I cannot sing the praises of Mountain Mule Hardwoods of Tennessee loud enough or often enough!!! We stumbled across them on Etsy. I was hunting for a platform bed, no headboard, quiet, elegant design to replace the metal monster that came with my now-husband when he moved in. It's a small bedroom and every time I walked around to make the bed I banged my leg on the foot board. I always had black and blue marks. I also wanted the frame to be high because, like most New Yorkers, under the bed is storage space and in our case a cat habitat as well.
I had investigated several manufactures, from Charles Rodgers to Ikea, looking for a bed frame that fit our needs. I also looked at custom makers in our area, but spending over $2500 for a simple platform was more than my budget. So imagine my delight at Mountain Mule Hardwoods' platform bed designs and their prices! We were so blown away by the work we went through every single picture on Etsy.
Suddenly wood wasn't just what was on the showroom floor. It was this universe of depth, grain, flow and color. Nelson and Megan really helped us to imagine how we wanted our new bed to feel. Because their work was so beautiful we decided to include a headboard. And there too, Megan and Nelson were brilliant in their guidance and feedback - mixing woods and headboard height, designing the legs just so ... it was like buying shoes. Or if you like cooking, cooking. I like buying shoes. We chose ash and walnut. Megan sent pictures of the wood they had picked out and we even got to choose which side of the wood we wanted for the rails and footboard. The end result was a bed so perfect, it was as if we had grown a forest in our home, cut down the trees and then built it into our little bedroom. Except we couldn't have done it - I think only Megan and Nelson are capable of that.
A note about the process and the assembly: We did all the design decisions via email. We got to choose every single dimension of each part of the bed. It was exciting and easy and fun to be so involved with the creation. They shipped flat-via FedEx Ground.
Our average age is 60ish. We are SERIOUSLY not handy-skilled people. I cannot even describe how incapable we are, other than knowing the difference between a flat head screwdriver and a Philips. AND YET!! We were able to assembly this bed! That's because Mountain Mule design is BRILLIANT and it was EASY!!! Ikea could learn a thing or two from these folks. The instructions were clear, concise and easy to follow. If we, two old people in NY with crappy skills can do this, anyone can. And our first night sleep was AMAZING. This is our home bed.
Working with Megan and Nelson was one of the most rare and expansive experiences for us. What began as a simple "lets-buy-a-bed" became a collaborative journey of making art, creating magic and rebuilding our home. In a world beset with crisis, not to mention our own personal year of much trial and tribulation, this process unexpectedly brought much healing into our lives. We are so grateful to Megan and Nelson of Mountain Mule Hardwoods and we look forward to working with them again. read more