Altoona, IA - My Box Springs Don't Spring

My brother, Jack, is sorely in need of a new mattress and, since we’re clearing out our home, we happen to have a queen mattress and box spring that have hardly been used. We got it from our in-law’s in 2001 who had just moved into a house which had a built-in king sized bed and no longer needed a queen bed. We had used it for guests which were pretty few and far between since we are gone about 9 months a year. Thus this bed is not only firm but also mostly unused. Perfect for my brother who is still sleeping on a mattress and box spring which he bought in 1984 and is now supporting with a sheet of plywood.

We had offered to get it up to him on top of our car but he thought he ‘new’ mattress might get dusty so he scrounged around, found a friend, Kent, with an enclosed trailer and drove up a week ago to get it. But Jack, we would have covered it with plastic, we wouldn’t have let it get dirty. But we’re sure he didn’t trust us. You know, I’m an older sister and thus suspect.

Here are the 3 guys putting a plastic baggie over the mattress. Jack has a friend in the moving business and got a nice big baggie to put over the mattress for transport. We are all in the storage facility where we are storing our furniture - and Jack’s mattress and box spring until he picks them up.

Me, I just take pictures. We took the two out for lunch and discovered that Gary and Kent had the same great-grandparents. Gary’s grandmother was Kent’s grandfathers sister. I’m not sure what that makes Gary and Kent: cousins twice removed, second cousins. Who knows but I’m sure that there is a correct term for this. Well, that’s how those two are related. And here are the sibs below.

When Jack and Kent got back to Fort Dodge, they got the mattress up into Jack’s 2nd story bedroom ok. But the box spring was tough. Jack’s stairs are parallel to his living room so to get to them requires a sharp right angle. Then the stairs are narrow and the bedroom floor is over them. This box spring was a no-go. He had gotten his original box spring down but that one was not as deep. The extra depth was the problem.

But, tell me, are box springs necessary? What purpose do they now serve? No and not much. Gary and I have gone online and talked with bedding specialists in furniture stores and have learned that these days there are no springs in box springs. A box spring is a wooden box with cloth around it. Hmmm. Mattresses are so good these days that no more springs are needed. So, we told Jack to keep his plywood, put the mattress on top, put the box springs somewhere (anywhere in the house) and we’d buy a platform bed frame for him.

How did such a simple gift to my brother turn into a project? Ah, well. We found a platform bed several days ago, picked it up today, got it into our Jeep (inside, not on top, wouldn’t want to get it dusty) and drove the 90 miles up to Fort Dodge to my brother’s home.

Jack had cleared a space for it between his 5 dressers. Look at all those slats, no wonder he won’t need a box spring.

And, here it is - all together. Success.

And Jack is sleeping well now. We took the box springs to a local group called Bridging the Gap which takes gently used furniture and donates it to families who are desperately in need of furniture. We had donated lots of Gary’s father’s furniture to this group back in March. One of their goals is that every child should have a bed to sleep in. We are happy that we can help them in their mission.