I always seem to get us in a pinch. Travis’ Brother, Brock, was getting rid of two king size beds. I thought it might be nice to have a king size bed in the guest room downstairs. Besides, I had already told my Dad that we would switch our queen bedroom set that is in that room with his king size set, since he is moving to a smaller unit and wants a smaller bed, and both sets are oddly similar in style. Since I already had to move that whole massive and heavy set out of the bedroom, why not further complicate things by bringing a third bed into the mix. The original idea was to take Dad’s set, move the dressers to Tayden’s room (per his request), put the king size bed in the basement, and buy a mismatched headboard for the queen that Tayden already has. Simple enough. Now I will just move my whole queen set into the garage, put Brock’s king into the basement, and switch entire sets in a couple weeks, putting a king in Tayden’s room. Lucky Tayden! We will move Tayden’s queen into the girls’ bedroom, to match the queen they already have there… even though nobody technically resides in that room anymore. To complicate things more, Taryn wanted the second king bed that Brock was getting rid of, so we still have to get that to Wisconsin. 

So a few weeks ago, we rented a U-Haul and drove it to Chicago (which was fun!) with a gaggle of child labor. We also brought Bert for overflow items, which turned out to be a good idea. We brought home those two beds, one of which was MASSIVE, and put them in the garage. We still have no cars in the garage now, since the beds took over the only garage slot that actually housed a car. Perhaps we could use it for overflow sleeping. 

That was phase one of this project. Phase two was the movement out of the existing queen set from the basement (the one going to Dad) and the movement in of the huge king bed from Brock. We don’t need the dressers in that room, since it is primarily a guest bedroom. This phase took place last weekend, which coincided with tax weekend, which meant that some of the child labor would be home to help because I help them with their taxes! That was key, since my back has been dicey. If you’re over 50, you’ve likely had a period of “dicey back.” I hurt it moving whole boxes of tiles that we put in our basement bathroom a month or so back, before I decided that I could simply open the boxes and move the 2ft by 1ft tiles three at a time. But the damage was done. Now, I must wait for my dicey back (an official medical diagnosis, at least to me… but I teach math) to get better. 

We utilized Big Green, our woefully overworked John Deere tractor mower, with the trailer that hooks onto Big Green. The kids and Travis systematically moved things into the trailer and I drove it up the hill and around the house to the garage. I also supervised, which was greatly appreciated by the manual labor… or not. I had two to four assistants that ran along the tractor to ensure stability and to push for the heavier pieces, which I am sure went far over Big Green’s weight capacity. This avoided the awkward movement of furniture up the narrow stairs, which would have necessitated a 180 degree turn in the middle. PIVOT!!

It was hard work, for everyone else, but it went fairly smoothly, until unpredicted rain came and we were scrambling to stuff everything into the garage BEFORE we removed the bed that was going out to the basement. So, there was a work delay, which allowed for some live entertainment from Travis and our friend Matt. As dusk approached, we started the movement of the huge king bed down to the basement bedroom. Fortunately, Tayden’s friend Hunter showed up, which added to our manual labor (sorry Hunter!). I’m sure that wasn’t in his plan, but he turned out to be a huge help. Using every hand we had, we guided the massive outside piece around the house with little clearance. Fortunately, the massive headboard, night stand combo unit divided into three sections. Still, it was heavy walnut. Our neighbors were fortunately nowhere to be seen. Sometime around 9pm, we realized the walnut frame for the bed would not fit in our exterior door. It would also not fit through our interior doors, but that was a mute point as we sat in the dark, having just driven it around the house. It also didn’t come apart. There were threats of tossing it in the fire pit, since the day was already long and laborious. I would hear none of it.

After much debate, it was decided that we would remove the insert and cut the outer piece into two pieces. Great idea! So, around 9:30pm, we could be heard hammering with mallets at the insert, which was apparently fitted really well, and glued in place. Awesome. Some of it splintered. I would expect nothing less. Since it was a Saturday, I didn’t feel too guilty about the hammering sounds echoing across the lake for all to enjoy. Once it was removed, not as cleanly as we would have liked, we grabbed the circular saw to add some more noise to the mix. Our neighbors love us! Not sure when our noise pollution ended, but we got the bed frame into the house and we were done for the night! The next day, Travis concocted a way to put it back together, since the top of the bed screwed into the headboard

, making it pretty solid, and the bottom of the bed was hollow, allowing a 2×4 to hold it together. I was helping with taxes during the putting together of that which we sawed apart. That bed comes with the house, whenever we sell it. It’s non-negotiable! 

Unfortunately for all of you, I have NO photos of any part of this adventure. I thought I took a picture of the bed sawed apart, but I didn’t. So I can only show you pictures of the bed, so maybe you will understand the scope of the move. We also moved two dressers out to the garage, and a massive desk, that is currently residing in our basement. Sit at the bar… or sit at the desk… your choice. 

So, have a great week everyone! I will keep you updated on phases three, four, five and six: emptying Tayden’s room, rehabbing it with new carpet and paint, driving a U-haul to Dads’ to exchange the sets and bring Taryn her bed, and finally putting Dad’s set into Tayden’s refreshed room, which WILL necessitate the 180 degree turn. FUN!