Monday, August 22, 2011

Breaking the bed

We can't seem to make it more than a few days without something going wrong in this house. It's like it's a zombie...little body parts falling off occasionally. Still functions, but with a limp. Last week, it was the ceiling lamp that for no reason decided to fall out of the sky. As I have had enough falling ceilings for one lifetime (see Chicken Little for an illustration), I was only slightly consoled by the fact that the wires did keep it from crashing down upon my head.

Yesterday, it was the bed.

Now, much as I'd like to brag about what inappropriate-for-the-blog things we we were doing in order to get to that point...I can't.

Because when the bed broke, I was handing V- a tray of waffles and fresh coffee. We had a good laugh, the sort of laugh that's half amusement and half frustration, and then he ate breakfast in bed anyhow. Lopsided.

Later, we took off the mattress to check out the damage. Ladies and gentlemen, furniture is at a sad, sad state of affairs. My husband has promised that he will make me a bed (in our future home) that will be sturdy enough to pass down to our great-grandchildren. This...thing that is in our bedroom only mildly resembles a bed. There is a headboard and a box made of particleboard. On the inside of the box were glued two long strips of something resembling cardboard more than wood. A lip of no more than a 1/4 inch of this poorly attached material is what *was* supporting the bedframe. The frame itself is made of slats of "wood" which are attached to four pieces of actual wood that rest of said 1/4 lip...and the slats are merely stapled onto a long fabric strip which keeps the whole thing together.

It's really a sad piece of work. And so, on a Sunday afternoon, without the benefit of a drill, V- repaired it, with a liberal amount of woodglue and re-positioning the screws. (The fake wood is so soft, we were able to do it without pre-drilling or hammering holes!)

Now the big question is:

When will the other side give way?

I've already told him I'm okay with ghetto fixes. We'll buy concrete blocks and put the bed up on those...it'll be a fine jerry-rig solution.

Which brings me to the question of the day: do you call it jerry-rigging or jury-rigging? Our house is split down the middle and I'm curious if it's a regional thing or not. Discuss in the comments!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think you are both right. Here's what I found:

Jury rig, while similar sounding, has a slightly different meaning, emphasizing the temporary nature of the solution and can imply an ingenious solution done with materials at hand. Jerry-built, on the other hand, is often used for a permanent, but poorly built, construction and has no positive connotation.

You used your ingenuity, but it will probably be a permanent fix.

Mom

laura said...

hi, jenna -
according to wikipedia, the appropriate term is "jury rig" - here's the article if you're just dying to find out more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury_rig

hope you are well - i enjoy your blog.

anne said...

I never thought about how it was spelled -- jury rig sounds devious...jerry-rig sounds like : who the heck is jerry and why did he rig? :D
Mattress on the floor, anyone? sigh

Michael LaPenna said...

Love idea of this blog and love the subheading :)

Stop by fa cawfee:

http://wheelchairphilosopher.blogspot.com