Hanging Bed

Never watch HGTV with you daughters.  I am warning you, don't do it.  Or you will find yourself doing a project like this one.  My daughters love to watch all those before and after shows with me and while sometimes it feels like I am raising my best buds, it can really get you into trouble.  My daughter first saw a hanging bed on "That's so Raven" she knew she had to have one.  (Never mind that the bed she saw was on a TV set who had professional carpenters on the payroll.)  This is what we came up with. 

First the before ( I love "before and after" posts, but this is really a, "before and after so far" post, because this room is far from done.

We used a 20 year old (at least) bunk to make the bed.  We just cut it down, added bead board to the head board and foot board and put it back together.  (Notice the milk crate she is using as a stool to get up on this thing.  Like I said before this room is far from done.)

This project has a lot of steps so check back and I will walk you through what we did.

NIGHT STAND MAKE OVER

As I have mentioned we are s-l-o-w-l-y finishing our basement.  Which means we are going from 6 people in a 3 bedroom house to 6 people in a 5 bedroom house.  AHHH, I can't wait for the extra space.  So when my daughter had a birthday last week she got swag for her "new room". (Sorry no room to actually put the stuff in yet, but we are getting close.)

My favorite project was the night stand.  I bought this ugly night stand at the DI for $8.

If I had more time to look I may have chosen something that only required spray painting but I needed something that day.  I also have a storage requirement.  Our bedrooms are small and so we can't just have things that look pretty they also have to pull their own weight and store something.

I had this bead board kit, (given to me by the neighbor when she was moving, I knew I would eventually use it for something.)

After removing horrible hardware I glued the bead board to the front of the door with wood glue.

I then used leftover door casing to frame the door.  I secured it with wood glue and finishing nails

I then puttied and caulked the gaps around the sides and nail holes.

Then:
Add primer (KILZ),  I did have to lightly sand in between coats for a smooth finish

Add paint (Rust-oleum Heirloom White)

Add handle from the dumpster (see here http://sticksandstoneshomedecor.blogspot.com/2010/06/my-husband-got-me-new-knockers-from.html )my daughter is kind of "earthy" so she wanted the stick handle.

and Viola.

Total cost $15.00
$ 8.00 ugly night stand
$7.00 primer and paint
bead board free
handle free

This night stand is laminate, I was worried it wouldn't paint well and that I would be donating it back to the DI but it painted great.  I also love how it distressed.  I never thought I would say this and in certain circles I may deny I ever did say this but "I am a fan if laminate"

Also I bought this

I will never spray paint without one again.  I have carpel tunnel and this helped a lot.  No more embarrassing trigger finger syndrome,
and it only cost $2.50.