Girls Room Redo

Hallie is finally ready to go to a big girl bed! BUT, the girls room is kinda small. So, I had to resign myself to consider bunk beds. I have been against bunk beds for many reasons.

1. I didn't want to try to change sheets on a top bunk from a ladder
2. I was afraid of the child on the top bunk getting hurt if they had to go potty in the middle of the night or if they didn't feel good.
3. I wanted a wooden set if we got any and even those are made with particle board in them somewhere...not to mention the outrageous price! 

But, it seemed that there was no other answer. So my search began. I found the bunks with the steps instead of a ladder. I LOVED that idea! Steps are much more steady and safe than a little ladder. And to add a space saver idea, the steps turned into storage with drawers. Win win for a small room! But, these bunks were not all wood and would be really hurting the check book. I had some other "requirements" I wanted in a set of bunk beds if I was going to buy them:

1. I wanted the headboards to have storage. This is especially nice for the top bunker to keep books, a light for reading and other special things. 
2. I wanted the steps to have drawers on the outside
3. I wanted the bunks to become 2 separate, matching beds
4. I wanted ALL WOOD. Is that so much to ask? 
5. I wanted enough space under the bottom bed for a mattress to use at sleepovers and if my top bunker was sick.

I quickly found out that no one made what I wanted. Off we go to our Amish builder! He didn't seem the least bit intimidated by our dream. And the price was even HALF of what some of the painted, half-particle board beds we had researched online were selling for! The down fall is that with our builder, I knew it would take a while. It was about 6 months...but so worth the wait. He said that almost every customer that came into his workshop asked about the beds. He better save the plans for future orders! If you are interested in more info on him, leave a comment or send me an email at juls302@hotmail.com. You have to either go to his shop or write a letter...Amish...no phones. It took us about 3 stops before we were able to meet up with him. 

Back to the girls room redo!
First things first...pick out new bed spreads! This took a while. I'm kinda picky, friends. I don't let my kids pick out cartoon character bedspreads. Mostly because I know that two years down the road, they are going to outgrow the love of that cartoon! Sometimes even two months! I usually search around and give them choices that they can choose from. Finally, after a few months of searching, they picked out plain pink and teal blue comforters from Target. They are so comfy and soft!


Second....choose a paint color! Nate doesn't want anything to do with this decision. He knows when I'm in the paint store, that he might as well go get some lunch and come back to get me in a couple hours. But can you blame me? With all those different color shades? What's a girl to do? So, he drops me off and I can take my dear old time! I knew going into this room redo, I was done with decorative paint. Plain paint on our walls from now on. I don't care if there is two different colors, but no more decorative stuff...too hard to sand and paint over. Again, I gave the girls a choice and we taped up several paint chips to their wall for a few days. We decided on a light, lime green.

Here's Lis helping with the priming. 










Third...getting the beds. This was a whole family ordeal. Everyone wanted to help with this project.

 Even had some fun with the old mattress!

  

 

The boys asked, "Can we get bunk beds?"

Here are the steps. The side of the steps are drawers. Some of the styles I researched had drawers pulling out the front of the steps. But I know my kids, and we would be having clothes and blankets sticking out half the time!  So we went with the extra drawer space on the side of the steps. Great drawers too! Slide really nice and are big and roomy. Six drawers in all.

First night sleeping in their new beds.














Lastly...accessories! Nate hanging up Hallie's glittery "H" above her bed.

We hope to get a teal-blue shag rug, waiting til it goes on sale, a new decorative pillow, and some shelves to hang up on the other wall.







I found this memo board at 50% off at Hobby Lobby. Perfect for hanging ribbons, awards, pictures and special notes on.
And I love hooks. Just ask Nate. I am always asking him to hang up a hook somewhere in the house! Hooks are so easy to store things like bags, robes and sweatshirts! I love hooks. I admit it. This is on the wall behind their door.

Before...

After!