Bed Safes: Protecting Your Valuables & Improving Your Sleep

I grew up in a very conservative home. Needless to say, there were always guns in the house. I had many a shooting lesson, but somehow it just never stuck. Apparently the whole "release the safety, pull the trigger" concept was too complicated for me to internalize. My older brother, though, definitely learned everything there is to learn, and has started his own, quite impressive, collection of firearms.

Both my dad and brother, gun enthusiasts that they are, tried their best to bring me into the firearm fold. One Christmas I even got my very own BB gun. There were countless trips out to the old stump on our property that's in a sweet spot of no neighbors or anything but trees for miles for another round of fruitless instruction. Once in a while I'd hit the poor, defenseless soda can that was placed on the stump, but that was more of a surprise than realization of good aim. My faithful teachers always told me to keep both eyes open, and not to adopt that tough guy, one eye closed way. One day, though, I'd had enough. "I see two guns! Which one am I supposed to point at the target?" I demanded. This one stumped my brother. "You see two? That's not good," he said. Thanks for that vote of confidence. We decided to call it a day, picked up the shells and went inside.

The next time I went to the optometrist (I was one of those lucky children who got glasses early on), I asked him about this "double vision" problem. Seeing as it only affected my shooting, he decided it wasn't much of a problem. And just like that, my career as an expert markswoman was over.

However, my father and brother are still as enamored as ever. Thankfully, both of them are also very concerned with safety, gun storage, and keeping them out of the hands of people, small and large, who should not have access to them. This is where bed safes come in. When I first heard the term "bed safe," I thought of something to put in the bed of a pickup truck. Turns out it's actually exactly what it sounds like- a safe you put in your bed. The bed you sleep in. Whoa!

Now, this might not sound like the most comfortable way to rest easy, knowing your guns (and other valuables) are safe. I am here to tell you that is not the case. I was skeptical when my dad announced his most recent purchase, but after a thorough round of testing (the most restful nap I've had in months), I'm a believer. If anything, it made the bed more comfortable- since when have box springs helped anyone anyway? I only ever hear about them in complaints about back pain or a bad night's sleep.

There are bed safes that are drawers to slide under your bed, or options that actually replace your bed's box spring. They're available for twin, queen and king size beds, so size is not a problem.

So many safes introduce a whole new problem- how to disguise it? First of all, you don't want a big, ugly piece of furniture that does nothing but secure valuables (although that is a very important function.) Secondly, they can take up a lot of room! If you have a small space, but still have valuables you need to protect, size can often be a large (pun intended) problem. Last but not least, a conspicuous safe is the first target for would-be thieves. Bed safes solve all of these problems- it is completely hidden from your view of your otherwise lovely home, and also from the view of anyone who might enter your home with less than honorable intentions (and I'm not talking about your daughter's date). A bed safe doesn't take an inch more space than you've already used with your bed, so it's economical size-wise, as well.