Review: The Room & Board Emerson Bed Frame, Dresser, and Night Stand

After looking for a long time, my wife and I decided to purchase the Emerson bedroom set from Room & Board in sumptuous walnut wood.

After a few weeks with it, we’re still thrilled, with one big caveat that I’ll mention below.

Room & Board Emerson Dresser
Room & Board Emerson Dresser

Purchase and Delivery

The walnut version of the Emerson bedroom set was not on display at our local Room & Board store, so we bought it based on photos from the website.

We purchased the Emerson Ten-Drawer Dresser, the Emerson Queen Bed, two Emerson 26″ Wide One-Drawer Nightstands, and one Queen Two-Piece Platform Board.

A few weeks later, it was all delivered and assembled at our home by Room & Board. It looked great!

Emerson bed and nightstand with lamps from Rejuventation
Emerson bed and nightstand with lamps from Rejuventation
Emerson 26" wide night stand
Emerson 26″ wide night stand

Unfortunately, right after assembly, we noticed scratches on the upper right drawer of our dresser:

Scratches on our dresser drawer
Scratches on our dresser drawer

I showed it to one of the delivery men and he scheduled one of their repair folks to come out and fix it in two weeks. I was glad they had such a service!

The Repair

About two weeks later, on a Saturday morning, the repair man called to say he would be arriving, right on time.

He took out the drawer and filled the pits, the re-stained the section. After his repairs, it was virtually impossible to tell where the damage had been. I was impressed! And of course, there was no charge for the fix.

Repaired dresser
It’s virtually impossible to see where the drawer was damaged and repaired

The Knobs

From the day we bought the set, there was one thing that bothered us: the drawer knobs. The look was fine, but they were really hard to grip. When pushed all the way in, the drawers did have a point at which they “clicked” and required significant force to open. In daily use, the cylindrical knobs were simply unacceptable.

Room & Board steel drawer knobs
Original cylindrical drawer knobs

But, we liked the everything else about this furniture, so we went across the street to Rejuvenation and found some oil-rubbed cast brass knobs that we did like, with the intention of retrofitting them after purchase. They were quite expensive, but happily, they were on sale that day.

The knobs were really easy to swap out because the replacements used the same size screw.

Retrofitted knobs from Rejuvenation
Retrofitted knobs from Rejuvenation

After the swap, the drawers are a joy to use and we’re thrilled with the finished product! We actually think the dresser looks better with the larger Rejuvenation knobs. There’s definitely more to grab!

Emerson dresser with knobs replaced
Emerson dresser with knobs replaced

The Bed Frame

The Emerson bed frame has metal slats, so they won’t bend over time. Our mattress felt like it had a little better support with this frame compared to our old box spring.

We also opted for the Two-Piece Platform Board which sits on top of the slats, adding extra support for the mattress.

Room & Board platform board
The platform board makes it easier to tuck in your sheets

Several on-line reviewers complained of a strong chemical or adhesive smell after unpacking the platform board. We didn’t notice anything like that. If anything, there was a mild “new furniture” smell, not objectionable at all. It seems that Room & Board solved the odor issue after the original complaints.

So far, we’ve been very happy with the bed frame. It’s so nice not to need a bed skirt. The frame is really solid and doesn’t squeak at all.

Room & Board Emerson
The end result!

Conclusion

Overall, we really like our new Emerson bed, dresser, and nightstands, especially after swapping the drawer knobs. We also appreciate the excellent service we got from Room & Board, from the delivery to the amazing repair. – Brian


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Courtney
Courtney
4 years ago

Hi Brian! This is such an odd question but I came across your blog as I was making final decisions on my Emerson purchase (dresser and nightstands). The Emerson nightstands are on the lower side in terms of height (22 in versus 25+ in for others). Based on your photos, it looks like your nightstands are lower than your mattress (which would be the case with ours as well). Does this look odd in person? Is it annoying to have a nightstand which is lower than your mattress?

amy
amy
4 years ago

I just bought a R&B bed — which has metal slats like yours. because it doesn’t have a midbeam, I find it to be kind of bouncy. are you running into that? I wonder if the platform board might help.

Brian Shim
4 years ago
Reply to  amy

Hi Amy,

Ours is not bouncy at all, very solid. Maybe it’s the platform like you said.

Best,
Brian