Impromptu Switcheroo

I finally got fed up with the full-size bed in the master bedroom. Who lives like this anyways?

Imagine me. Jammed in there. 5’9″ body hardly fitting end-to-end. I was too used to my feet overhanging the end. And I had had enough of that.

The master bedroom – my gray, cozy, iron headboard-ed dwelling – had been arranged this way for over a year. It’s no different from what you’ve seen before (like here, when it made it’s grand reveal) except that I removed the down comforter from the IKEA duvet and have only been sleeping beneath the top sheet and the duvet cover. It’s pure light-yet-warm-and-clean fun, I tell ya. A true summertime treat.

But get this: The guest room mattress was queen-sized. I brought it home last winter. How well do I treat my guests? That well. More comfortable than me well.

But don’t focus on how undecorated and unassembled the room is overall. Just focus on the queen mattress, because that’s what I’m swooning over today after spending another night with my ankles uncomfortably resting over the foot of the bed. Visual guest room happiness is clearly not top of mind over here (yet), but I had comfort nailed down. Shucks, I hadn’t even bought or made a bed skirt. Or tucked in the top sheet nicely.

Switching the smaller bed with the larger guest room mattress had crossed my mind before, although last time I played around and made the switch I wasn’t happy with how tightly the queen fit in the much-smaller master bedroom. It seemed too tall given the shorter ceilings, too wide for to all of the windows, and too large for the fit-for-a-full-size iron headboard.

But when I gave consideration to how the larger bed might fit if not for the metal framing and the iron headboard, I thought the queen bed might just work out in my favor. So I flip-flopped the beds and made some executive decisions in another moment of trial (hoping desperately that it wouldn’t be an error because those damn mattresses aren’t easy to move).

When it came right on down to it, the guest room hardly changed at all visually. The only obvious change is that the bedskirt is over yonder now. The bed even aligned just fine under the herringbone headboard (I DIY’ed that, you know, and you can find out how right here).

On the other hand, the master, my new little lair, looks much improved now. A little low-rise swanky room if you ask me. And hopefully you read that right; I said swanky, not low-rise skanky, like some shorts I didn’t want to be seeing at the beach yesterday afternoon.

And there’s still more to do. Like, hang some art up, and maybe some curtains since I’m feelin’ a curtain-y kick coming at you… but what else is different?

• No framing; the box spring is directly on the ground for now, although I’d love to get a nice low platform bed someday and nix the box all together.
• No headboard; I shifted the entire bed left to sit more beneath the window.
• Shifted the carpet closer to the door (and am considering rotating it to expose even more).
• Moved the dresser to the other wall; it’s now beside the closet.

And I decided that I really should start ironing my bedding before it’s on international bloggy-dom. Whatever, we’re all snuggly, duvet-crunching humans, right?

I’m still fussing with how the bed sits beneath the window; we use enough pillows for it not to be an issue when we’re sleeping against it, but should it directly beneath the window, or am I content to keep it a smidgen off center and balance the variance out with art just because I’m allowed to do what I want? The reason it can’t go further left and perfectly centered (as shown in the next photo) is because the IKEA bedside table is wedged between the bed and the wall where the dresser had been previously. It may need to move to the other side of the bed if centering is the ultimate gameplan.

And it really surprised me that adding the bed to the room like this made the room feel bigger; I think forcing it away from the doorway was a good decision.

Did I mention it’s way cushier than the old mattress? Sorry guests. I’ll be working on updating and beautifying your room soon enough if it’s any concession.

P.S. Project Runway tonight!