Thank you for your response. I haven't been up to PB or called, but after exhaustive browsing (or exhausting browsing) I found a king canopy bed very similar in design to the PB Farmhouse bed. It is made by a company called Orville & Mead and is in their Dearborne Collection. This company is a subsidiary (or other business arrangement) of Durham Furniture. I talked to a sales rep at Boyles and got a quote of $1567 for the bed, $141 for the canopy, and $617 for a night stand. Free shipping if order exceeds $2K. O&R's site claims the piece is "solid maple" construction. Here's a link to the O&M canopy bed ($1701): http://www.orvilleandmead.com/products.php?product_id=1247 Here's a link to the PB canopy bed ($1699): http://www.potterybarn.com/products/p6400/index.cfm?pkey=cfurbedall Frankly, I prefer the design of the PB piece, and certainly prefer the PB nightstand. But, PB describes the bed construction as follows: "Headboard, footboard and canopy are solid kiln-dried mahogany. Side rails are mahogany and mahogany veneer over MDF. MDF, a man-made fiberboard consisting of wood fibers and resin binders, is known for its strength and stability, and is commonly used as a base for veneers. It features uniform consistency with no knots, and while it has about the same density as medium-weight hardwood, it is structurally more stable. It won't crack, and finishes adhere well to it, which results in a smooth end coat. Kiln drying is a process that removes moisture from wood and ensures that it will not split, warp, crack or mildew. Platform-support slats are solid hardwood. Finished on all sides with multi-step hand-applied Espresso stain with lacquer finish." MDF? for seventeen hundred bucks! The sad thing is we'll probably end up with this piece, because of the design. Talk me out of it! 10-Q

A major reason shoddy and cheap quality products come out of China and other Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam and Indonesia is because the American companies that go there to manufacture tells the factories the specs and price points they want to hit. No real factory WANTS to put out bad quality products because they pay in chargebacks and returns in the future as well as a bad reputation. Think of it as this. Someone comes up to you and says, can you make this product cheap. My price point is however low and that's what I need in order to get so and so's business. It all starts off some where, and that's with the US companies that want to sell more bulk which makes the vendors have to lower their prices in order to compete. They go to the factories and present projects with super low price points and what can the factory do? Not take the order and have their competitor take it or take up the order and meet the price points by using worse quality material or less material etc. It's a cycle...the US consumers are at the forefront of it...not all but the majority. We want to pay less, we get worse quality. End of story.

Justgottobeme - Oh wow, that doesn't even look like the same bed. Thanks for doing that! Those finial things on the sides, would you screw them in? Not glue right? What about the cool thing in the middle? How does that get attached? I think they're normally pretty thin. For the cushion would it just be like making a large pillow? Using fluffy fill or batting? Wouldn't it get squished? I make a point to not sleep against the headboard but DH is another story. Then sewing some tie things on? I could handle that. As far as raising it up, I don't know how I would do that. Both the head and footboard are on wheels and there's currently slats that the bed frame rest in? I don't think the legs would touch the ground. I'd almost have to get some wood and make them longer. That could end up looking like a real botch job. :) I know DH has his heart set on a wood bed and deep down I want something "new" (used is fine but new to me). Plus we'd like to get a queen. I could try this for now and if we decide to go with wood I could use this in one of the spare rooms. AuntJen - Thank you! I wasn't going to focus on this room yet but now I'm excited and ready to go! It will be also nice when it's done because you can see the room (unless the door is closed) from the main bathroom entrance. I would like to have a home where all doors can stay open and look nice for company to see 98% of the time.

Benjamin Moore Flint AF-560 Website with this photo