my mattress sits on 14 wood slats that are attached to a central “spine.” except the spine has been separating from its “ribs” because some cheap stapled-in screw threads were pulling out of the wood.

so i went to lowe’s to buy some hardware. figured i’d need some bolts, washers, and nuts. or maybe wingnuts. i was a tad unprepared my first trip–i returned with bolts that were too short. but they were the perfect diameter (1/4″) for the old holes.

on my second trip to lowe’s i paid more attention to the variety of bolts they had available. since the head of the bolt would be up against the underside of the mattress, i wanted something rounded. and i found just the thing: a carriage bolt, which also had a wider head (so i didn’t need a second washer) and a square neck (so i didn’t need a wrench in order to tighten it).

i removed all the crappy hardware that came with the bed and made sure every rib slat was conneced to the spine–which required some hole drilling and a third trip to lowe’s. but at least now my platform bed seems as solid as a rock.

it felt so satisfying fixing something, without any kind of directions or outside instruction. not only fixing it but making it better. and the whole time i was working on it i felt like such a kid, wondering what my dad would think.