This post is sponsored by Serta but all opinions are my own. 

After three years of sleeping on a King-size Serta mattress on top of two Twin-size boxsprings with a Queen-size comforter that doesn’t even span the length of the bed, I finally got around to decorating our Master Bedroom. Yes, it was the last room in the house that I paid any attention. Why? Probably because it’s the easiest to shut the door so that company doesn’t go inside.

We decorated the living room, the dining room and the den before we moved in for the first summer. The kids’ room came together last year and the guest room is a kind of a hodge podge but it still got more love than the room Mike and I sleep in.

In our bedroom, we had the aforementioned Serta mattress (which is incredibly comfortable despite the ill-fitting bedding), a hideous gold nightstand from my first apartment on Mike’s side of the bed…

…Mazzy’s old dresser/changing table on one side of the room and the old nursery glider (covered in Mike’s clothes) in the corner.

I didn’t have a nightstand, so at night, I would turn the tissue box that sat on the floor next to my bed on its side and place my phone on top. FOR THREE YEARS.

What motivated me to finally get my ass in gear? Well, Serta came to me (since I already had their mattress) and asked me to write about how my bedroom is a sanctuary. A relaxation retreat away from the housework and the childcare, if you will.

Uh-huh. Okay. Tell me more about how most normal people without sleep issues use their bedroom???

“Well, actually…” they said (I’m paraphrasing)— “48% of people today feel that they deal with more stress in their lives than their parents did and 54% report feeling stress on a regular basis. Now more than ever, Americans are in need a comfortable night sleep.” Serta’s new campaign is all about “declaring peace” in your bedroom.

This honestly sounded like a perfect opportunity. I wanted a sanctuary! I wanted a relaxation retreat! I wanted to DECLARE PEACE in my bedroom!

I had even picked out and purchased my dream bedroom furniture already.

It was a late night at my friend Seri’s house last summer and after a few drinks, we decided the most fun thing we could possibly do was make a mood board for my master bedroom on Pinterest. I think this was the point at which our husbands both fell asleep on the couch. We picked pillows, a bedspread, an occasional chair, a rug, a dresser, matching table lamps and yes— TWO NIGHT STANDS.

Months later, on Cyber Monday actually, I had ordered everything (except the dresser, for some reason) and it was sitting in boxes in the garage and in the corner of my room just waiting for me to put my sanctuary together.

Am I the only person on earth who orders bedroom furniture and bedding and doesn’t open it immediately when I receive it? Probably. In my defense, I was waiting for the dresser which I thought I ordered, but later figured out, I had never ordered at all.

After accepting Serta’s challenge (about two weeks ago), I finally ordered our new dresser and scheduled it to arrive the following weekend so I could put the whole room together at once.

We drove out to the house early on Saturday morning to be there in time for the dresser delivery. Yay! It was finally happening!!!!

Except, when we were about ten minutes away from the house, I got a phone call. It was the doorman at our building in Manhattan. Apparently, there was a delivery man there dropping off a dresser.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooo.

I had given them the wrong address so we had to reschedule. I don’t want to even talk about what it was like relaying that information to Mike who had no interest driving out so early on a Saturday morning.

Unfortunately, we weren’t going out to the house the following weekend (I was at Mom 2.) and they couldn’t deliver again until May 24th, so I just had to accept that I would have put the room together sans dresser for now. In order to get the room ready in time for this post, Allie and I drove out this past Tuesday (that’s two days ago to bring our timeline up to date), unpacked boxes, screwed legs on tables, bought a new comforter, etc. instead of a regular work day. Then we drove back into the city by 6pm. Kind of a hassle.

BUT OH MY GOD— LOOK HOW IT CAME OUT!!!!!!!

Ahhhhhhh….I finally have a sanctuary! A relaxation retreat! A place the kids aren’t even allowed to step foot in, let alone jump on the bed!

Well, okay- maybe they can still come in to snuggle when they want. And we’ll even have a tickle party or two.

Thanks Serta for motivating me to prioritize the place I get my well-earned sleep! Maybe this will further motivate me to go to bed at a decent hour.

FYI, this is still the other side of the room. Just waiting on that dresser…

I’ll do a second blog post with all the details and links to each item when the room is complete!

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BTW – now through June 16, you can take time out to declare peace and enjoy the comfort of your bedroom for a chance to win a grand prize bedroom makeover, plus weekly prizes like free mattresses, pillows, blankets and more. To enter the Declare Peace Sweepstakes and learn more, visit www.DeclarePeace.com.