Birthday Gift - FAIL :(

Barrett had a birthday in mid-June and we had promised him a bunk bed.  We searched and searched for the perfect one, which in case you are wondering, doesn't exist!  We looked at every website, read reviews, visited stores - it's such a hard decision to make.  I didn't want to get one too cheap, because it would probably break.  But I didn't want to get one too expensive, because it would probably break!  haha!  Anyone who has boys will know what I mean.  ;)

I figured that if we got a really sturdy wooden one that would be classy through the years, we could let George eventually use it and then we could keep it for our grandchildren (great plan, huh?).  I wanted one with stairs instead of a ladder, because I like the look of it more and I figured that a ladder wasn't as sturdy and it would break the first time someone runs into it or jumps off of it.  We finally found "the one" through Walmart, which surprised me because we had searched so many furniture stores and furniture websites.

I ordered it in June and it was being sent to our home in 4 boxes.  3 of them arrived while I was in the hospital the first time.  The fourth and final box was delivered last week.  Bonham started putting it together last night and was able to finish it this morning.  We carefully reviewed the rules with the kids: no jumping, no leaning over the sides, no horseplay.  Bunk beds are fun, but we know that they can be dangerous if you aren't careful.

Fast forward a few hours... Jayna and Barrett are in Barrett's room; George, Bonham and I are in the living room.  We heard a loud, "CRACK!  BOOM!" and then silence.... that's scary as a parent.  Bonham jumps up and opens the door to the den going toward Barrett's room.  I hear him say, "What happened?!?" in a worried voice, so I get up and go in there.

Barrett was standing next the bed bawling.  Jayna was on the bottom bunk, but sitting on the mattress that had been on the top bunk and she has this shocked look on her face.  The top bunk had broken and fallen through to the bottom bunk!  Fortunately, Barrett was not on the bottom at that time.  But that was the plan for tonight's sleeping arrangement.  How scary!  I can't imagine how hurt they both could have been.

Needless to say, the bed is going to be returned and we have instructed the kids to stay off of the bed for their safety.  We are very concerned about the structural integrity of the bed.  The wooden furniture that you can purchase nowadays never seems to be as high quality as the pictures make it out to be, but we thought for the amount that we paid it would have lasted more than 6 hours!  Barrett is so upset.  Jayna was worried that we blamed her, which we don't.  She is larger than Barrett and she is self conscious about weighing more.  She thought she might have been too heavy to be on the top bunk.  Jayna weighs 90 lbs.  In my opinion, these bunk beds should be able to hold a full size adult.  Wouldn't you agree?  And we confirmed that they were not jumping or acting up.  Barrett would have ratted Jayna out in a heartbeat anyway... haha!

I am thankful they are safe and I hope that Walmart will do the right thing and issue us a refund and hopefully they will make these beds a little higher quality.  I know that Barrett will want another bunk bed, but I think we will wait on that for a bit longer... I am a scaredy cat!

Here is the sequence of events....
the majority of the pieces laid out for Bonham

 My handyman at work. (He's fast, so he's blurry)

He does really good work, so I am not questioning the workmanship.  ;)

Last night, enough of the bed was put together for Barrett to sleep on the bottom bunk.

Bonham just needed to add the top panels to hold the mattress, the stairs on the side closest to us, and the trundle bed underneath.

He finished those this afternoon and the kids were up and down the bed.  At one point, Barrett, Jayna, and George were all in there together, so I wasn't worried about the weight, as long as they behaved themselves and respected the railing, etc. 

After the Crack and Boom.... I took pictures of where the wood panels came apart from the frame on each side of the top bunk.

The top mattress support snapped in the fall

And then it broke the bottom bunk when it fell.  :(  

You can see the break in the middle and you can see the splintering on the left of the base structure.  My dad and my husband together are incredibly handy, but I don't want them to attempt southern engineering this.  I just want to send it back and figure something out later.

Bonham and I can't express how grateful we are that none of the kids were hurt by this!  I have reached out to a contact I have at Walmart and she is going to talk to her manager for me.  Please pray that they don't give us push back on returning this.  I will definitely add a review on this product and hopefully it will deter others from purchasing this model, even though it's beautiful.  :(  :(