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....

Ironing board

Here's a quick post to show you the ironing board I made.   I was rearranging my sewing room and due mostly to lack of space I ended up putting my long dresser in front of my sewing table.

   I kind of wanted to keep that space free so I would be able to spread out my projects and pin on borders, but knowing me it would end up covered in junk and make the room look a mess.  


So I decided to make use of the space. I have a lot of wood hanging around so I grabbed a 1x12 and  4 1x2s and got to work cutting it up.  

Then drilling the pocket holes.....

and after about 20 minutes of drilling and screwing, the four boards are now joined as one.

I didn't just want to let this board rest on the dresser top so I added some legs....  I cut those just the right size to have it meet with the tabletop. 

Next thing you know... I have a mini table... 

Now I need to cover it.... I used three layers of batting and a twin sheet that I cut the elastic off...

got out my trusty electric stapler/nailer and .. after a few minutes I was done... here it is... an 18x72 ironing board. 

  I love it already!

Marlee's Baby Room

It might have been the day after I found out I was going to be a Gramma to a little girl that I decided to give up my den, a decision that I was happy to make since I wasn't using the room anymore.
 Now my little Marlee has her own room at Grammy and Grandpa's house.
 
Here's how it started:

First I had to cover up the red walls

That took a couple coats of primer and paint... it was bittersweet... I loved my red walls... and it was a lot of painting to get them the right shade of red...

Once the red walls were painted pink and I started adding the special touches.

The theme was flowers and butterflies.

  
 

I had so much fun doing this room.....

Love the green ceiling with the pink!!!!

And all the pretty flowers!!

 

SO MUCH FUN!!!!!

 

I made curtains....

and a cornice box

 

 I painted my cabinets and little dresser to match the room...

notice the night light.....

the toybox (scored from work, someone throwing it away)..

and the wicker blinds were also painted

The best part... was her crib... I painted it black... and it came out great...

how about that light switch cover!!!

Here's a little video tour...

with a special shout out to my niece Amy who helped at the crucial time..

putting it all together...

just in time for the reveal at the

baby shower for mama,

I loved this project...

one of my favorites...

for my favorite grand daughter!!

My little sweetheart ! ! !

The Den and Daybed

When I first thought of blogging about all my projects I thought at the very least I'll have preserved my memories and pictures of all my work.  I haven't had the best of luck lately with my computers.  I thought maybe if I blog, and include the most important pics, they will be saved in cyberspace somewhere.  So I really wanted to blog about what was once my den... and about the daybed I made... only I can't find pics of me building it.... I am missing pics... I know I had to take pics... Why wouldn't I have taken pics????  But where are they?  idk... so... this blog , I'll probably change a million times before I actually post it... I'm not getting to tell my story the way I wanted to... the existing pics are going to have to work... and not well... but, its all I have to work with.... so here goes....

The Ottoman

It all started with an ottoman... after watching Design on a Dime... my former favorite show on HGTV... I decided I wanted to build an ottoman...

Actually, I wanted to build two of them so I created a spreadsheet for my cut list.. color coded (which I currently can't find a copy of)... lol... I'm such a geek...

So off I went to Home Depot to get my wood.  I bought particle board since I was going to upholster them and I had them make all my cuts.  I even brought my spreadsheet with me!

I painted them...

then I built and

upholstered them...I can't believe I don't have pics to show you....

 and liked them so much I made a bench

I didn't know I had it in me... i was very proud of myself... I still love the bench the most... and the storage they all provide.... can you believe I store my KitchenAid food processor in one of the ottomans!! 

oh and they made a great step stool when we put up my handmade cornice box! 

 I only wish I had more pictures to show how easy they were to make..Right now they are acting as a coffee table in front of my love seat... still love them...

 

And the bench looks great at the bottom of my bed!!!