The Bed of Gold

On Tuesday one of the most anticipated events in our Argentinean lives occurred.  The Bed arrived. 

It all started in February when I decided we needed to buy bed frames for the guest beds in our apartment.  I fell in love with this antiquey-style bed made out of window shutters at this store in Palermo called The Bed Shop, Godoy Cruz 2161, only to realize that I didn't possess enough Spanish knowledge to be confident in my bed purchasing skills.

After months of deliberation, I couldn't get the bed out of my mind.  Jon gave me the go-ahead so during my brother Chris's visit I dragged him with me to The Bed Shop and I bought the bed.  All in Spanish.  It was slightly more expensive than I had hoped, but it was the wonder bed of all beds, and I had been thinking about it for many months, so it was alright, right?  Well, it was, until late August when said "wonder bed" was to be delivered and I realized the very small but extremely significant detail that changed everything.  Throughout my brilliant Spanish correspondence with The Bed Shop we had interchangeably used the words "cama" (translation: Bed, clearly a necessary word) and "respaldo" which, in every place I looked to translate it meant "support" (strange, but a bed has supports, so I didn't really think anything of it).  I came to realize later that this word also means "headboard".  Which also means that I had ordered exactly 1/4 of the bed I thought I had ordered.  Yikes.  A most humbling and expensive mistake. 

Many emails and frustrated phone calls later, we agreed to have the other 3/4 of the bed made, for an additional price, obviously.  And many weeks later, Tuesday to be exact, the amazing bed-of-gold arrived.  Isn't she a beauty?

Look at how she glows in the light.  Perfectly matching the light blue hue of the room.

Check out the shutters!  Real shutters!  Making the beautiful respaldo I had been dreaming of.

The spindles!  Look at the spindles! 

Was it worth the wait, the stress, the price?  I'll never tell.  Just know that if you visit us and sleep in this bed, you might as well be sleeping in a bed of gold.

This will be my last transaction with The Bed Shop.  They were very nice people, very nicely telling me that I owed them more money and that it was going to be an additional few weeks until the bed was delivered.  Also, I know there was more than one misunderstanding in this transaction, and it made for a miserable buying experience.

Let's see the bed once more for good measure.  In a different light this time.  Just drink it in.