It was time.
As I tucked Grace into her toddler bed one night and she stretched out I noticed that there was 2, maybe 3 inches left before she would touch top to bottom.
My first thought was (obviously):
What the??? When did you get so TALL? Stop growing already!!!
But my second and slightly more rational thought was: time for a big girl bed.
My initial intentions were to use my Grandmother’s bed frame that I inherited. It goes with the vanity that I painted and set up when we moved in.
However Grace’s room presents a bit of a unique challenge. There’s a radiator under both of the windows, and those windows happen to frame the most ideal spot for a bed. Putting anything larger than her toddler bed would cover one of the radiators.
I was only bummed for a few minutes before I remembered this photo from a post on The Bumper Crop
This was perfect! Not only would it solve my space challenges but it would open up her room and allow her to play and run around under the bed.
Having no clue where to begin, I simply followed her directions and went straight to Ana White. Let me digress for a moment and say, if you have even the tiniest itch to ‘DIY’ you need to visit Ana White Homemaker. NEED. Take homemaker to the most literal sense of the word, that’s her. She builds anything and it looks like it came out of a Restoration Hardware catalog.
Back to me and my eager ambitions of adding carpentry to my short list of skills. I printed out the plans, headed to Home Depot and got to work.
About 3 weeks later her room was transformed:
Here’s how it all played out:
- Ana hesitated to post the plans because she thought (and I quote) “that they were too simple”. I on the other hand, thought they were just fine thank you 🙂
- It took Ana and her husband ‘about an hour’ to build it. Uh, let’s see here, it took me, hmmmmm….longer than that.
- Ana says ‘2 screws per deck board per joist’. Now, let me be clear here that I wouldn’t dare doubt her plans but for me this was a bit of ‘screw overkill’.
So I built the bed and then we enlisted Uncle Randy to come over and hang it. And just so you know Uncle Randy, when someone asked Grace the other day who made her bed for her she gave all the credit to you. Hmph. Honestly though, this bad boy is heavy and we couldn’t have done it without you.
Here’s a view of the space under the bed. We were paranoid about the weight and didn’t trust the bed just hanging from the ropes so we added some brackets on the wall for it to ‘rest’ on. I also built the ladder specifically to also act as a brace for the bed. This baby is going nowhere.
Very nicely done . . . from concept to completion! Thanks for *inspiring* many more than you’ll ever know!
What a great idea! I can’t wait to make this for my little girl!
I wonder if I can ask a few questions? I tried this over at Ana’s site, but I’m not sure if it went through (or gets to you).
How did you affix it to the ceiling? I will not be able to get in the attic on top of her ceiling so I will be attaching it to the joists using a stud-finder and (I assume) using screw-in eye-bolts.
How did you make the rails & ladder?
If you have plans written up and handy, I would love to see them.
Thanks again for the inspiration, my Daughter is gonna LOVE IT!!!
Thanks,
Rob
Hi Rob!
Your little girl WILL love it!
We crawled (or I should say my husband crawled) into the attic but that’s only because our stud finder was sub par. If you have a good one you should be fine! And yes, we used screw-in eye bolts into the joists as well.
Because we’re paranoid we also installed 2 brackets on the wall for the bed to ‘rest’ on (bought at HD but they look like this: http://tphsupply.com/wall_brackets/18_gauge_stainless_steel_angle_l_bracket_0268)
I didn’t use any plans for the ladder, I decided to just wing it, sorry 🙁 I know that’s not very helpful. But I can tell you that I didn’t notch the rungs, I just cut everything to size and screwed it together. We notched the top where the bed rests on it though.
The decision to make it a straight up and down ladder instead of a leaning ladder was also to provide more support for the bed. Needless to say, the bed is NOT going to budge. I was worried at first that it would make it more difficult for her to climb up but no way, she’s a monkey.
Best of luck in building this, I would love to know how it all works out!
Jennifer
Hi Rob,
Thanks for the inspiration and great idea. My little princess is gonna love it.
Wood love the dimensions for the bed.
Thank you
Hi Kevin! The plans can be found by clicking on the link in the post above to Ana White. However, my space wouldn’t accomodate her exact dimensions so I actually had to improvise a little. Good luck!
Jennifer
By using the brackets and ladder to sturdy up the bed doesnt that void out the whole hanging loft bed concept of it being able to move? Also being on a wall probably prevents that too huh. Thanks, Tanya
Hi Tanya! Well the majority of the support for the bed is ‘hanging’ from the ceiling for sure, but because this was for our young daughter I was more concerned with safety than the fun of a swinging bed (although I’m sure she would argue for the latter) A loft bed is just defined as one that is elevated from the floor in order to create space below. I could see how this particular set up might be a disappointment for the more adventurous type though 🙂
Hello! Forgive me if this has already been answered or addressed somewhere, but I’m curious as to why type of mattress you used. Thank you,,
Hi Mandy! Since it was for my young daughter I bought a twin size foam mattress from Ikea. She lovs it!
Is it completely safe?
Hi Meadow! That’s a tough question to answer. As far as the bed itself being completely secure I feel very confident. Ours is supported not only by the ropes but by the ladder and wall brackets as well. I have climbed up several times myself to read bedtime stories. After all this time it hasn’t budged one bit and as a matter of fact we recently switched the kid’s rooms so now my 4 year old boy sleeps up there (I’ll be doing a post on that soon). The rail guard we installed gives me even more peace of mind but as you can see there is still a lot of ‘open’ side where a child could fall off if they weren’t being careful. If this was a real concern I would recommend hanging the bed even lower so it’s not so high off the ground maybe?
Good luck Meadow!
Thank u!
where are the instructions to make?
Beautiful project! Was this built in a single bedroom or in a double bedroom?