19 December 2009

Furniture and appliance compromises

Sigh.

Our washing machine is on its last legs; mid-week I was pretty sure it was pining for the fjords. Before springing for a new washer, we decided to try a small load. Hubby used the perma-press setting and to my surprise, it made it through. We tried another, and another, and decided that this was the way to go. So, for now we just have to compromise and do more smaller loads until we can afford to replace it (and likely the dryer, too). I'm not too concerned, of course; the appliances were all included in the house purchase and the washer dryer were old and beat up when we inherited them.

Sigh #2

Ever since Kiddo was wee, and we bought a non-standard size crib (which she outgrew almost immediately), we seem to have made consistently questionable choices in beds for her. The only really good bed we had for her (well, we still have it, up in the attic) was the captain's bed but in her tiny room here, we felt like she needed more space so we bought the Tromsö loft bed from IKEA. But the clearance from the ceiling once the mattress was in place made it mostly useless. Still, she slept there until she came down with the flu (and flu+ladder=disaster). For whatever reason, we never put the mattress back up on the loft, letting her play up there with the padding of a couple of blankets.

So, when friends of ours let us know they had to get rid of an almost new twin bed because they are moving, we decided to buy it. Today, I manhandled it home (tied it to the top of the van and hoped that we would beat the rain -- we did) and into the house. I shoved things around in her room and heaved her mattress back up to the loft then started to move the new bed into place and wouldn't you know it? it didn't fit under the loft! I was ready to blame it on IKEA and their non-standard sizings (at least not standard in North America) but when I measured it then did a web search for "standard mattress sizes" I discovered that the new bed is an "extra long " twin. Huh. Never knew such a thing existed.

So, we have turned the new bed 90° under her loft -- it'll do for now but there is less than a 12 inches of clearance between the foot of the bed and the wall so it's far from ideal. Like the washer and dryer, we're just going to live with the compromise until after Christmas.

another_bed

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

lovely patch-bedcover.

Sjon

Unknown said...

Thanks! My mother made it for her.

Star said...

The CP's parents have had similar bed experiences and have also cursed IKEA and their unique sizing. They seemed to have hit the jackpot with a freecycled bed.

Anonymous said...

I got a bunk bed for my son when he first moved back here, for his room was small - suggested it to him in place of his captain's bed and he went for it.

A year later we moved, into a larger house with a larger room for him. As soon as it got hot in the summer he siad it was too hot up there and moved his mattress onto the floor at 90 degrees, the way you have her bed set up now. Now he won't move it back up! I mean, it makes no great difference to me except to regret spending $$$ on a new bunk bed, when I could have just gone down the street and brought him back a mattress from the vacant lot on the corner....

Roshan said...

It still looks lovely. An alternative design for a kid's room.