First of Many Projects

This bed was a project that sat in our garage for many months before I started it. It seemed simple enough when we bought it but the more we looked at it, the more work it needed and the longer we talked ourselves out of even starting it. Finally, I'd had enough so I googled and researched to see what materials I would need. I then put on my big girl panties and dove into the numerous materials from previous projects (AKA: unorganized junk) so I could reuse some of those materials and save a little bit of $$. 

The bed started as a dirty off-white color with sticker remnants and marker on it so I began by cleaning off what I could. Then I sanded as well as I could into the grooves to give me a smooth bed to paint.

I painted the insets hot pink because I already had the color that a good friend had left with me when she moved. Of course, my little had to help me so of course I let her. It is her bed after all.

 I painted the other areas of the head and footboards bright white. I also painted the side boards the same white just to freshen them up a bit. After painting 2-3 coats of paint, I applied a polycrylic to help protect it. As I did this, I noticed several areas I had not paid much attention to during the process but I talked myself out of doing it over because it was a bed for a 4 year old. (I had to keep reminding myself of that)

One of the main items I was very excited to use were boards that had been sitting in our garage for several years just waiting for a purpose...so I found them one.

I measured and cut the boards so they would fit across the width of the bed .

TA-DA!! I was so proud to see what I had made! I put a twin mattress on it and the kids began to play on it because our daughter was so excited to have a big girl bed.

This was about 2 minutes later followed by a "MOM!" My inexperience shows here because it was particle board and was not made to withstand a 4 yo apparently. Nobody was hurt, I threw the boards away, and we went to Lowe's to get some sturdier supports.

Here's the final project complete with a cute little girl and her choice of bedding.