High End Bedding

For the past several years I have slept in, what I believe, is the most comfortable bed I can imagine. Below is a photo of the bed I built several years ago. Now that I've moved into a new house, however, it's time to revamp!

First I constructed the bed. The image below is a side view of my current setup. This idea came about four years ago when I lived in an apartment. There was a granite desk built into my bedroom which took up a large portion of the room. So, in an effort to increase storage space & room to walk, I decided that I would lay my mattress atop the desk and put my dresser at the other end of the bed. A piece of plywood and some 2x4 boards provided support in the middle. Now, 4 years later, I have adapted the design and love the bed more than ever. Every year when I move & some sweet sweaty boy helps me construct it, they try to talk me out of it . But year after year she rises again (Thanks to Adam in 2008, Joe is 2009, Al in 2010, William in 2011 & Mac in 2012. Thanks ya'll! Hasn't collapsed yet!). Besides, it's usually pretty neat to tell visitors that I designed my bed! 
The dresser was given to me & plywood purchased at Home Depot on clearance ($10). The 2x4 boards came from a construction site. I made friends with the workers and so they gave me their leftover scraps and enough nails to complete the project.  Total cost to build bed: $10

Next, I made the dustruffle. I measured the height of the bed, floor to mattress and began to dig through my fabric box for a floor length skirt of equal height. (When at the thrift store, I often buy XXL dresses and floor length skirts with patterns I like so that I can reuse them for projects). After locating a skirt of perfect length & durable fabric, I made a single cut, waist to hem. The total length of the waist was a perfect fit for the bed. I then realized that the white sheets on my bed were somewhat discolored so I ripped them off the mattress and cut them up into strips. For the next several weeks, I worked tirelessly to make over 500 white, fabric flowers. Honestly, this project was a pain. I would NOT recommend doing it no matter how easy it looks. I hot glued each one to the skirt &, when one entire side was covered, nailed the fabric to the plywood board beneath my mattress. I had to buy one flat sheet from walmart for fabric to finish the flowers but, otherwise, everything used in this project was fabric I already had (old skirts, pillowcases, etc). Total cost of dustruffle: $3

Several years ago my mom gave me two junky end tables: one an old sewing table and the other a wooden piece with drawers (on its last leg, I might add). I painted both with leftover paint from the house I rent. On the first I used a scrapbook stencil & black paint pen to embellish with a quote. For the second, I kept a hawk eye for dumpster furniture throughout Tuscaloosa. I was thrilled to discover some beautiful hardware on cheap furniture outside of Alberta City. (This was a personal dumpster diver low, unscrewing hardware from furniture at a trailer park dumpster). I still need a cute knob for the top drawer but, otherwise, this entire project was free!