Simply Curious

When we bought the Monster Bed, there were a few issues we encountered.

Issue 1:  Height.  It comes up to my waist.  I had problems getting in it, and was reluctant to step on the side rail for fear of weakening it.  Solved by tracking down bedsteps.  Most annoying part?  The influx of bedsteps available in stores/catalogs AFTER I stopped looking.  It's like they were just waiting for us to give up.

Issue 2:  Bedspread.  It seems that almost all bedspreads these days are designed for beds without bedposts or footboards. Our Monster Bed, of course, is a four poster.  This problem was pretty much ignored, and so the corners stick out kind of funny.  However, purchase of bedspread led to

Issue 3:  Bedskirt.  The bedspread came as a set and included two pillow shams and a bedskirt, which was naturally too short for the bed.  I liked it.  I wanted to keep it.  It matched.  So I sat and pondered how to make it work.

Buying a second one was apparently out of the question, as it only came in a set.  I couldn't put it underneath the box springs.

Eventually, staring at the way it currently hung on the bed, I realized that the side rail would block the view of the top of the skirt if it were at its proper location on the floor.  All's I had to do was add fabric to the TOP of the bedskirt rather than the bottom!

I took a sham with me to the fabric store and ended up buying a basic brown cotton fabric.  I had to cut off the bedskirt from the white cotton that goes between the mattress and the box springs, as it had been overlocked, and I didn't want the fabric to come ungathered.  Then, I took the white cotton and added about 10 inches of brown cotton to three sides.  This fabric covers the box spring entirely so you don't get any glimpses of white between the wooden side rail and the edge of the bedspread. 

I ran into one problem at this point.  The side rails are attached to each other by means of three metal bars which run crosswise under the bed - the box springs and mattress sit on top of these.  They interfered with the bedskirt hanging down.  To get around this, I decided to use velcro.  I cut three slits in the bedskirt where they would meet the bars, and attached velcro to the bedskirt and the brown cotton.  Then I attached the bedskirt by bringing it up under the side rail and the metal bars, while the white cotton and the brown cotton cover the box springs.  I am explaining this very carefully because of the blank looks/huh? comments I am getting when I try to explain it in person.  I may have to resort to drawings.

It took a while to figure out how to do this and then get the nerve to actually carry it out.  A side problem I ran into is that a king sized mattress is REALLY HEAVY.  I needed to check my measurements every once in a while, and of course I had to take it off to sew.   I had decided to sew the bedskirt to the brown cotton along the foot of the bed, and today I ended up doing that by hand because I wanted to check and be sure that everything fit properly before I attempted to permanently attach it.  I didn't feel like wrestling it on and off the bed again and really wanted to get the whole project done.  (I think it's been a year!) It's just as well, because I cannot sew in a straight line by machine. 

I think this might be my first full scale decorating project.  (I don't count hanging things.)  It's a little strange to walk in the bedroom and not be able to see under the bed.  I'm imagining all the stuff I can store under there now. There's so much space I could even rent it out.

Oh yes.  I found a site only two days ago that sold extended length bedskirts.  I had a backup plan.