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photo:

Margery Seitz

Conflict resolved. I ended up buying two of the tall wood bed frames from West Elm for $299 each. 

I decided against the Trondheim from Ikea because it was just too much bed for the room. The West Elm bed frames were perfect, tall enough to accommodate under-the-bed storage drawers, but low enough not to obstruct the views out the windows. I bought the Trondheim storage drawers from Ikea ($79.99 each) and put them under the West Elm beds. They fit perfectly, hold a large amount and are a great solution for living neatly in small spaces.

I am using the drawers for bed linens, blankets and beach towels and for those other things that I can’t figure out where to store — appliance manuals and other paraphernalia. In my son’s room, the drawers hold forgotten toys that he won’t let me discard (even though he’s 18) and the ugly blue Snuggies that I don’t want anyone to know we own.

I still don’t know what to do with the big stuff like laundry baskets. Right now my ugly white plastic laundry basket is — conveniently enough — in my car.