room for serendipity. I don’t have the bedroom all planned out yet, but I have chosen a bed. I’m going to put together the foundation now so we’ll have a mattress to sleep on tonight, but I’ll put together a post soon about which bed I chose and why, along with the other close-but-not-quite options I considered. I overthought the process, as usual. It’s what I do.

  • Decision Made.

    Decision Made.

    Eleanor will be sleeping in a Jenny Lind bed.

    I know the peacock headboard is cool/unique/cute/awesome, but almost everyone that had one when growing up admitted to breaking off the circles. And the Minnen extendable bed is a great size (twin-sized width but adjustable in length), but the thin mattress and difficult bed-making would have bothered me. The only downside to the Jenny Lind bed was the higher price.

    OK, I could have tried to be patient and waited for one (in good condition) to pop up on Craigslist or eBay. I could have even hoped that the poor review was wrong and went for the more affordable one at Sears/Kmart, but then I’d have to pay $90 for shipping. And either way I’d have to find bed rails and slats or a box spring. And prime and paint the frame. And really, with a basement renovation in progress (and plenty of work ahead there), and me being seven and a half months pregnant, the ready-to-go bed from Land of Nod was looking pretty good. And hello, it just happened to be on sale at a store that never puts their furniture on sale, for one day only on the very day I wrote about it? Yeah, I went ahead and took that as a sign. I ordered the bed that day, and Brandon picked it up at the Naperville warehouse Saturday morning.

    Of course, we can’t set it up until we get the studio moved down to the basement. But soon. And by soon, I mean hopefully before the new baby arrives.

  • Just to Complicate Things Further

    Just to Complicate Things Further

    I do very much like this Jenny Lind bed.

    It’s funny… I first blogged about Jenny Lind style beds a year and a half ago, after choosing Eleanor’s crib. And now without me bringing it up again, a few people are recommending this bed in the comments of my last post.

    Jenny Lind Beds
    Sunrise Ruffalo’s Home, Marie’s Memphis Apartment

    I’m just too parsimonious to buy one. (That sounds better than cheap, right?) Maybe I should just spring for one instead of trying to go with one of these? The other options are good too though, and more affordable.

    I’m not good at making decisions lately. Can I just blame it on the whole ‘being seven months pregnant’ thing?

  • Which Bed for Eleanor?

    Which Bed for Eleanor?

    Which Bed for Eleanor?

    I’m torn. I love the cool peacock headboard that we have from eBay (to be painted), but I’ve been thinking that the Minnen extendable bed may be a better fit for us right now.

    • If I use the peacock headboard, I’ll have to get a twin-sized bed for it. That’s going to limit my layout options in the room. What I love about the Minnen is that it’s as wide as a twin-size, but the length is adjustable.
    • The peacock headboard would attach to the wall and the bed would just bump up next to it. Maybe this is silly to think, but I feel like the bed will shift away and the pillows will always be falling down behind. No?
    • The Minnen is really cute here, and would look much better with wallpaper (if we in fact wallpaper).
    • I do worry about the slats of the Minnen shifting under jumping kiddos on the bed (since a few readers mentioned that as being a problem with IKEA beds).
    • If we have more kids and two need to share a room, I think two Minnen beds would work well. (But that’s a big hypothetical IF, and many years away.)
    • That peacock headboard is just plain awesome. Although Eleanor may well break off the cirlicues.
    • When we go to IKEA, Eleanor is drawn to the Minnen. But Brandon pointed out that she would probably be equally happy to have the peacock headboard too.

    I don’t know. I can argue for or against each one. What do you think?

  • Eleanor’s Headboard?

    Eleanor’s Headboard?


    First I saw this crazy cool headboard by johnny vintage on Oh Joy. Then I linked to it in one of my Honor Roll posts. Fast forward three months, and a reader sees the same style of headboard in a twin-size for sale on eBay, and emails the listing to me (thanks, lisalinn). It was listed with just 25 minutes left, and I was able to grab it. Hooray!

    The one I’m getting has been painted green, with a distressed black finish. It’s going to get a coat of spray paint, but I’m not sure yet on the color. I am keen on that hot pink version though! I’m thinking I’ll pair the headboard with this simple twin bed and paint the legs to match.