Well, you’ve heard about the mattress (queen size MYRBACKA from IKEA, and it is awesome—feel free to ask any mattress-specific questions you might have), you’ve seen the cute, cheap sheets, and now…the bed frame! Yes, it’s the MANDAL bed, also from IKEA. You know I was saying the last week about how sometimes IKEA just nails it? This bed is a perfect example. Nearly all of the components of the MANDAL bed are solid birch that’s been finished with a clear lacquer. I was a little concerned about how such a light wood would look in combination with the very warm, oak floors in the apartment, but it turns out to be a perfectly happy mix. The birch will darken a bit in time, anyway, so I’d imagine that in a year or two they’ll be almost the same tone. That inset white “floating” platform helps prevent the whole thing from looking like a continuous block of wood, too. The best thing about this bed is the storage. There are four nice, big drawers underneath, perfect for storing extra linens, pajamas, or, as seen here, a bazillion tote bags.
I’ve even thought about turning one of them into a little trundle bed for the dogs… I never could get into under-bed storage boxes, but this? The amount of stuff you can fit into these drawers essentially clears out an entire closet. Here’s a closer look at the construction. On the left, you can see the mitered corners (one of the many nice details IKEA has been incorporating in their solid wood pieces lately) where the sides and top of the frame meet. The picture on the right is a little weirdly angled because I was hefting the mattress up with my left hand while shooting with my right, but I wanted to show how the wood slats (which support the mattress in lieu of a box spring) sit flush with the top of the frame. The whole thing is just so well put-together. Speaking of being put-together, I’d estimate it took about three hours for me and Evan to assemble the bed. Of course, I don’t really understand when people say they hate putting together IKEA furniture. Personally, I find it very relaxing and satisfying.
It’s like adult Tinker Toys.For the first time ever, we sprung for IKEA’s delivery service. The price varies depending on location/distance, but in Brooklyn, it’s $59 no matter how much stuff you’re having delivered. At that price you still have to load up your cart in the warehouse yourself and go through the whole checkout process, but if you pay $99, they’ll do everything for you, including pulling the items…but only if they have more than 10 of each thing in stock. And that’s the kicker, of course, because if you’ve ever been to the Brooklyn IKEA, you know that stock counts tend to hover around 0–3 at all times. So we went with the $59 option. SO WORTH IT, OMG. Our apartment is on the 3rd & 4th floors of our building (and of course there’s no legal street parking out in front), and this stuff is heavy. Having a couple of dudes drive it over and carry it upstairs made life so much easier. I haven’t done much serious decorating in the apartment yet since I’ve been so focused on just getting large pieces of furniture into place and organizing all of our stuff, but I did order two of the “Bigmouth Strikes Again”-themed prints (Sweetness and Joan of Arc) from my K IS FOR BLACK shop and put them into frames.
I’m not sure this will be their final destination, but I do like them leaning against the wall side-by-side. For reference, these are the X-LARGE size (28″ x 38″) prints in the largest size RIBBA frames (27 ½” x 39 ¼”) from IKEA. This is the birch frame, which they’ve inexplicably discontinued. At least you can still get them in black and white, though, and the aluminum STRÖMBY frames are an even more affordable alternative that looks great. Yeah, still using my faux-Aaltos (aka hacked FROSTA stools) as bedside tables. If you’re wondering what happened to our former bed, the discontinued (all together now: of course) green wool-upholstered GRIMEN, it went to live with my friend Tiesha, who is awesome. I really loved that bed, and we’d definitely have kept it if it were queen-sized. Two people and two dogs in a full size bed is…tight. Anyway, I’m happy it went to a good home.Everyone needs a mattress – box springs might be negotiable, and I once dated a man who elected to sleep on the floor and insisted it was better for his back (he also didn’t wear shoes – on principle.
I asked one of my best friends, Zoe Hayden, to gush about her new, affordable mattress by Tuft & Needle, a Made-in-USA, ethical and budget-friendly mattress company. I’ve wanted one ever since she received hers and oozed daily about how much she loved it. If you’re going to make me jealous, you might as well right a review! My boyfriend found Tuft & Needle by Googling the phrase “Warby Parker for mattresses”. I’m not sure what led him to do this, but when you see their website it totally makes sense. I guess he was looking for some sort of buyers guide on the best mattress available. So, Tuft & Needle had a clean and beautiful web design, low prices–and, if you check their Amazon pages, one of the best-reviewed products out there. A Tuft & Needle mattress became part of our “dream apartment” that we’d have someday–a realistic goal, since the price is right. According to the founders, the reason most mattresses you see in stores are so expensive is because markup occurs at multiple levels to maximize profits, even though the mattress itself costs under $300 to make.
Tuft & Needle’s alternative is direct purchase. Every mattress they make comes directly from their factory to your door, and they’re made in the USA with USA-manufactured textiles. Tuft & Needle also donates to provide beds to American foster children who don’t have their own. I ended up needing a mattress much sooner than I thought. My old mattress was a queen-sized IKEA foam number I’d inherited from previous tenants of my first big-girl apartment. I’m not sure of the thickness of my old mattress, but it was pretty thin–probably 3.75 inches at most, and may have retailed for about $200 (IKEA is also well-known for their budget foam mattresses). It served me relatively well for the four years that I owned it, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to call it comfortable. I had to drag it out with the trash after returning from a vacation to find that while my roommate had diligently fed my cat and changed her litter, he hadn’t noticed or prevented her peeing on the mattress at least five times in my absence.
After checking to make sure my kitty didn’t have a UTI and getting ready to move to my new apartment, it was time to buy my first mattress–and Tuft & Needle seemed the way to go. I went with the 5 inch queen, for $400. (Tuft & Needle has 5 inch mattresses starting at $200 in standard sizes. They also make a 10 inch mattress.) You can get an IKEA foam mattress of similar thickness and size for just $249, but I was willing to pay a little more for something that is made in the USA. I still didn’t want to buy a bed of any kind. Most mattresses are meant to be on top of a platform–this increases the lifespan of the mattress by protecting it from the elements and keeping it ventilated, according to Tuft & Needle. It’s also more comfortable, or so they tell you. I’d spent the last year or so with my IKEA mattress on the floor and had no complaints. But I did want to take steps to protect my new mattress that wouldn’t involve me spending an additional several hundred dollars and acquiring yet another piece of furniture to hassle me the next time I move apartments.
(I’m saving a bed purchase for when I finally settle in my “forever home.”) and bought the following: My Tuft & Needle mattress left the factory within 12 hours of my purchase according to my receipt, but they take about 5 business days to reach the East Coast from California. So I bookmarked my FedEx tracking page and got excited. Sleeping in a blanket nest on the floor is definitely better than sleeping on a mattress soaked in cat pee that has been thoroughly baked in summer heat for 2 weeks, but it still kinda sucks. Honestly, I laid down on this thing and slept for twelve hours straight. After 30 restless days of apartment moving and road tripping, I needed it . The mattress is really comfortable, though. It has a solid feeling to it that my IKEA foam mattress never had–it actually supports me while I’m sleeping. The back pain and knee pain I’d developed sleeping on the floor were both gone after a good night’s sleep on my new mattress. My bamboo rug has also done a great job of keeping the bottom of the mattress in good condition.
We changed the sheets this weekend and propped the mattress up against the wall, blowing a fan on it to circulate the air. It was still perfectly clean, white, and dry. And the bamboo looks nice, too. The mattress protector has proved to be an invaluable purchase and has already protected the bed from cat-related accidents and a spilled drink. It just went through the wash at my local laundromat like a champ and dried properly in the dryer. The waterproof coating is resilient as hell, and true to the Amazon reviews, it doesn’t make your bed sound funny or plasticky. I’m confident it’ll keep my mattress almost like new for some time. An IKEA mattress might be cheaper, but after having slept on the IKEA equivalent of this mattress for four years, I wouldn’t go back. This is definitely worth the extra money if you’re looking for a high-quality mattress that really seems like it will last, not just something to throw on the curb next time you move. With that, and the company ethics, Tuft & Needle is really making a product that is hard to fault.