A White Bunk Bed Story

I’ve always been terribly disorganized and as a consequence I always find it very difficult to make a considered decision. All too often I act on impulse simply because I’m too confused about the right steps to take. A perfect example of this is my latest exploits buying a new white bunk bed for my two little girls.

I was feeling harassed by my daughters to get them a beautiful white bunk bed, basically one like they had seen while playing at a friend’s house. I started searching for a bed online but very soon got overwhelmed by the choice. I know it sound pathetic but, with everything else that was going on in my disorganized life, I burst into tears. Yup I know, really pathetic, it’s only a bunk bed for heaven’s sake. Anyway I know I’m not the only one who can be thrown by the littlest things.

Thankfully I have a little guardian angel in the shape of my best friend and confident Anne. Everyone should have a best friend like Anne, the oldest of four; she’s been used to looking after herself and her youngest siblings since an early age and seems to be wise beyond her years. She always seems to know what to do. So I’m passing onto you know the help she gave me that made making this apparently impossible decision a piece of cake.

Anne came round for tea later that afternoon and walked me though the process she had used to buy her children a bunk bed the year before. The first thing we did was tackle the horror that is my girl’s bedroom. Once we’d cleared as much as the floor as possible and could see the wood for the trees, Anne helped me visualize where this new bed would go in the room and which would help to free up as much space as possible. Now hopefully there would be enough storage space for all their toys. Next we measure the space where the bunk bed would go. Thank heavens we did because that’s exactly the sort of thing I would never have considered resulting in the impulse purchase of some completely impractical piece of furniture that didn’t even fit in the room.

Next armed with our measurements we sat down at the computer to look at the myriad of beds on offer. Now that we knew what size we were looking for it became so much easier to discount a large number of beds and start to draw up a more manageable list of beds that would suit. I started to relax; this wasn’t going to be so difficult after all. Once we had about a dozen possible options I was grateful again when Anne pointed out a few design considerations.

Of course the safety of my girls is always at the forefront of my mind, but usually when we’re outside of the home rather than in it. I never would have given much thought to the safety implications of a piece of furniture, but Anne knew better. She pointed out that while my oldest, Sarah, would be sleeping on the top bunk there was little doubt that both of them would want to be up and down the ladder and playing up high at every available opportunity. With this in mind I was able to instantly discount another four or five beds that made me uneasy. They were all good beds, but when I considered my girls using them, I immediately found fault with certain models because either the ladder seemed too steep or the rungs didn’t seem user friendly for their small feet and hands. Another was discounted because there seemed to be quite a big gap between the guard rail and the mattress and I couldn’t bear the idea of Sarah slipping off the top bunk, as she tossed and turned in her sleep. Yet another was discounted simply because it looked a bit flimsy and seemed a bit cheap, only the best for my girls!

Once we’d got the choice down to around six bunk beds, Anne made the final part of the decision making a joy. “Leave it up to the kids” she said. We went off together, to pick both her and my kids up from school, and when we got them home we gathered them all round the computer and announced that we were going to let them buy their own bunk bed. Well you can imagine the excitement. Of course, the great thing was that Anne and I had already chosen six bunk beds, any one of which I was going to be happy buying, so now there was no problem in letting the girls choose from that selection. And I learnt something else that day, my girls actually have very good taste because they chose the stylish white bunk bed that I would have chose for them. Thanks Anne, as ever you’ve made things easy.