If You're Going To Be Dumb, You Better Be Tough

Never has there been a saying more apt. The truth is, sleeping outside 365 days a year takes grit. After sleeping for 4 years on a $149 Ikea bed  topped with a Latex mattress that froze when it  was cold

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S29007794/#/S29069796

I finally asked Erik if he would build us a new bed. My reasoning, if we were truly going to sleep outside every night, it  would be nice to be comfortable. We have a really nice bed inside in our bedroom that doubles as a really big closest (as do the kids, each in their own rooms) and I would wake up in the middle of the night in our full bed outside and find 2 of our 3 dogs hogging half of it. At that point I would walk myself inside, take one dog with me and crawl into our king size bed upstairs, alone.  Honestly, the original bed worked if we could keep the dogs on their own beds. In the summer it  was especially great. In colder months, we rocked our double sleeping bag that goes down to 20 degrees. https://www.backcountry.com/the-north-face-dolomite-double-sleeping-bag-20-degree-synthetic  

Anyway, the bed was cheap enough we didn’t have to worry about ruining it.   There were many times we missed our window to weather proof things when the weather changed within minutes the way Colorado weather is known to do. But after more nights than I can count of getting into bed and having the mattress be rock hard and freezing, I needed a little more cush. 

Finding a new mattress that could potentially weather the storms it would inevitably go through was my task, and Erik started to work on the frame.  The whole project took a week or so. In the end, the frame went from a full size bed to queen and allowed for us to slide a bed underneath that can easily pull out when the kids are with us. It ‘s amazing! Topped with a new mattress from Urban Mattresss in Boulder that we love and covered with our double 20 degree bag, a comforter and 2 Pendleton wool blankets. So cozy we can sleep with out socks. :)

We usually tuck the smallest of our dogs (Willie Nelson) in with us at the bottom of the bag. He’s a Stafordshire Bull Terrior and weighs about 35 lbs. The other 2, Michael (a 10 year old Boxer) and Waylon (yes, we like Country music) a Rottweiler sleep on their own dog beds with coats on when it ‘s Below 30 degrees. When we have the kids, the dogs sleep with them. It ‘s one big dog pile essentially, and we love it. 

Nearly 6 inches of snow means we slide the kids bed under ours and bungee a tarp over the top. Should be ready for sleeping in later tonight as a result. 

Kids side that slides under Erik’s finished frame. Topped with new organic “non-latex” mattress from Urban Mattress in Boulder.