Miles' First Bed

You know how much I love custom and cheap.  And you know how Miles can launch himself out of his crib and so he needed to have a bog boy bed.  Voila!  A very low to the ground and very chic alternative to a toddler bed.  And you can make it in any size!

I saw this idea for a DIY upholstered bed on Design Sponge (one of my all time favorite blogs) courtesy of Gabrielle Blair of Design Mom (another of my all time favorite blogs).  She gives a great tutorial on Design Sponge so check it out.  My tutorial has a few extra detail as as usual for those of us (like me) who like things literally spelled out step by step so there is less chance of complete failure.  I meant to post the tutorial tonight but I am going to the hospital to have my little girl in 6 hours and I only finished the bed yesterday and putting the covers on the bed during bath time tonight!  I still need to sew the pillow that matches the bottom but that will have to wait.

So…tutorial coming but here are some pics so you KNOW that you can do this.  Miles’ bed is a twin but I will be posting my suggestions for how to make this bed in a full, queen or king as well because you WILL need extra support to go larger.  I think it would make a great bed for any age and you can TOTALLY customize your look.  I also made this bed so that it has storage underneath that is accessible.  I have put all the kids travel stuff as well as our aero bed and guest sheets under there.  Woohoo!

Step One:  Have Home Depot or Lowe’s Cut Plywood or MDF to correct size.

MDF For Bed - All from One Sheet - $25

Step Two:  Attach all the side pieces.  I used an ottoman as my helper but a human would be better.  Especially if you are 9 months pregnant.

Screw Pieces Together

Step Three:  Attach Side Rails with Screws.  Again – helper helpful.  I had to go from both sides because to do it by yourself you have to turn the unit on its side and drill from the inside and then reinforce from the outside.

Attach Side Rails with Screws

Step Four:   Attach batting using staple gun while your children watch Dora before nap time in “The Boat”. 

Attach Batting to the "Boat"

Step 5:  Upholster Bed with Your Choice of Awesome Fabric.  This is what will determine your budget.  I fell in love with this chocolate houndstooth like fabric and spent $70.  I will have enough for 2 large pillows and a 2 window box valances.  You could go much cheaper but I was under sort of a deadline, you know.  I did not do a perfect job with my enemy the staple gun and will be covering the staples with a thick fabric and some glue just to be super safe.  This project takes a LOT of staples.

Completed Upholstered Bed Frame

Step 6:  Insert Plywood Panels also cut by Home Depot or Lowe’s.  You will not need a box spring for this bed, which rocks.  Notice I left a little bit of space between the panels so they can easily be pulled out to access storage underneath.

Mattress Support with Easy Access

Step 7:  Make the Bed and Enjoy!  As I said I still need to sew matching pillows but otherwise I love the mix of browns and the body pillow I found at Target for $10 up against the wall.  The light tan down blanket and chocolate covered twin plush blanket on the bottom of the bed are from Target too!  The shams are from Bed, Bath & Beyond. 

Great Under the Nook!

The puppy dog blanket was a baby gift.  SO CUTE!

Puppy Love

I think it was a hit.  Post bathtime the kids were ecstatic!

After Bath they Loved the Bed!

I hope you like this one as much as I do!  I think it is such a great alternative to spending a ton at Pottery Barn or Land of Nod and it is the right height for toddlers at a little over 14″.  I am going to let Miles pick out some animal pillows too since of course, what he really wanted was a Diego comforter.  I will post the tutorial in the next few weeks. 

For now I am off to have this baby!

I am linking up to Kimba’s DIY Day at a Soft Place to Land and Make your Monday at Twice Remebered!  Check out all the great DIY projects!

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Bookcase Shown in Hallway

When you have a random tiny space under a dormer or in some tiny corner and you need every square inch of it for some extra storage and you don’t want some white laminate thing that doesn’t really fit – you find some wood scraps and throw it together.  Then you paint it and it looks awesome.  I kid you not.  You can do this.  And it will look great.  And you will be a little storage superhero.  This particular unit can also be turned on its side and used as a bench.  I love things that have more than one use.  Brilliant.

I adore organizers and bins and storage solutions and whether it is for kid rooms or laundry rooms or bathrooms I find I am always looking for that perfect sized piece in which to stash toys or detergent or towels.  I rarely find the size I need.  When I switched Miles’ and Sophia’s room so that she would have the bigger room to share with her soon to be here baby sister, I realized there was an awkward space next to the giant dresser but wedged under a dormer that would be perfect for some toys and books and get them off my darn floors.  I measured.  That is always the first step.  I know I would never find anything 17 inches wide and JUST LESS THAN 36 inches tall.  Lots of stuff is 12 inches wide and exactly 3 feet tall – but that would be too skinny and hit my dormer.  Lots of stuff is 18 inches wide but you see then it would not fit in my little corner.  I knew it was DIY moment.  And I knew that the area was small enough that I would be able to get away using mostly scrap wood.  AMEN!  Cheap and Chic and Custom.  Nothing better. 

Here’s How You…Yes You…Can Do This.

1.  Measure your strange awkward space.  Of course, you can use this instructional for ANY small bookcase and it will be made of wood, not laminate, and you can make it as ornate or simple as you like and out it in your living room.    Measure at least five times – especially if the numbers are weird.  You want to get this right. 

Note:  You could also measure your strange awkward stuff and then build a unit to fit it.  This is an awesome idea and   I have done this before with baskets that I loved that never fit anything.  Then they look like it is totally custom and it rocks!

2.  Figure out your desired height, width and depth.  Mine was, as I said, 17 inches wide by 35 inches tall by less than 20 inches deep.  I ended up with 14 inches.  It needed to be less deep than the dresser and I was flexible here because I knew I would be working with scrap wood.  Again, this is totally custom but if you are looking for a standard depth, bookcases are usually 12 inches deep.  If you have big books though – measure the books or whatever you are putting in the unit!  It does not good to build a piece that stuff does not fit in. 

For a small unit I would expect that 2 shelves would suffice and in a simple project like this these shelves will be fixed – not adjustable.  You can buy easy shelf adjusters at your local Home Depot or Lowe’s but for me I wanted an evenly spaced look.

3.  Plan your wood cuts.  Don’t worry about the cutting I will give you a couple of ways to get this done.  Here is the basic layout.

a.  The Back- The back should measure the FULL HEIGHT AND WIDTH.  I used a cheap piece of panel board from the Home Depot for this.  You do not NEED the back to be solid thick wood.  It is up to you.  I went for cheap and being as pregnant as I am I decided not add the weight of solid wood on the back when it would make absolutely no visible difference.

b.  The Top and Bottom - The top and bottom should be the FULL WIDTH and DEPTH of the unit.  You want no seams on the top of your finished piece and it makes for easier nailing.

c.  The Sides – Take your FULL HEIGHT and SUBTRACT the THICKNESS of the top and bottom pieces.  For me, I used 3/4″ furniture grade plywood so I subtracted 1 1/2 ” from my total desired height of 35 1/2″ for a toal height of 34″ for my sides.  The DEPTH should be your FULL DEPTH and should match that of the top and bottom.

Of course, this means that your total storage area is less than the full width so make sure to account for this if you  are building this to fit a particular item or bin or basket.   If I needed 15 inches of width, let’ say, I would choose a total width of 17 inches to allow for my sides and a tiny bit of wiggle room on each side.

d.  The Shelves – Take your FULL WIDTH and SUBTRACT the THICKNESS of the side panels.  Again for me this was 1 1/2″ off my total of 17 for a width of 15 1/2″.   Use the FULL DEPTH.

You may want to wait until you have built your basic unit and then fit in the shelves and get a specific measurement, but this is up to you.  Sometimes a shelf may need a little bit of shaving down or sanding to fit in.  Do not worry if there is a little extra space – caulk will fix this.  See?

Extra Edge Space

Note that all of the pieces are the FULL DEPTH.  This will allow us to simply attach the back to the piece as well as any trim to the front very easily.

4.  Cut your wood or have it cut for you.  As I said, I had scrap wood for this project leftover from others but you can find wood by posting to Freecycle or Craigslist or simply purchasing one sheet of double sanded furniture grade plywood from any Home Depot or Lowe’s or the like.  If you do not own a circular saw or a table saw these stores will make your cuts for you for something like 25 cents per cut and they oftentimes have piles of scrap there in the store.

5.  Assemble your outside pieces.  I am lucky and I have a nail gun but a simple hammer and nails will work just fine.  Make sure you have someone to help you hold the pieces.  It will make it a LOT easier.  I used 1 1/4 inch nails and nailed the top and bottom onto my sides in a matter of minutes.  Try you very best to be as square as possible.  This is not as hard as it sounds – you will be okay if you are making your eges even and as smooth as possible.  It will take about a half hour to an hour with a hammer and nails.

 6.  Fit your shelves in and Attach - If you want even spaces you need to take your INSIDE HEIGHT (same height as your sides) and SUBTRACT the same THICKNESS of your shelves.  My height was 34″ less the 1 1/2 inches for shelves, leaving me with 32 1/2″ of space.  DIVIDE THIS INTO THREE ( if you have 2 shelves) to figure out  the amount of space between shelves.  I got about 10.8″  I measured down from the top and made my marks on the front and around the sides so I would be able to nail in from the outside.  It takes some patience but it is NOT HARD.

Note Nails in Side

You now have the base of the unit.  From here on out it is SO easy!  Check out how nasty this wood is.  A little primer, some caulk and some paint and it’s a whole new world!

Sides and Shelves

7.  Attach the Back- If you are using panel board like me you simply use a hammer and panel board nails to work around the edges of the piece and of course nailing the back to the shelves as well.  It is easy to figure out where to nail into the shelves.

Back is Attached

8.  Throw some simple trim on the front- I purchased a simple rounded over edge and used a miter box (super cheap) and hand saw to cut mitred corners.  I then used wood glue and some panel board nails to get it on.  I did sand some edges a little on the shelves so it looked good.  You could get as fancy as you wanted here.  You could put feet on the unit.  You could add more of a molding the the top.  Future DIY’s will detail how to really get sassy with your simple pieces.  As it is I just needed something simple and quick and easy so it would be done before the baby!

Closeup of Trim

9.  Sand, Caulk, Prime and Paint! - I sanded the whole piece with 150 and paid special attention to the edges to make them smooth.  Using a sanding block or power sander will help immensely here!  I used my good ol’ Black Satin paint that I use to paint almost everything because I LOVE black.  The caulk filled my little gaps and I did use some wood filler on the nail holes on the sides.  It is not glossy -that is just the light because I wanted to show how the trim looked.

Closeup Painted Edge

10.  Squeeze your little custom bookcase into it’s new home!

Nestled in Nook

Tight Space. Sassy Solution.

As always feel free to leave any questions in the comments and I will get back to you as soon as I can!  Enjoy and Happy Building!

I am linking up to Kimba’s DIY DAY at A Soft Place to Land!  Check out her awesome site and all the great projects!

Like this post? Don’t want to miss a Mommy Words Moment? Then subscribe via RSS or by email to get all the latest from this Mom’s mouth! You can also use the social buttons below to add this post to your favorite sites or send it to your friends. Please spread the MOMMY WORDS!