Bunk Beds: Before and After!

Remember those bunk bed I picked up for $15 at a garage sale?

Well, after my daughter helped unload (she did all the planks by herself!)

You know how many trips that was to and from the van?

Here is her little pile! Unorganized but done all by herself. I was one proud mama!

Well after unloading I had to start on the project right away. If you don’t start, it makes it impossible to finish right?

I started by sanding down the pieces. Even with an electric sander this took a while. I decided I should test it to see if I need to sand down every piece or if I could just paint over it.

The paint seemed to do fine over the stain so I went with it. The stain was chipped and needed redone and I figured painting it would be the fastest and easiest ( I already had the paint). It took about 6 days to paint, repaint, and touch up the bed. But was very rewarding.

Here is the bed my son has been sleeping on. It is actually the top of a bunk bed, but this is the only part we have of it. We love this bed. With the side rails on it he went from sleeping in a pack ‘n play to this bed. Since then I added another mattress (that is why it is so high) because I needed somewhere to store it until we got bunk beds put in.

Well, with just a few weeks until the baby comes it was time for this bed to go to storage until our little one can use it.

So after clearing out, sweeping, vacuuming (we haven’t moved the bed in a while) the bed was ready to be installed. My hubby was home this day and boy was I glad!

First off see this piece? For the record these pieces not only fall out but are not sold at your regular hardware store! The bed was missing about 5 of them so off to Lowes we went.

The husband is brilliant! He found these pieces…

And got them to work. And they are permanent…no falling out on these babies!

 

I don’t have matching quilts yet, but they are going to be awesome when they are done!

See those two railing that connect to the ladder. Those were broken when I bought the bunk beds. They said the ladder was busted but it was just those rails. The ladder was fine. We replaced the rails with slightly larger boards ( 4x1’s instead of 3x1’s) but they blend in nicely.

On of the rails that was busted will work for the bottom bunk, so my two year old doesn’t roll off. Hubby thinks of everything!

I love that the ladder doesn’t stick out into the room. We don’t have a ton of space so this is very nice!

The possibilities for these beds is endless, but I doubt black will be their final color. I might separate them someday and do one white for my daughter’s room, or strip and re-stain them a nicer wood stain.

But right now they match the dresser I refinished here. Remember what it used to look like?

Yikes! But it was free!

So the room is still a work in progress but here is a panorama shot so you can see the dresser and the bed. Amazing how paint can make the two things match!

(See that little kitchen in the corner? A friend of ours had a cabinet shop and when he closed it down he used scrap pieces to make these and gave us one. It has real Formica on the top and a real (not hooked up) faucet. The cabinets that make the fridge and under the stove are actually cabinets that go over your stove top or fridge! Amazing and cute huh? And built to last a lifetime!)
Future plans:

• Work on reversible matching quilts
• Add side board so bottom bunk is roll-off proof.
• Add gutter bookshelves to walls.

Linking up to:

• Designer Garden
• Just a Girl
• At the Picket Fence
• Fun To Craft
• Fingerprints on the Fridge
• Remodelaholic
• Chic on a Shoestring Decorating
• My Romantic Home
• Craft O Maniac
• Crayon Freckles