Madelyn's new bed!

 

Okay, so here's the deal. Mark built this bed almost FIVE MONTHS AGO. Remember how I keep saying I'm behind on blogging? I'm not joking. You've probably seen this bed in pictures already, but here's the official post.

This was her old bed, which used to be mine when I was a kid. It is part of a bunk bed set, solid wood (we painted it off-white) and we have the top half and ladder in the attic. But I've been wanting to get her something different for oh....four years. (Really.) She wanted a bunk bed, but there wasn't much point in having another bed in there that would be empty. Plus I was worried about my little monkeys jumping off of it, let's be honest.

Mark was in a building mood last fall and itching for a new project, and one day he mentioned he'd like to build a loft bed, and I said, "Oh, I pinned some free plans for a loft bed on Pinterest like a month ago" ~check out my Home & Garden board, it's awesome~ and he was like, "WHAA?" As if I had been keeping it secret from him. Really, most of the stuff I pin on Pinterest is just for my own amusement--it's not as if I'm actually going to DO everything on there. Psh.

The plans, for the Camp Loft Bed with Stairs were from ana-white.com. This lady is a genius. She lives in Alaska and builds knock-offs of expensive furniture, and then posts the plans for free on her website. So Mark printed them off and then went to Home Depot as soon as he could to get the lumber.

 

I just found the receipt, and it looks like he used four 2x6, fourteen 2x4 (in douglas fir) and two 2x2 boards, all costing about $65. He already had the tools (although one of these would have been nice) and whipped it out in no time. This picture was taken October 29th.

The kids were sooo excited. It's fun to be up so high!

Then he painted it white and assembled it in Madelyn's room This was right after we'd put our carpet in (still have to do that post too, ugh) because he knew he had to wait for that to be done first. We put her box spring out in storage because it was no longer needed.

Ta-daa! Look at all that floor space it freed up! Although, I used to store her shoes and spare blankets under her bed, so I had to figure something else out.

 I bought a shoe cubby at Target and a big basket for her boots and umbrellas. They're a great fit for under her platform.

  

The nice wide steps and platform are safer than having a ladder. Plus, it doubles as a stage of sorts.

It's also a good place to sit and read. I've been taking pictures there a lot because it gets good afternoon light.

P.S. That lamp was just there temporarily, until she got a clip-on lamp for Christmas. You know, the one Luke tried to start a fire with.

 

It's very sturdy and there's no danger of Madelyn rolling off the sides in her sleep. It is harder to make the bed up, though.

 And harder to give her a goodnight kiss.

 

Apparently, this was the appeal of having a high bed. All sorts of drama is played out here.

Yay for having a handy husband and daddy!