Monday, July 14, 2014

Marlee's Bed...All Three of Them...

Today I am telling the story of Marlee's beds. All kids transition out of a crib and into a bed... well Marlee had three beds, so far. Here's the story....


First, I took down the daybed I built that was in her room 




and I re-purposed all the material to make her a new bed.  I cut and pieced my way into a half way decent frame.



Set up shop in my kitchen....

 

Starting to come together




Nice little bed frame, right??




Many hours later, a bad upholstery job, and a billion staples later... 
Marlee has a cute bed....




 I have to admit... it was cute... 
but it was so dangerous... 
there were staples EVERYWHERE... 
I didn't like it... she slept in it once...


The afternoon she went back home 
I started over again...

I found a plan on Ana White's site ... and I got to work....

All my material is cut and ready to go....




I used my jigsaw to cut the curve....
and sanding it nice....



a few steps later and I have a headboard and footboard...




next few steps were just as easy




Attached the legs and supports for the side rails

and Viola!!!  I built a bed!!!


Notice my beautiful side pieces... I cheated and bought them like that...

Notice all the pocket holes on the footboard??  That's because I put it on backwards... but who cares??  
It looks awesome... next came the paint... I won't bore you with the boring pics of painting... but here is the final product.... don't ya love it??!!!




and there you have it... 
Marlee's big girl bed # 2. 

She loved it... and she definitely slept in more than once!!!




P.S. See these awesome bed slats???

.

I couldn't let them hide under the bed... so my awesome brother Tom gave me some furring strips to use for the slats..I had all this wood cut already but it did not go to waste.. with this and the rest of the scrap from this bed .. I made this!!! 


I'll tell you all about this project soon....

So here we are ... nearly two years later... and she has outgrown her bed
Enter the opportunity to build again... I love it...
Here we go.. bed #3... the last bed I am building... I swear...maybe


I am limited to space in her room... so I decided I was going to try to eliminate her toy box... most of the things she plays with are multiple toys together... all her princess dolls.. or all her ponies... so I can get rid of the toybox and go with bins...and a storage bed... again from Ana...



This time around I wanted to use sheet goods... I didn't want to go to the Depot and get my boards... I wanted plywood.. cut to size... so I went to my neighborhood lumber yard and gave them my measurements... I was a little sticker shocked when I saw the price... but the quality of the material and the accuracy of the cuts made it all worth it... I will go back..

I set up shop right in my living room...



All cut up and ready to go... 
(these pics will never get boring to me)





This was exciting... my first time with corner braces... love them!!!!



Look how beautiful this wood is....





 This is a nice looking box.... 
the bottom of her bed... sweet.....

Next came the side boxes....



I brought it in the room and added all the slats....



I needed to add a lip to keep the mattress from slipping and joined the three pieces together.



Look at all that beautiful storage space!!

This Grammy stole the side facing the wall to hide more stuff... 
my Grammy's afghans...






And the pretty baskets for Marlee's toys...

And a nice bed for her to spend the night with Grammy and Grandpa!



Next bed I build will be queen sized... Imagine the storage I'll have then!

Until then....