Some people say the true test of a marriage is your ability to travel together. But I say the true test is your ability to put furniture together; specifically, Ikea furniture. My daughter wanted a new bed this weekend; she’s seventeen and has been sleeping in a bunk bed since she was seven.

I tried to talk her into a cute daybed when she was seven. I knew it would grow up well with her, as it pulled out into a double bed; good for sleepovers and company when she finally moves out. But she was seven and thought the ultimate bedroom accessory would be a bunk bed. After about five or so years into having her bunk bed, she decided she needed more floor space for hanging out, so dad revamped the bunk bed, making it into a loft bed.

Now here we are, ten years later and my daughter told me she was tired of climbing her bunk bed every night and wanted a daybed; a bed a couch, a place to hang out. Who’d have thought of that?

Not only that, she chose the daybed I was trying to talk her into when she was seven. I don’t want to say “I told you so,” but I did. She pointed out that she was seven. Point taken.

We bought the daybed. Let’s just say it’s a complicated bed. Because it pulls out into a double bed, it essentially has two bases. I determined I did not want to help build the bed because it is a team effort and I really dislike building furniture with my husband. We often disagree on what the no-text diagrams are really trying to explain.

I wasn’t abandoning my husband, he had his daughter, whose bed it would ultimately be. I helped drag all the boxes into the house and removed myself from the construction site. But like I said, it’s a complicated bed. When 11:00pm rolled around, we decided to go to bed and finish it the next day. My daughter slept in her sister’s bed that night (her sister’s at college).

The next day, she went to a friend’s house to a pre-daybed planned overnight visit. When my husband and I got home later that afternoon, she was gone and I felt obligated to help him finish building the bed.

I figured I could build the drawers while he finished the rest of the base; it would be my part without actually working on the bed together. But for those who have built furniture in their lives, you know how left is right and right is left and you better not mix the two up. I figured out the tracks on the drawers correctly, but after the base was done and the drawers were complete, we tried to match it all together. The drawers wouldn’t slide in.

Someone did something backwards or upside down and I was pretty sure it wasn’t me. So I looked at my husband’s part of the directions and saw what went wrong. I pointed out how his tracks should have been installed.

He was reluctant, “Are you sure we don’t just have to tip the drawers up, then down, then twist them around and put the wheels over the track then under and…”

“Sorry, you put the tracks on backwards. We’ll have to take everything apart.”

Fortunately, he was able to lie on the floor and easily switch the tracks around without dismantling the bed. Then he said it: he admitted he was reluctant because he didn’t want to admit he did it incorrectly, again. Apparently that wasn’t his first backwards upside down mistake with that bed.

I’m glad I wasn’t around for that one. We’re still married.

Gretchen Leigh is a stay-at-home mom who lives in Covington. She is looking at the finished bed and wondering when her daughter will move out. You can also read more of her writing and her daily blog on her website livingwithgleigh.com or on Facebook at “Living with Gleigh.” Her column is available every week atmaplevalleyreporter.com under the Lifestyles section.