A Bunkbed For My Princess

Hi there!  My name is Kirky and I am one of the Sisterkins. I am the least creative of the bunch, but darn it I can follow a pattern like nobodies business!

My kids have a ton of stuff. I don't mean "Oh, wow, look at all the stuff your kids can play with! (eyes rolling.)" I  mean "Holy Mother, what the heck happened in here? Did you buy the toy store???" My kids are very blessed to have a loving generous family, which translates into lots of gifts, year round.
Anyways, because we have all these wonderful gifts, (everyone of which my children have formed emotional attachments to), and limited space in our little 4 level split, we needed a solution to add more space, without sacrificing our treasured belongings.
My daughter had a nice little Ikea bed, but the room is so small, it just wasn't working. I searched FOREVER for an affordable loft bed. Everything I found was out of our budget.
I am by no means a skilled wood worker, but I found a design online to build my own, and it seemed so straightforward, I figured I could try it. The design claimed I could build this bed in a few hours for about $50. 

 Loft Bed Plans

I grabbed my trusty tools and went to work and created this perfect space!

The princess is a bit of an artist, so having space for her desk and creations was the most important feature.

The Ana White design has a staircase, but with our limited space, a ladder was the only way to go. Because we only had a few extra inches to the wall, I simply made the platform a little larger. Its a perfect place for some cozy reading. I LOVE how safe it is climbing up and down. 

I added curtains, because apparently 6 is the new 13, so my princess needs extra privacy to be alone with her thoughts. She also likes to dabble in magic, so it doubles as a stage for magic shows.

The area underneath the platform is a perfect little get away (or secret hiding spot for all the stuff we are supposed to be cleaning up when we clean our room, but instead just toss under here. I discovered this when I started to take the photos. Needless to say, a quick tidy was done before the pic was snapped).

The biggest test was to see if it passed with her. She spends a TON of time in here. 

She gives it two thumbs up!  So does her little bro!

In the end, it cost about $52.00. THAT'S IT!!! For a really well finished product I would recommend using all the tools the instructions call for.
It took me all day. However, I did it by myself while daddy was at work (ask for forgiveness instead of permission, right?). He was really impressed, so that was a big relief. It was SUPER hard to do alone. I don't recommend that. With two people, it would probably only take a couple of hours.
Now we just have to give it a final sand and stain.
I did this project in an attempt to reduce the clutter and mess. I am constantly cursing the lego I step on, and the constant toys and crap everywhere. I am always trying to get better organized so the "stuff" doesn't drive me to the brink of insanity. But then I remember one day the babies will be big, and my house with be quieter and emptier and I will long for the days of noise and clutter and lego embedded in the soles of my feet. And now I will always have the pride in knowing I made something that brought my daughter a great deal of joy when she was little. 

Kirky

Sisterkins

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