Bed Swapping, Hopping, and General Chaos and Destruction

It all started when we went on a cruise last October.

Adam and I have always slept on a queen mattress, I’ve never felt like we needed anything else. I’ve always thought a bigger mattresses was a waste of space, or for couples that don’t like each other as much as Adam and I do. We often fall asleep cuddled up, and more room would just be out there, empty. But lets face the facts here… Adam snores. He snores like a freight train in a tornado during a thunderstorm. He also does this thing that drives me even more nuts than the snoring…he falls asleep in about three seconds flat. It is totally amazing….and completely infuriating. It takes me the better part of an hour to fall asleep each night, no matter how many sheep I count. So here I am, all snuggled up to my man, chatting away, and he’s like “mmmhmmm, yup, I think so too” …then BAM…he’s asleep. Instantly the snoring starts. Now not only did we not finish our conversation, but he’s snoring right in my ear and breathing all over my face.  His arm that was holding me all romantic-like is now the heaviest thing on earth. Suddenly it starts to get insanely hot. Was it this hot before he fell asleep? Now I’m starting to sweat. The snoring is hurting my brain and his arm refuses to let me go. I can’t escape. The two and a half seconds of snuggle bliss that preceded this snuggle hell were not worth it.

Then the cruise happened. And in our tiny little room, on the lowest deck of the ship, on the cheapest cruise we could find…there was a king sized bed. And you know what? It was awesome. Each night I traded in the usual snuggle entrapment for starfishing out on my side of the bed and sleeping like a baby. I slept like I’ve never slept before. We took naps every single day. His snoring didn’t bother me as much since it was a few feet away rather than right in my ear. As soon as we got off the ship I told him “We MUST to get a king mattress.”

Almost six months passed and finally we decided it was time to pull the trigger. Elijah kept sneaking into our bed in the middle of the night and our queen was feeling crowded. So we got to shopping and were stunned at how crazy expensive mattresses are. We laid on one that was $12,000! We’ve never had a car that cost that much. Finally we settled on a gel foam mattress from Overstock and paid about $520.

And so began the great bed swap of 2014.

Here was our bedroom before any mattress buying happened.

bedroom

Underwhelming, yes…but at least it’s clean now (thanks 40 bags!). Those of you that have been following for a while know that I’ve been planning to re-do our master bedroom for ages. I’ve haven’t started yet though, other projects just keep popping up and our bedroom continues to be ignored. Anyway, a couple of years ago I found a comforter I really liked and decided to design the room around that. Then I found a rug at on clearance at Homegoods, and though they would look great together. I even posted about it on my facebook page. The date on that post is June 12, 2012. Why am I telling y’all all this? Because I have never put out either one of these things. The comforter is in my closet, and the rug has been right here…

rug

What am I waiting for? In my mind I have to wait until the foundation of the room is complete (the floors, walls, furniture, etc) before I could put the fun stuff out. I didn’t want them to get stained and ruined before I even got around to redoing the room. But seriously though…who knows when I will get to this room? I decided enough was enough and finally put out my purchases.

finally

And after I did Adam and I stood  there in the bedroom, looking at it. Then he did that nice guy thing he does when he hates something I’ve put together, he said “So what do YOU think?” If he likes something he never asks this question. This is him hoping I’ll hate it too and he won’t have to tell me that I have terrible taste. Truth is, I was totally bummed…they looked awful together. It was way too busy. I told him so and he says ” Thank goodness…we have got to get rid of that comforter”. “The comforter? No way, that’s like my favorite thing ever! The rug has to go”. And guess what happened…we got rid of the rug.

Does this happen to anyone else? I can’t be the only one that buys things, holds onto them for forever, then sells them before ever using them? Because right now Adam thinks I’m completely ridiculous.

Anyway, back to the mattresses. The gel foam one came in, all rolled up.

gel foam mattress

It fluffed up in less than a minute and instantly became the most entertaining thing EVER for the kids. They act like I don’t let them jump on our current beds… and our couch…and off the coffee table into piles of clean laundry. But I totally do.

hopping

While the kids were busy we went ahead moved all the rest of the beds in the house. The full mattress that was in the guest room moved into the boy’s room.

moving

Then, while that room was empty, we decided to go ahead and remove all the carpet and trim. (And also discovered a little bit of mold. Fun!)

removing carpet

Then in went the bed that was originally in our room.

for now

The boy’s room went from having two cribs to having one big boy bed.

boys room, for now

Which means that BOTH my kids are now free to roam around the house at night. Which also means that I wake up sandwiched between two sneaky little boys each morning. Thank goodness for king sized mattresses, right? And waterproof mattress protectors.

The plan is to eventually build the kids bunk beds, kinda like this…

cottagemakeovernew5

Source

Except not green, without drawers, and with more safety railing. So really nothing like that. I like the set up though, with them being perpendicular and not actually attached.

My boys are super excited about bunk beds, but I’m currently enjoying how sweet and small they look sharing a single bed.

sleeping

Levi is my night owl (just like me), here he is up past midnight playing travel Guess Who…and then asleep and exhausted after destroying it.

levi bedtime

So that’s some of what we’ve been up too around here. Actually, since doing this we’ve pulled the bed out of the guest room again and I’ve started redoing the floors and the walls.

guest room

And our bedroom is back to being a dumping ground with a mattress on the floor. Just like old times.

master bedroom, for now

(We still need to deliver the rug to the new owner, but it is leaving!)

We hope to build a new bed, something rustic and chunky, like this…

Cool-heavy-bed-frame-in-wood

Source

Or this…

Sundance Bed

 Source

or maybe even this…

bed

I’m still deciding.

Oh, and the by the way, the gel memory foam mattress? It’s not amazing. It’s hard to describe because it’s completely different from a regular spring mattress, but it’s not soft at all (despite being completely made of foam). It has NO bounce to it…if you were to trust fall onto the bed after a long day it would knock the wind right out of you. It’s not terrible either though…I’ve never woken up sore or achy. We’ve had it for about a month and aren’t quite sure what to think about it…I wouldn’t buy it again though. But hey, at least I can spread out and sleep like a starfish, right?

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33 Comments

  1. Wow, musical beds! Too bad the gel foam one is not amazing. I can’t believe how small it was rolled up when you got it. I also can’t believe how big Levi looks! When did that happen??
    I think you made the right choice in keeping the comforter, not the rug. It’s lovely! Here’s my vote for a rustic bed it would look fab on: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/8725792999464418/ :D

    1. Levi is getting big! He’s adorable and recently decided that he loves singing. He sings constantly…in his lispy, raspy, angelic frog voice. I’ll have to put a video up on the blog sometime.

      I’ve never seen anything quite like that bed! It’s beautiful…I kinda want to hang twinkle lights from it.

  2. Oh Ashley, this is the funniest post yet!!! You had me giggling! Gotta love those little boys. They remind me of my two grandkids, constantly climbing and jumping off of everything! Love the comforter—hope you bought a kingsize? I’ve always wondered about those memory foam mattresses—so when you change positions does it remember and leave the indent where you were before? lol!

    1. The comforter, sadly, is a queen. If I turn it sideways and use it as a blanket on the end of the bed it fits though. Not ideal, but it is what it is! I bought that green duvet cover you can see in the last photo, and they look good together.

      And the foam DOES lave a dent when you move…but only for a second!

  3. Love the kids jumping on the bed! Everyone knows that’s the BEST fun :) The comforter is gorgeous and I love your plans for a new bed… so jealous…! Shame about the rug, but that juts means you get to go hunting again!

  4. Oh my – I wish I could have warned you about the foam mattress! We got the same one about a year ago and we’re now looking to replace it. When we first got it, it was nice – not amazing, as you said – but nice enough. Then after a few months, it seemed to be getting more compacted and less “foamy”. Now after a year, that thing is just plain fricken’ hard! I can’t wait to get rid of it and go back to a normal mattress when we find the right one, which is no easy deal.
    Hope yours works out better than ours.

    1. I wish you could have warned me too! It has such great reviews on Overstock….I can’t understand why. It sucks your having to replace it after only a year…we may be in the same boat not long from now.

  5. Oh my goodness!!! I loved this post! My husband is just the same and when we went on our cruise I thought I was in heaven!!!!! I am glad to know that I am not the only one with this time of nighttime routine! That really stinks that your bed isnt as comfortable as you wished though.
    Just a recomendation:
    Three years ago, around Christmas, I decided I wanted a new bed. I fell IN LOVE with those Gel Tempurpedic ones, but they were totally out of my price range. So I ended up settling for a $100 foam topper from Sams. The first couple of weeks I was really sore because it was so comfortable that I wouldn’t move at all in my sleep. It didn’t take long before my body got used to it though. I still have it and sleep on it every night! It has not changed at all! It is still like it was when I first took it out of the package. We have even compacted it to move houses and it still is just as fluffy as can be. I would recomend it to anyone!!! I am not sure of the brand, but it is the one that Sams sells. :) If your bed gets too uncomfortable you should give it a try!

    -Kristen

    1. Tempurpedic beds are crazy expensive, aren’t they?! The toppers are great though, I’ve always bought cheap spring mattresses and put foam toppers on them and they are SO comfy. The kids room and the guest room have them now…and I have woken up a few times and found Adam sound asleep the the guest room, enjoying the old bed that we did know was crazy comfy till we bought our current bed. That topper is at least 8 years old too! I might have to bite the bullet and buy a king one…though you should NOT have to buy a foam topper to go on a foam mattress. So wrong.

  6. Fabulous post, Ashley! I enjoyed reading this so much.
    I adore Levi’s little Buddha-belly in the mattress unrolling photo – he looks so cute!

    1. I cringed when I read what bed you bought because I didn’t like the gel. At least you are getting sleep in it so it must be ok? Ive also learned that mums and dads upgrade their bed stylle and quality as the children (& parents) grow older. My hubby and I bought a new bed 4 yrs ago. Absolutely LOVED the Tempura but it was out of our price range. We bought a quality10 inch foam layered mattress with no internal springs and joined to a 3 inch tempur type pillow top. After trying that one we could feel the springs in every other one we laid on. 3 yrs on we still loved it. Best bed in our lives. We then separated and I bought myself a similar one but with the pillow top & covering made from bamboo. No internal springs again. It feels comfortable but obviously cheaper. It is a better sleep in summer because it breathes better than the cotton/wool blend covered tempur previous one. The first one got quite hot in summer and made my hubby sweat a lot. It will be interesting to hear how you like the bed over the next yr or two. I hate the thought of you on the floor. I did it for about 2 months and decided I’m too old to do it again. Hope you get a super cool bed soon. Seems like beds are a hot topic.

  7. We’re the exact same way with sleeping! He falls asleep instantly, snores, and loves to sleep cuddled up to me. He always thinks he’s freezing, and I’m sweating because he feels like an oven next to me but I can’t get out from under his arm and leg that are draped over me. We have a queen now, but the minute we buy a bigger house we’re getting a king!

    1. Haha, the leg…the leg is the worst! The only way to escape from an arm + leg scenario is to wake him up and demand release.

  8. This reminds me of our new bed. When we first moved into our house we had two twins pushed up together, ya, not so comfy because if you scooted to the middle to cuddle, you were falling through the crack – ha! We finally decided to get a queen mattress and we paid $1200 thinking that was a steal!!!!! I am sooooo mad when I see a mattress sale. GRR!!

  9. There is nothing cuter than those kidlets asleep in bed like that. Nothing.

    I’ll just offer my two cents on the new bed…I love the rustic beds, they look adorable but let me warn you about a bed/footboard that is shin height; you bark your shins a LOT on them. Every bed I’ve been around that was platform like that with the footboard sticking out about shin height mainly got sworn at by everyone. Bring the footboard up a little so your bedding tucks in behind it and you can easily see it. Even my footboard though, that is mid-thigh high but squared off gives bruises to people trying to negotiate it at night when they are half asleep. It has “sharp” posts. Next time, I’ll either not have a foodboard or not have posts that stick out at all.

  10. We have a king Tempurpedic that we paid BIG bucks for and I have to tell you it is worth every cent! I think it depends on the brand and quality. This one is over 5 years old and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I wonder if you could make yours more comfy and last longer by adding a topper?

    1. It’s funny that you say this, because the commeter just below you says she has a tempurpedic and hates it. Everyone’s different! The mattress we bought has great reviews, but I can’t for the life of me understand why. We’re considering buying a topper…we’ve had them on previews beds and LOVE them. Just seems like you shouldn’t have to put a foam topper on a foam mattress!

  11. I bought a temputedic, it’s awful! For comfort it’s not bad but, not as nice as a traditional but ok. The problem I run into is its heat! It radiates your body heat back at you, overheating you even in winter! I live in Ohio and we have cold winters so for me too kick off the covers overhead is crazy! I’ve woken up feeling like I was boiling inside it’s horrible. Even my dog gets huffy and over heated jumping off the bed and giving me a using looks as she sprawls on the floor trying too cool down.

    1. Oh man, when the dog complains about mattress conditions you know something is up! I read the same thing about foam mattresses and heat when doing my research before buying. The “gel” part is supposed to keep it cooler, but we will see. We live in Texas and summers are HOT…plus we keep it somewhat warm in our house since we’re not millionaires. We may be in for a warm one!

  12. Totally related to being trapped by the hubs, however, he’ll adapt to a king sized bed and continue to do it. What you have to do is start out towards him in the middle and when he traps you, you will have your whole side to move on over to. If you allow him to start in the middle, you will have nowhere to go.
    We bought a foam mattress from Walmart and had it about a year. It developed the dreaded body dents with a mountain in the middle.

    1. We will definitely have to start the cuddle on his side, that seems to be the key to success. Just have to remember to do it. What was happening in the queen is that we would meet in the middle, then I would escape to my side, a few inches away. Then the kids would sneak in at some point during the night, but they always pick the spot right between us. So basically I had been sleeping on about four inches of mattress.
      Too bad about your foam one! That seems to be the consensus….they don’t hold up over time. Dang hindsight.

  13. I was laughing so hard reading this post! My husband is the exact same way! The whole scenario was always the exact same way! I told him a while ago we should get a King mattress. He was totally against it. We slept on one at a hotel though and he was convinced. We FINALLY got one. We spent a lot on it. Not $12,000 a lot, but a lot. Anyway, it was and still is well worth the cost! I sleep much better now that I can spread out and still be touching hubby. We still cuddle. He doesn’t snore nearly as much as he used to! It’s all around just amazing. :)

  14. I like the first wooden bed you choose!!! And the 3rd, but it might be too low to the ground!

  15. How disappointing that the $520 mattress didn’t live up to your expectations. And they really make $12,000 mattresses? Amazing! Good luck on your Master bedroom makeover. I’ve been working on mine for months, although I call it the Queen bedroom. (I’m the Queen). :)
    laurelscottage.com

  16. Totally LOLed about the snuggle hell. It is completely infuriating when they just fall asleep like that in five seconds. NO! DON’T! We have a memory foam mattress (but I don’t think it’s gel foam) and it’s heaven.

  17. This was really funny to read! And I can’t believe that you call your sleeping style the “starfish” because my husband and I have been calling the way I sleep the “starfish” also!!! Too funny. But we have shared a full size bed for the last 8 years. I’m the one that falls right asleep, but no snoring here. Husband wants to upgrade to a queen, but we really want to buy a mattress that’s safe, doesn’t need to be organic but I don’t want those flame retardants off-gassing all over me–and we’re looking at $1000. No thankyou. Anyway, sorry your mattress hunt has ended so badly.

  18. I just found out about your blog and I love it.

    My grandparents have shared a Queen (or Full- I can’t remember) for ~40 years. It’s crazy.

    As for the mattress- I hatehatehate foam mattresses. I have the only bed in our (I’m 20 and live with my parents) house that doesn’t have a foam mattress (off-brand TempurPedic- the younger ones love them, my step-dad doesn’t care either way and my mom and I both hate them because we just sink. Ugh. Keep it until there is a sale on mattresses and spring for your favorite. My parents paid $800 for 3 twin mattresses and 1 California King mattress.

    Then again, they paid $300 for the mattress on the twin bed at my dad’s and $500 for the full that’s currently on my bed. Both were top-of-the line, pillow-topped. I love them. I don’t know how I’m going to survive on a dorm mattress in the fall!

    1. I agree, I’m so disappointed with the foam! I was sure we would love it because the foam toppers are so amazing…you should definitely get one for your dorm mattress!

  19. LOL,, such a wonderful post, your kids looks so cute in that single boy’s bed, good thing you already have plannned out a bunk bed when the time comes that they outgrow their current one. I love the design on the king sized bed resting on an old oak, with your room painted white, I’m sure it will have a relaxing feel in it, though what if you buy a comforter and put it just above your bed just in case maybe it can help with the softness, that’s just my opinion though, :) Keep sharing these wonderful posts, I already bookmarked this waiting for another one :)

  20. Looks like you guys are having fun jumping on those mattresses, with the two choices for the master bedroom I suggest the last one. That’ll look ace for your bedroom. Also, I like how the inter-crossed double decks look. If I were a kid I’d love having those. And lastly, I wonder if you made snow angels until you fell asleep. What would the memory foams reaction to that?

  21. The last three beds look awesome! It could match the motif of a Caribbean themed house or something. It looks like something that will come out of George of the Jungle or Tarzan.

  22. May I start off by saying you have such a beautiful family Ashley! Thanks for posting this, I am actually very curious about that gel mattress, I always fancy having one of those, but reading this, I guess I’ll pass. lol.

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