- solid wood frame, not painted white or other light color like the Madeleine bed, but left in a medium or dark wood tone
- a canopy -- but a nice straight one that you could actually hang curtains from to screen off the bed, as opposed to the curvy ones that just let you hang a goofy little ruffled thing off the top
- with a trundle option, for overnight sleepovers and visiting cousins etc.
It'd also be nice if the whole frame/canopy/trundle package cost less than a thousand dollars, and if it didn't have little flowers or other foofiness carved on it, but now I know I'm just being picky. If this Espresso Simple bed came with a canopy option, it'd be perfect, but no such luck. Sigh. I could abandon the canopy, but I have to admit, I had a canopy bed as a girl, and I loved it to death. I want Kavi to have one too!
I suppose if worst came to worst, I could get the Madeleine bed above and repaint it to some less icky color myself. Oof. Who decided taupe would be a good color for a kid's bed? Isn't it bad enough that decorators insist on slathering it all over every adult's walls?
I had a canopy bed, too. Loved it!
You could forgo the actual canopy bed with posts and rig your own canopy from ceiling hooks and fabric.
Or you might see if there is a natural wood furniture place who might be able to custom make the bed you want (or modify one of their existing beds to add a canopy). That might be a pricey option and I’m not sure you could find such a place near Chicago, but natural wood furniture stores are popular here in the south. We had custom bookcases built at a reasonable price.
I kind of like the idea of painting the Madeleine bed a different color if you can’t find what you want. Natural wood is beautiful, but a painted bed would be lovely, as well.
Paint the Madeleine. It has everything else you want.
I want a canopy bed.
If the room is big enough, I’d forego the whole trundle bed idea and just get a double/queen-size bed. The kids would prefer to be in the same bed anyway (well, for at least a decade). Then you’ll have lots of options.
I have seen some lovely work done with hanging rails instead of canopy beds. More work though.
The room is unlikely to be big enough for a full-size bed. Oak Park rooms are small! 🙂
Not sure what you mean by hanging rails? Photo?
Must it be wood? I’ve been finding iron beds with canopies and trundles. …
Hmm…I guess it doesn’t have to be wood, but I don’t want white or light grey or sparkle silver metal. Which seem to be all the metal options I found.
Try this then: http://su.pr/4FYSru
Wesley Allen seems to have a wide range of metal finishes. Price <$900 (... it seems. I haven't poked through it thoroughly)
Sal, that’s interesting — I have to admit, I love the silver-mocha two-tone finish option. 🙂
Now I’m waffling about the twin-with-trundle versus full-size option, because it’s true, I think they’d like sharing a bedroom until puberty hits, at least. Maybe I need to measure the rooms to see whether a full would fit…
Depending on how handy you guys are, it might be relatively easy to add the kind of canopy you want. Especially if the posts are already in place. You could even get rigid PVC pipe and use that to suspend curtains (since the pipe would be covered with fabric anyway).
I wouldn’t overestimate our handiness. 🙂 Sometimes it goes well (http://www.mamohanraj.com/journal/show-entry.php?Entry_ID=1510) — sometimes, really not.
Low end and I dunno if they ship but I love Bostonwood: http://www.bostonwood.com/beds/a_beds.htm
Stupid but sincere question: speaking as somebody who’s not sure he’s ever seen a canopy bed outside of pictures and movies… what purpose does the canopy serve? Or is it strictly decorative?
I like the ones with curtains, so that you can make yourself a little cave and hide in it. 🙂
Ah, makes sense. I’ve done that with bunk beds. 🙂