Bedroom Upgrade!

Part of the reason for my parent’s visit this weekend was to bring a pair of bed frames to us. The metal frames go to a set of bunk beds that we hauled back from the coast in May. At the time we just didn’t have room for the frames.

The bed set belonged to my paternal grandparents and most likely some or all of my Uncles, Aunt, and father slept on them at some point. Considering that my Dad is the baby of the family and the fact that he hasn’t lived with his parents in over 30 years let’s just say the bunk beds aren’t exactly ‘new.’ They were built in an era where things were made to last foooorever. Under the ‘lasting forever’ label comes a set of two bed frames that do not fold down like most metal bed frames you see today. They are two twin sized metal rectangles which frame wire mesh and springs. They are beastly!

After four rails, two headboards, two footboards, two kids in car seats, and all our other traveling paraphernalia there just wasn’t room for two cumbersome bed frames. So my parents promised a visit later in the year to bring them and last weekend they came through.

Putting up the bunk beds meant it was time for the crib to come down. That thing has been in the kids room since Jack was a baby. Taking it down marked the end of an era. We really don’t have babies anymore….

To compound that realization the changing table that we bought at the same time as the crib also was removed and replaced with and official dresser for Emilie. The changing table is being “repurposed” as an entertainment cabinet of sorts in the living room. The three drawers hold all our DVDs and the little cabinet on the side is perfect for board games.

We opted not to go full on bunk bed just yet, opting to ‘trundle’ them instead. As I said before these bunk beds are older. There is no official ladder (though it’s pretty easy to climb the headboard) and there aren’t any side rails on the top bunk to keep people from rolling out (Thankfully neither kids really rolls much) or falling out during a nighttime trip to the restroom. We figured we get the kids used to elevated sleeping a little at a time.

Here is the final product:

Emilie bed is half under Jack’s, as you can see. For now that’s fine since she’s not tall enough to take up the whole mattress.. By the time that becomes an issue they’ll probably be bunked up anyways.

One of my favorite parts of this upgrade was being able to fit the kids’ toy chest in their room (that’s the white shelf with the boxes far left). It has been out in the living room and having it in their room helps confine the toy mess to their room better. WOOOHOOO!

My other favorite perk is that the trundle setup left a little space under Jack’s bed that makes a nice little fort/reading nook. I’d like to find a long enough tension rod that I can hand a curtain from the front. I think the kids would love that.

That however, is a project for another day. I’ve had enough furniture moving to last me for a bit.