Well… my mom told me about a year ago that she wanted to buy a bunk bed for the boys when they were a bit older or when their beds didn’t work out anymore… Well, the time had come I reminded her and she said to go ahead and buy it using her card (well after she approuved of it)…
So yesterday I went to pick it up at Sears and of course it came in 3 quite small boxes…. ahh…. assembly…
We also went and bought the mattresses yesterday and they were to be delivered today so this morning I started the process…
Well… it was interesting… 6 hours on and off, an unexpected visit from a friend, a few mishaps, the boys running all over the place, Xavier building things with the wood, a scraped and bruised knee (mine), blisters from using the allen key and at some point I got hit in the head with a pair of pliers….
Well… of course, half way though I see something I did wrong and was able to correct that, it was a pretty big mistake but half an hour later I had corrected it…
Then a screw just didn’t want to go in right and was sticking out about a cm not budging either way, and the more I tried the more it didn’t budge and then the allen key snapped in half… I went to get another allen key from a past project and it still wouldn’t budge and then of course the screw got stripped…
I decided to leave it like that for the time being and kept on assembling… Both beds done, it was time to put the top bunk on the bottom one… I decided I wasn’t going to even attempt that one by myself (which is unlike me) and about 5 minutes later the men with the mattresses arrived and I asked them to do it and they did with a smile…
I then kept on going, putting the ladder together etc and then got to the rail… well… two other screws did the same and got stuck and stripped… though the allen key was spared…
And then once the whole bed was pretty much assembled I find another mistake. The hole for one of the vertical pieces that reinforces the top rail is about 3-4 inches off from where it is supposed to be… of course, my mom then calls and I tell her and she says that I probably put it together wrong…. Ughh!!! no I didn’t!!! it is a defect… the reason I am certain is that everything else fits perfectly… on the peice the defect is on there are also the holes that the ladder fits in and they were perfect… Anyways… after she asks a few more questions (maybe I had the wrong screws etc) she finally realizes that it is probably a defect and then tells me to bring it back and get another one… YEAH RIGHT!!! I didn’t spend all of that time assembling it for nothing!! what happens if the next one has the same problem…
Sears is sending someone to check it out in a week but I don’t know what more could be done that we can’t do by ourselves…
Here is one of the screws… and the misplaced hole (just below berts hair)…
And here is the bed all done… besides the few little things that didn’t work out… it is a pretty nice bed and the boys are really happy…
I can’t believe you did that all by yourself! I’m impressed, I despise assembling things like this b/c there is ALWAYS a defect or crappy instructions so I bat my eyelashes and get Bryan to do it 🙂 Looks great though, I always wanted bunk beds!
I’m impressed, too. We’re actually planning to have Bunk Beds and More build our girls’ bunk beds (they come to your house and do it) when they’re ready for them … probably way more expensive than doing it ourselves, but Bud and I don’t tolerate that kind of stress very well.
How fun! I always wanted a bunk bed when I was growing up. My sister’s kids have a bunk bed and they were jumping on the top bunk once and actually busted the slats under the mattress! If your bed doesn’t have it already, I highly recommend getting something called a “bunkie board” (kinda like an 2 inch thick box spring) for their beds or putting a piece of plywood under the mattresses. It looks like they are having a blast with their new beds!