Out here in the west there was a trend of installing dry stream beds about 16-17 years ago. Many were so ugly and terribly installed that I think people finally got turned off to them. Now there is a resurgence due to new landscape ordinances that require a homeowner to keep as much rain water on their own property rather than discharging it into the storm drains. A lot of the newer dry steam beds are much more natural and organic looking and beautifully integrated into the landscape, I think in part because of the horrid examples of the past. I think that you can 'get the look' and have it also be functional as a vehicle to re-charge your aquifer. The installation of a liner, piping, filters and pump is going to be a fairly large undertaking ( $ ) and I wonder if having a dry stream bed might be a better fit than an operational stream bed ? Drtygrl - The flat stone river bed in the first photo is beautifully rendered. I appreciate the moss covered large side wall stones and how they naturally move the undulating fall line of the stream.

Never used.

I think it could be "modernized" very easily because of the squared tubing instead of round, just by changing the bedding to something like, well, most of C&B's stock. ;-) One nice thing about it is that it could be taken several different directions - cottagey, country, modern - depending on the textiles and other furniture in the room. However, I am extremely doubtful about how well it would go with other furniture with Queen Anne legs (the cherry part is fine) if you do go more modern with it. The posts are removable on a lot of four-poster beds, check to see if yours is like that; that might reduce the fussy factor you seem to be objecting to. FWIW, if you're looking to revamp the entire room, depending on your local market and what the bed is made of (real cherry trumps cherry finish) you can probably sell the four-poster for around the same price as the iron one so you'd pretty much break even. Just for laughs I checked your local CL and found someone looking for a queen size four-poster - don't know if cherry is dark enough for them but you might ask. Here's the ad: "Wanting to buy 4 Post Queen Sized bed--dark wood - $250" For me, a spare room would be an extremely low priority unless I had finished the rest of the house first, but I don't know where you are in your decorating process.

Have you made sure that your closet has a great built-in organizer to make the best use of your space? Go through all your clothes to make sure you only have what you're actually wearing. (I need to do that right now.) I'm trying to find ways to remove one of your dressers. :-) Since things look a bit crowded with this layout--perhaps you can lay this out on paper or an online room design site to see other options. Maybe even consider a platform bed with drawers below it so you could reduce the need for both dressers if thinning your closets didn't do that. That would allow more room for the chair to fit into a corner, so you can get past it comfortably. If this is the only layout for the bed to fit, then try to find a really narrow nightstand to replace the one turned. Check your local CL for them. Then I think an open style black iron headboard might be a bit better looking than the upholstered one, though I think if the upholstered one weren't massive, and you remove a dresser, it might work also. It seems like it might be too much big dark spots otherwise since on my monitor, your dressers are looking black. Good luck!