DIY Loft Bed-Guest Post

I am happy to be guest posting for funcheaporfree.com today!

Lucky for me, and for our budget, my husband loves to dabble in DIY furniture and basic woodworking.  Thanks to sites like Ana-white.com, it is easier than ever to create your own custom pieces for a fraction of the price you’d pay in retail.  We recently found, and fell in love with, her plans for a Twin Loft Bed and I wanted to share the finished product and a little insight on how we achieved it.  My husband made our oldest daughter this cute little Toddler bed (in a few hours…really) when she turned 2.  She just turned 5, entered kindergarten, and is looking and feeling quite grown-up so we decided it was time to move to a twin bed.

If you have tight space like us, this type of bed is a great option because of the loft factor and usable space underneath.  Plus, it is super high on the “cool factor” radar for your average 5 year old and tons of fun to play….and sleep in!

Here’s a pic of the finished product.  Let me interject here and tell you that this project was completed start to finish in 1 weekend.  All of the furniture we attempt is much easier than it looks and we always look for plans with complete step by step instructions as well as a complete supply list.  Since this is a frugality blog, I’m sure you’re wondering about cost.  Paint and materials were around $100.

If you’re new to DIY we have 3 basic recommendations for essential tools to get you started.

1)Circular Saw

2)Drill, preferably cordless, we recommend this one.

3)Kreg Jig–this allows you to make nails and screws invisible…my husband loves it.  A lot.

I contacted Rockwell tools and asked them if they would provide us this drill to use in conjunction with this post after significant research and our old, high-end drill battery kicking the bucket on us.  We were shocked when we went to our local hardware store to learn that a replacement battery for our drill cost THE SAME AMOUNT as we paid for the drill itself.  Whaaattt??!  We’d only used it for 2 years–that was going to add up very quickly.

Enter Rockwell Tools Drill.  Upon research I learned that they offer a lifetime battery replacement program.  Sold.  That feature alone will make this drill pay for itself over and over again…we use our drill a lot 🙂  For the lifetime battery replacement program, you have to make sure it is 1) an eligible item 2)register it within 60 days of purchase.  I had some trouble registering my tool using Rockwell’s online system and had to go old fashioned and mail in an actual card which was a bit of a pain but worth it in the long run.  If you have to go the slow mail route, I recommend calendering a reminder on your phone to touch base with the company after a few weeks and make sure they received the card and that you are good to go.  Also, I should mention, DO have a caveat on their website that says, “Rockwell reserves the right to cancel, alter or change the implied or written terms and conditions of the Free Lifetime Replacement Battery Agreement at any time.”  I’d be surprised to see something like that happen though.

Okay, back to the bed.  I “fun”ified our bed by adding a couple features.  I converted the dead space under the landing to be a puppet theatre.  It is super simple.  I used some scrap fabric I had on hand and appliqued a theatre mask (google searched for a free clip art image) onto the front.  I cut mine out using my silhouette cameo and flocked heat transfer material but you could easily cut it out as well.  Just ironed it on.  I was lazy so I just serged around the edges of the fabric and folded the top down and sewed a sleeve so I could insert the tension rod.  Same thing for the curtains.  The blue fabric is just a pillow case.  It is hard to tell from the pic, but that tension rod is set back in about 6 inches or so….the kids sit behind it and just put their hands up between the blue piece and the front piece.  Eventually I am going to add a moon and stars to one side of the pillowcase and a sun on the other so you can rotate it between night and day 🙂  You can find super cute (and cheap!) finger puppets here Story Time Finger Puppets – 10 pcs Velvet Animal and 6 pcs Soft Plush Family Puppets With Bonus
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I noticed on many of the brag posts on Ana’s site, that several people converted this space to be book storage which is another great idea.  We have this nook between the end of the bed and the closet where my husband build book storage onto the wall (see below) so I wanted to go another route.

The simplest feature we added, and biggest hit of all, are the bars to swing from underneath.  They are hard to see in the pic.  We installed two bars, one for my 2 year old and one for the 5 year old.  My youngest has to use a stool to reach her bar but she LOVES swinging on it.  I found them at IKEA for $7 bucks each.  This is obviously NOT their intended purpose so install at your own risk…they seem very sturdy and safe for our family 🙂

Lights around the perimeter makes for a fun night light 🙂

It has been such a fun update to our daughter’s shared room–give it a try, you won’t regret it!