Ive been sleeping with my mattress on the floor for the last six months. As soon as I could afford to, I started looking for platforms for my full/standard Simmons mattress. This one caught my eye because of its dark color, its low price/free shipping, and a few mostly positive reviews.
Here goes
Once it arrives, you will need a friend to help you move the box unless the delivery person is willing to help you bring it in. It weighs around 140lb. I (fortunately) have hardwood in my bedroom, so sliding it around during its construction wasnt too bad. If you have carpet, youll probably want another person around to help you place it.
The entire thing is made of plywood, as is most do/it/yourself furniture. The finish is black along the molding but the base is actually a very dark mahogany. I was under the impression the whole thing was black. It was upsetting to find out otherwise, but not so much that I wanted to return 140 pounds of package. The finish quality is awful. There was a sticker attached to one of the pieces (choking hard or something like that maybe?) and in pealing it off, some of the finish came with it. Fortunately the scar isnt visible now that its all put together.
Building this beast took me almost three hours, the latter half of which was an exercise in frustration. A great deal of screwdriving is required something like 30 screws You must place several slats down the length of the bed and if any of them is even slightly misaligned, the last slat you put down will not line up properly and youll need to drill new holes. This happened to me because I was building it alone and just ran out of hands (and patience).
The worst part of building was the molding, which required me to drive screws upward under the platforms lip. There is maybe only 8 or 9 inches of clearance, so a screwdriver just barely fits there. Additionally, youre constantly fighting gravity because the screwdriver will obviously fall away from the screws head unless you have a firm grip on the driver at all times and apply upward pressure. Additionally, the molding weighs next to nothing, so theres no resistance as youre screwing unless you put one hand on top of the molding. Additionally, the molding does not rest on the platform / it is held in place by the screws / otherwise it would fall off, so you also have to hold the molding in place as youre screwing upwards with one hand and pressing downwards with the other. Additionally, the molding does not have pre/drilled holes in it, so unless you have a drill to get you started, youre actually having to drill into the molding upwards with a screwdriver with zero resistance and a piece of molding that constantly wants to fall off the bed platform. Let me tell you, its almost as much fun as performing oral surgery on yourself sans novocaine.
Some of the frustrations could be overcome with a little foresight. The molding along the sides of the platform could probably be drilled down before the slats are screwed into the base unit, thus allowing you to turn them over and screw downwards. But theres no easy way to do this with the molding along the foot of the bed, and the instructions sure as hell dont tell you this until youve already got all the slats screwed down.
All this to say: this is not easy to build. If it wasnt for my drill, I would have probably ended up in a wretched, Pabst/fueled frenzy of epic proportion. I do not look forward to the day when I move out of my apartment.
Why 3 stars Its dirt cheap and I figure three hours of frustration is overshadowed by a couple years of having a piece of furniture I like, and not having to sleep on the floor anymore.
A lot of work for a little furniture
Ive been sleeping with my mattress on the floor for the last six months. As soon as I could afford to, I started looking for platforms for my full/standard Simmons mattress. This one caught my eye because of its dark color, its low price/free shipping, and a few mostly positive reviews. Here goes Once it arrives, you will need a friend to help you move the box unless the delivery person is willing to help you bring it in. It weighs around 140lb. I (fortunately) have hardwood in my bedroom, so sliding it around during its construction wasnt too bad. If you have carpet, youll probably want another person around to help you place it. The entire thing is made of plywood, as is most do/it/yourself furniture. The finish is black along the molding but the base is actually a very dark mahogany. I was under the impression the whole thing was black. It was upsetting to find out otherwise, but not so much that I wanted to return 140 pounds of package. The finish quality is awful. There was a sticker attached to one of the pieces (choking hard or something like that maybe?) and in pealing it off, some of the finish came with it. Fortunately the scar isnt visible now that its all put together. Building this beast took me almost three hours, the latter half of which was an exercise in frustration. A great deal of screwdriving is required something like 30 screws You must place several slats down the length of the bed and if any of them is even slightly misaligned, the last slat you put down will not line up properly and youll need to drill new holes. This happened to me because I was building it alone and just ran out of hands (and patience). The worst part of building was the molding, which required me to drive screws upward under the platforms lip. There is maybe only 8 or 9 inches of clearance, so a screwdriver just barely fits there. Additionally, youre constantly fighting gravity because the screwdriver will obviously fall away from the screws head unless you have a firm grip on the driver at all times and apply upward pressure. Additionally, the molding weighs next to nothing, so theres no resistance as youre screwing unless you put one hand on top of the molding. Additionally, the molding does not rest on the platform / it is held in place by the screws / otherwise it would fall off, so you also have to hold the molding in place as youre screwing upwards with one hand and pressing downwards with the other. Additionally, the molding does not have pre/drilled holes in it, so unless you have a drill to get you started, youre actually having to drill into the molding upwards with a screwdriver with zero resistance and a piece of molding that constantly wants to fall off the bed platform. Let me tell you, its almost as much fun as performing oral surgery on yourself sans novocaine. Some of the frustrations could be overcome with a little foresight. The molding along the sides of the platform could probably be drilled down before the slats are screwed into the base unit, thus allowing you to turn them over and screw downwards. But theres no easy way to do this with the molding along the foot of the bed, and the instructions sure as hell dont tell you this until youve already got all the slats screwed down. All this to say: this is not easy to build. If it wasnt for my drill, I would have probably ended up in a wretched, Pabst/fueled frenzy of epic proportion. I do not look forward to the day when I move out of my apartment. Why 3 stars Its dirt cheap and I figure three hours of frustration is overshadowed by a couple years of having a piece of furniture I like, and not having to sleep on the floor anymore.