I read the reviews (including the many negative ones) and decided to buy this bed anyway. Because of the small size of our room, we were limited in choices of furniture. We were pleasantly surprised that we did not have the problems mentioned in other reviews. Yes, there is a tiny little chip in one place (colored it with black marker). Over time there will probably be more; its for a 10 year old boys room (expected). The assembly took time. Fortunately, my husband is methodical and everything went into place as it should. For the money, I think its a great bed and an idea we needed. One more thing, we did put small black knobs on each drawer. Theyre a little difficult to open otherwise.
It is cheap, college grade bed. I did not have high expectations but did not expect to receive a bed with cracks in wood either.
It will serve its role for a couple of years. Not easy to assemble, took 2 people and 4 hours.
The good:
Solid bed. Looks great. Its a nice height as a platform bed, particularly with the low, futon type mattress we are using with it. Mostly went together well and most components are good. Only a little issue here and there. Shipping was free! (Okay, its probably figured into the price, but weve bought less bed for more money before.)
The not so good with a little goodness tucked in:
The bed was shipped via a private carrier and there was no tracking info provided. It was taking a bit of time to get here so I emailed the company about wheres my bed? The company did reply quickly with contact information for the carrier they shipped by. When I called the carrier they were very helpful and were waiting to hear from me to set up a delivery time. We live about three hours from San Antonio, TX and while we have daily UPS, FedEx, and of course USPS, not all private carriers are making runs here everyday. I set up a day. As it turned out the truck was down this way the evening before and the driver called to see if I would like the bed delivered tonight. Sure! Not only was the bed delivered about 8PM, but the driver and his helper unboxed it, carried the components into the house where we wanted them, and carted the packing materials away.
So its mostly good on the shipping side. The only downside concerning shipping was that there was no tracking or carrier info provided by the seller and I was left wondering where my bed was. As it turned out I needed to contact the carrier to get the bed delivered. Once I made contact everyone was very helpful both at and the carrier. I just shouldnt have had to initiate contact to find out where the bed was and to find I needed to contact the company to arrange a delivery date and time.
The bed overall is heavy and seems well made of real wood. A few niggling issues though. Even though the bed was unpacked and I was able to inspect it since I didnt inspect every square inch there was a flaw on one of the side rails I didnt see until I was actually putting the bed together. On the inside of one rail near the end there was a crack, perhaps more adequately described as a thin groove as it did not go all the way through the board, but was on the inside. I was a little concerned, but it did not extend into the connection area or through the width of the board. The idea of trying to return this big bed was not something I cared to get into over this. So I filled the crack with a good, clear glue to sort of stabilize it. Two months so far and no change.
Overall assembly is straightforward, but a few issues there. One of the holes in the headboard was slightly too small in diameter for the pin of the sideboard to enter. Either the finish had pooled in there and made it too small or it just wasnt fully drilled. Either way, I got my drill and an appropriate size twist drill and opened the hole up. Irritating when you are putting a bed together late at night and when it isnt a sub-$200 bed.
A few issues others here have mentioned about the assembly process and their solutions were quite helpful and not really addressed in the otherwise good assembly instructions. First, the slats. These are supposed to be pre-drilled in both the slat ends and the sideboard for easy placement. They are predrilled. What they dont do is match up completely. As others here have noted the fix for this is simply lay the slats out properly, use the holes you can, and using the holes in the slat tips as pilot holes drill a guide hole in the side rail. Then just screw it down.
Next is the center rail. Its easy enough to put together. Its no so easy to get it into place and cinch down since it is in the middle and you have the slats in place making getting near it touchy. Be careful stepping between the slats to get to it that you dont break your leg, or the slats. Especially your leg. If you have thick legs below the knee you may have some issues. This also makes it tough to adjust the feet on the legs of the center rail. An essential task.
The center support rail requires a little special attention if you dont want to be one of those complaining about how it or the slats broke shortly after you put the bed together. Some of these things have been mentioned by others and bear repeating as essential information.
One of those things is that just as the instructions say, make sure the bed is where you want it before you do put the center rail into operation. The instructions are quite clear that moving the bed with the center rail properly adjusted for support can damaged the legs (and the slats along with it). Yes, the adjusters are slim. They work just fine in a stationary position and if actually adjusted per the the instructions. Move them, as in moving the bed, or dont have enough vertical tension on them and you are asking for issues.
Another thing is to make sure you follow the instructions on adjusting the legs of the center rail. Dont just run them down until they make contact with the ground. You need to adjust them until they put some upward pressure on the slats and bow them up just a little. Dont overdo it, but make sure there is some upward pressure on the center area of the slats.
One thing others here have mentioned when using a mattress only, which is sort of the idea of a platform bed, is that foam mattresses dont do well with a base that has open areas. We learned this with a memory foam mattress and a metal, fold out frame that was supposed to be just fine with it. Once again, I followed the advice of some of the other reviewers on here who were kind enough to provide useful information on the subject. Since we had been getting in a few new computer desks and odd bits of furniture at this time I had plenty of large cardboard boxes to try and figure out how to get rid of. Following the advice of a few reviewers here I simply cut the boxes so that I could lay them out flat and covered the slats in the bed with them. It keeps the areas of the mattress from slipping and shifting into the gaps and acts to spread movement over an area a little. This not only helps the mattress, but shifts just enough stress off the slats to protect them. Probably a good place to mention that between the wife and I we top just a little over 400 lbs total. Add in the dog that likes to get up there and lay between our legs at the foot of the bed and its more like 460 lbs total.
Even though I have spent most of my post focusing on issues, the simple fact is we really like the bed and are pretty happy with it. Okay, the wife just loves the bed. Which is one reason I spent a week or more total reviewing beds, the specifications, and reading tons of reviews in an effort to find solid, informational reviews to help with the decision. I changed my mind at least three times and finally came down to purchasing this bed. A solid wood platform would be nice, but that would sort of preclude ease of shipment.
Hopefully, this review will be helpful. I for one hate those reviews that go something like, 5 Stars! I havent actually used it yet, but Im just sure its going to be wonderful! Yeah, thats really helpful and someone doesnt understand the concept of a user review.
Oh, and as others have noted. Yes, until you get the hang of it the bed will bite your legs. Dont worry, youll learn spatial awareness after a time or two. Painfully learned, but learn it you will.
This is a lovely piece of furniture, very heavy with beautiful wood. Its definitely dark cinnamon. I would give it 5 stars, however I had 3 minor issues. I didnt think they provided enough screws to hold down all the support slats, so I purchased more. Also, there was a small blemish in the finish, which caused me some minor concern. No one notices it but me. And finally, the drawers are nice, but not that big. Im not sure they were worth the extra money.
Weve gone through lots of furniture in our life, and we bought two of these to replace two beds that were absolute garbage. Its typical particle board -like furniture, but the overall finished product was better than I expected. The mattress supports were almost 1/2 thick sheets that covered the entire surface vs the rolled slats and 1/8 panels from . It made for a stronger finish and my daughter is no longer complaining about the mattress. The old slats just pushed more springs through the mattress. It takes roughly 60 minutes to assemble the entire bed - 30 minutes for the whole frame and 30 minutes for the three drawers. The one thing I was not pleased with was the back of the drawer. The front and sides of the drawers have slats along the bottom edge to slide in the bottom panel. The back does not and you have to nail the piece in from the bottom - be careful not to split the board with a nail! The bottom panel is not flush with the back piece, so you cant even use the entire thickness for the nail. Other than that, the end result was very nice and the kids love the beds. I was even able to stand on the bed to do some final adjustments with posters et al. No creaking or fear I was going to break the bed.
Reviews
Great bargain.
My son has been using this bed for over three years without any problems. I think it was great bargain.
Its perfect for our family!!!
I read the reviews (including the many negative ones) and decided to buy this bed anyway. Because of the small size of our room, we were limited in choices of furniture. We were pleasantly surprised that we did not have the problems mentioned in other reviews. Yes, there is a tiny little chip in one place (colored it with black marker). Over time there will probably be more; its for a 10 year old boys room (expected). The assembly took time. Fortunately, my husband is methodical and everything went into place as it should. For the money, I think its a great bed and an idea we needed. One more thing, we did put small black knobs on each drawer. Theyre a little difficult to open otherwise.
Nice bed
This bed gives us a lot of extra storage which is great in a bedroom with 2 little girls. Its sturdy.
What you pay is what you get
It is cheap, college grade bed. I did not have high expectations but did not expect to receive a bed with cracks in wood either. It will serve its role for a couple of years. Not easy to assemble, took 2 people and 4 hours.
Amazing product!
Cant get better quality/price ratio for this product. Just amazing. Buy it with confidence. Easy to assembly. Go for it.
Solid bed and the wife loves it.
The good: Solid bed. Looks great. Its a nice height as a platform bed, particularly with the low, futon type mattress we are using with it. Mostly went together well and most components are good. Only a little issue here and there. Shipping was free! (Okay, its probably figured into the price, but weve bought less bed for more money before.) The not so good with a little goodness tucked in: The bed was shipped via a private carrier and there was no tracking info provided. It was taking a bit of time to get here so I emailed the company about wheres my bed? The company did reply quickly with contact information for the carrier they shipped by. When I called the carrier they were very helpful and were waiting to hear from me to set up a delivery time. We live about three hours from San Antonio, TX and while we have daily UPS, FedEx, and of course USPS, not all private carriers are making runs here everyday. I set up a day. As it turned out the truck was down this way the evening before and the driver called to see if I would like the bed delivered tonight. Sure! Not only was the bed delivered about 8PM, but the driver and his helper unboxed it, carried the components into the house where we wanted them, and carted the packing materials away. So its mostly good on the shipping side. The only downside concerning shipping was that there was no tracking or carrier info provided by the seller and I was left wondering where my bed was. As it turned out I needed to contact the carrier to get the bed delivered. Once I made contact everyone was very helpful both at and the carrier. I just shouldnt have had to initiate contact to find out where the bed was and to find I needed to contact the company to arrange a delivery date and time. The bed overall is heavy and seems well made of real wood. A few niggling issues though. Even though the bed was unpacked and I was able to inspect it since I didnt inspect every square inch there was a flaw on one of the side rails I didnt see until I was actually putting the bed together. On the inside of one rail near the end there was a crack, perhaps more adequately described as a thin groove as it did not go all the way through the board, but was on the inside. I was a little concerned, but it did not extend into the connection area or through the width of the board. The idea of trying to return this big bed was not something I cared to get into over this. So I filled the crack with a good, clear glue to sort of stabilize it. Two months so far and no change. Overall assembly is straightforward, but a few issues there. One of the holes in the headboard was slightly too small in diameter for the pin of the sideboard to enter. Either the finish had pooled in there and made it too small or it just wasnt fully drilled. Either way, I got my drill and an appropriate size twist drill and opened the hole up. Irritating when you are putting a bed together late at night and when it isnt a sub-$200 bed. A few issues others here have mentioned about the assembly process and their solutions were quite helpful and not really addressed in the otherwise good assembly instructions. First, the slats. These are supposed to be pre-drilled in both the slat ends and the sideboard for easy placement. They are predrilled. What they dont do is match up completely. As others here have noted the fix for this is simply lay the slats out properly, use the holes you can, and using the holes in the slat tips as pilot holes drill a guide hole in the side rail. Then just screw it down. Next is the center rail. Its easy enough to put together. Its no so easy to get it into place and cinch down since it is in the middle and you have the slats in place making getting near it touchy. Be careful stepping between the slats to get to it that you dont break your leg, or the slats. Especially your leg. If you have thick legs below the knee you may have some issues. This also makes it tough to adjust the feet on the legs of the center rail. An essential task. The center support rail requires a little special attention if you dont want to be one of those complaining about how it or the slats broke shortly after you put the bed together. Some of these things have been mentioned by others and bear repeating as essential information. One of those things is that just as the instructions say, make sure the bed is where you want it before you do put the center rail into operation. The instructions are quite clear that moving the bed with the center rail properly adjusted for support can damaged the legs (and the slats along with it). Yes, the adjusters are slim. They work just fine in a stationary position and if actually adjusted per the the instructions. Move them, as in moving the bed, or dont have enough vertical tension on them and you are asking for issues. Another thing is to make sure you follow the instructions on adjusting the legs of the center rail. Dont just run them down until they make contact with the ground. You need to adjust them until they put some upward pressure on the slats and bow them up just a little. Dont overdo it, but make sure there is some upward pressure on the center area of the slats. One thing others here have mentioned when using a mattress only, which is sort of the idea of a platform bed, is that foam mattresses dont do well with a base that has open areas. We learned this with a memory foam mattress and a metal, fold out frame that was supposed to be just fine with it. Once again, I followed the advice of some of the other reviewers on here who were kind enough to provide useful information on the subject. Since we had been getting in a few new computer desks and odd bits of furniture at this time I had plenty of large cardboard boxes to try and figure out how to get rid of. Following the advice of a few reviewers here I simply cut the boxes so that I could lay them out flat and covered the slats in the bed with them. It keeps the areas of the mattress from slipping and shifting into the gaps and acts to spread movement over an area a little. This not only helps the mattress, but shifts just enough stress off the slats to protect them. Probably a good place to mention that between the wife and I we top just a little over 400 lbs total. Add in the dog that likes to get up there and lay between our legs at the foot of the bed and its more like 460 lbs total. Even though I have spent most of my post focusing on issues, the simple fact is we really like the bed and are pretty happy with it. Okay, the wife just loves the bed. Which is one reason I spent a week or more total reviewing beds, the specifications, and reading tons of reviews in an effort to find solid, informational reviews to help with the decision. I changed my mind at least three times and finally came down to purchasing this bed. A solid wood platform would be nice, but that would sort of preclude ease of shipment. Hopefully, this review will be helpful. I for one hate those reviews that go something like, 5 Stars! I havent actually used it yet, but Im just sure its going to be wonderful! Yeah, thats really helpful and someone doesnt understand the concept of a user review. Oh, and as others have noted. Yes, until you get the hang of it the bed will bite your legs. Dont worry, youll learn spatial awareness after a time or two. Painfully learned, but learn it you will.
beautiful, but not perfect
This is a lovely piece of furniture, very heavy with beautiful wood. Its definitely dark cinnamon. I would give it 5 stars, however I had 3 minor issues. I didnt think they provided enough screws to hold down all the support slats, so I purchased more. Also, there was a small blemish in the finish, which caused me some minor concern. No one notices it but me. And finally, the drawers are nice, but not that big. Im not sure they were worth the extra money.
Exactly what we expected
My young daughter loves this bed. It is sturdy enough to hold an adult, and the storage underneath is very useful too.
Good product so far
So far so good. Met all my expectations. Easy set up with just my 10 yrs old son and I.
Pleasantly surprised
Weve gone through lots of furniture in our life, and we bought two of these to replace two beds that were absolute garbage. Its typical particle board -like furniture, but the overall finished product was better than I expected. The mattress supports were almost 1/2 thick sheets that covered the entire surface vs the rolled slats and 1/8 panels from . It made for a stronger finish and my daughter is no longer complaining about the mattress. The old slats just pushed more springs through the mattress. It takes roughly 60 minutes to assemble the entire bed - 30 minutes for the whole frame and 30 minutes for the three drawers. The one thing I was not pleased with was the back of the drawer. The front and sides of the drawers have slats along the bottom edge to slide in the bottom panel. The back does not and you have to nail the piece in from the bottom - be careful not to split the board with a nail! The bottom panel is not flush with the back piece, so you cant even use the entire thickness for the nail. Other than that, the end result was very nice and the kids love the beds. I was even able to stand on the bed to do some final adjustments with posters et al. No creaking or fear I was going to break the bed.
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