Craigslist! I’m back!

 

Well, I took a long sabbatical from Craigslist but I am back! I got in the mindset that eBay was easier because I can just walk out to my mailbox. But eBay can take 7+ days to sell and then the money goes to paypal, then you can do something with it but you never REALLY see it. I REALLY like cash in hand!

I got this bed at the thrift store’s spontaneous “all furniture is 1/2 off right now” sale.

 

And no, that is not my garage. Want to know how lazy I am? I stole this photo from Google image search! It is the same bed but I didn’t have the slates or the hardware for the one I got for $7.50. I thought about keeping it. I could paint it black and it would totally match the kid’s room furniture! But I really don’t need any more furniture anywhere in my house. So I thought about painting it white so it would resale better. But without the slates I couldn’t really set it up for a good picture. So I decided to flip it for the few bucks I could get out of it. I listed it for $25 or $39 if I painted it black or white and I got 2 calls the first day with a return call the second day and a pick up! Score! I sold it for $20 and felt great cuz it was an awesome grandparent couple who were sooo sweet!

I never took it out of my car until they met me and they met me at my church where I was at for a meeting…didn’t even spend gas. It was a $12.50 turn over which is small for furniture, but I have a happy older couple with a bed for their kids and a happy husband, who never saw the bed outside the van, and $20 in my pocket to go thrifting with! I’d say it is a win win win!

I know. It doesn’t take much to excite me.

I did get inspired and reposted a breast pump I got much earlier this summer.

The lady at the garage sale was giving it away and thinking I could use it for my sister-in-law I picked it up but now it is just collecting dust in my closet so after having little luck selling it earlier I posted it back on and had 2 questions about it within the 1st 30 minutes. One said she wasn’t interested in it but the other is still asking questions.

 

Update! The finished kid’s bunk beds!

The quilts are done! Yay! My grandmother whipped them out in like a week!
Here is where the bunk beds came into my possession for a mere $15. (I already had the mattress)
And Here is where they made their first debut a few weeks later.
Below is a picture of them with the dresser I got for free on Craigslist and painted leaving myself enough leftover paint to do the beds when I found them a few months later.

And now here it is all done with the quilts.

Yes! Isn’t it awesome! I love the handkerchief! But that isn’t all!

They are reversible! I know! Custom made and reversible! I’m so blessed!

Check out the way she quilted it. With squiggles! So fun!

Someday I might make pillows for the beds but right now I’m done. Also might make a bed skirt too.

Better yet, my Grandma used mostly scraps for the patriotic side! She made a bunch of “flag” quilts a few years back and had scraps from them. I love it!


 

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• Ninth Street Notions
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• Making The World Cuter

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.

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• Craft O Maniac
• Crayon Freckles

Beds, my ‘one’ weakness

Ok, so I have many more weakness than buying beds but this weekend this was my strongest weakness!
My husband had gone to Joplin Mo to help with the disaster relief and I kept my pregnant self at home with the kids. Oh, how I wish I could have gone!
And on top of that my close friend was getting married in Pennsylvania that day. It was a trip we decided against due to the long trip and being 8 months pregnant. (We live in Oklahoma. and for the record, we were pregnant before she got engaged. I just made the mistake of saying she couldn’t get married the month the baby was due. I didn’t mention we couldn’t even fly the month before that!) It was a terribly hard decision and though I couldn’t regret the wisdom of our choice, I did have to live with the regret that I wasn’t there.
So it seemed like everyone had somewhere to go and something to do but me. I know…poor me. Ukk. Ok, so what did I do? I went thrifting!

I got almost a dozen clothing items to resell from 99 cent day at the thrift store, then I hit up the surrounding areas for garage sales. The pickings were slim. It seems like a few people do annual garage sales on memorial weekend and then other people don’t even try for it.
I tried a few and ended up at one that had some promising kid items. Seeing I was pregnant they started mentioning things they would recommend. I wasn’t interested but I did eye some wooden twin beds they had laying out.
Now let me explain. I have my two kids currently in the same room. This gives us a spare guest room/ office which is nice. Once the baby comes I plan on putting bunk beds in there for the older two and the baby will go in a crib then toddler bed. I got a really nice solid wooden bunk bed for $10 without mattress’ (have those) at a garage sale last summer, we didn’t need them then but I sent them to my parents to store until we had another baby and needed it.
It wasn’t a fancy bunk bed. It had solid wooden head/footboards so it could only be used for bunk beds, and a nice ladder, but really it all needed to be stripped and re-stained from wear. And it didn’t have any side board to keep the kids from rolling off.
The beds at this garage sale looked like this:

The only reason I asked about it is they reminded me of twin beds I saw at a friends house.  They have two girls and their beds were matching white. I don’t think they were bunk but they were very cute and crisp in their room. And these headboard reminded me of those beds. So I asked the price.

“Um…$10 each” was the answer. I groaned. If she had said $20 each I could have walked away.
“Are they bunks?”
“Yes, but the ladder is broken so they are only good for being separate.”
“Not if you have a handy husband like mine they aren’t!” I thought
“Will you take $15 for both of them?”
If she said no then I could walk away right?
She said yes, helped me load and unscrew the pieces and got all the hardware labeled in a bag for me. And she threw in the broken ladder.
I haven’t set it up yet. I’m not crazy about orange wood so I’m painting it. Don’t hate me. I usually like the natural look better but these bed either needed stripped and re-stained or painted. I chose painting since it is cheaper (I have the paint) and easier.
All of that project will be posted later. Here is what I believe it will look like when it is assembled.

Actually the ladder is just fine. I started painting it right before it got too dark tonight. The parts that are broken are the slates the ladder hooks onto. I think I can just get new slates for it and drill holes. Anyway, you will see the finished (not orange) product as soon as I finish it and get pictures taken! I’m pretty excited. And the fact that the beds come apart will make them useful for as long as the kids are in my house.
Now to just find a new home for the $10 bunk beds that are at my parents house…maybe I can sell it for $25 to pay for both cost of bunk beds!
Oh yes! And when my hubby got home and I told him I got something we absolutely don’t need he responded with, “You got a bed.” Lol! He wasn’t thrilled to say the least, but when I told him the price and that she talked down from her original price he was hoping I got the whole thing for $10…yes, always wanting the lowest dollar. I think I would have felt bad if she would have sold it for $10 with all the help they did loading it for me!

Linking:
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