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!