My husband and I tend to get bored when we run out of projects...might be why we are in our third house in 7 years of marriage! We can also be cheap and not want to spend too much. You put these two things together, and you end up building a custom bed for your three year old! This isn't the first bed we made (some other time I'll have to post my Buddy's bed), but this is the one we made most recently!
We put my Dolly in a queen size bed when we moved into the house when she was just over 2. It was nice we didn't have to worry about her rolling out! When we found out #3 was on the way, we hurried to finish the basement so we would have bedrooms down there for kids #1 and #2 (and my sewing room!!) Well, When #3 was born this fall, we didn't feel #2 was ready to move downstairs, so we decided the girls were to share a room. The room is decent size, but not big enough for a queen bed and a crib...and dresser...and changing table...and toys! Thus created the NEED for this new bed :)
The bed was inexpensive, fabric and materials (including headboard) cost us less than $50. And it was timely, less than a couple hours to assemble.
As usual, it all began with surfing the internet.
Design Mom made this fabulous
toddler bed. We didn't want a toddler bed, so we just took the idea and started creating our own. First we went shopping for a mattress
(not included in $50 price tag! Did you know that twin mattresses tend to be almost as expensive as a queen? we were shocked!) Once you have your mattress, it really is all about measuring.
Measure the mattress, add a few inches to the length and width and that is the interior size of the box to drop your mattress in! I didn't want ours too tight so that it was easy to get the fitted sheet around the mattress, so we added about 3 inches to the length and width.
The sides of our bed are 11" high (because that was the scrap board we picked up!) and then there is a 2" lip to hold the mattress in, so the mattress is 9" off the floor. Perfect for a young one.
Next pull out the batting, I purchased cheap batting and laid mine on two layers thick.
I had lots of help!
Next is the fabric. I measured the length + width and bought that much fabric. With how narrow of a strip of fabric you need I decided to sew a seam at one corner. If you don't want to do any sewing, you could staple a seam. A third option is to purchase additional fabric so a continuous loop can go all the way around.
With this you will end up with lots of scrap fabric. Even cutting the fabric in half, out of the 44" I used 32", leaving a 12" strip 2.5 yards long!
Make sure to fold the batting and the fabric over the edges of the bed. Use a staple gun to secure in place every few inches.
Although I like the simple look of
Design Mom's toddler bed, I felt our room needed some height, and so we decided to create a headboard too. Once again, we had purchased scrap wood, so used that to determine the height (42") and the width is 2" shorter than the width of the bed so that it stays nicely tucked behind the bed.
Upholster with two layers of batting and the fabric and you are done! You could nail/screw the headboard to the bed, but once ours was pushed against the wall it was so snug we just left it, and it hasn't moved at all since installation!
And now we have one bright bed for one bright room :)
** Check out the fabulous blogs I'm linking up with, I've listed them here:
http://itssewforyou.blogspot.com/p/linky-partys.html
