Sammuel and Dixie's New Room - Part 1. The House Bed
So after weeks of hard work, perseverance, some laughs and some tears(!) we've finally finished Sammuel and Dixie's new bedroom. We're really pleased with how it's turned out and the kids love it. Here's how we developed the initial concept and how the room took shape over the weeks.
We started with an inspiration board on Pinterest. There are some really fabulous ideas out there and we love browsing Instagram, Pinterest and design blogs for interesting ideas. After much deliberation we settled on the house bed concept, in white, with some brightly coloured furniture and decoration. Two of our main inspirations for the room were this house bed from French blogger Justine of Pepito mi Corazon and this up cycled wardrobe from Cissy Wears Instagram feed, you can see the wardrobe we chose in part 2 of the blog.
We made some rough measurements for the size of the house bed based on mattress sizes and the area it had to occupy in the bedroom. We marked this out on the floor with masking tape which helped us get a feel about the space it would take up and therefore how the rest of the room and furniture would work. The frame was made from wooden 2x2" batons with Ikea bed slats.
It really was a case of making up as we went along - measuring and figuring out what fitted and worked so unfortunately we don't have an instruction manual or 'How2' for you...but with a bit of DIY knowledge and common sense it's not too difficult. If we can do it you can too! We checked EVERYTHING religiously with a spirit level!
The building bit took quite a long time...see picture 3, Sammuel's "what time will the house bed be ready?" face!
The actual house shape is cut from MDF sheets and fixed to the frame. We measured and drew the house shape, windows and doors on the sheets before cutting out with a jigsaw.
We spent days researching an alternative to MDF as we know it's full of nasties, however after much searching and phoning around the alternatives simply weren't readily available. We were really happy to find this MDF passivating paint, which has no chemicals and neutralises the chemicals found in MDF. We used this and their Feng Shui paint in Yawl White to paint and seal the bed completely, making it perfectly safe for our littles to sleep in.
The other main structure to build were the stairs up to the top bed. We wanted these to be functional as well as fitting in seamlessly with the super stylish bed. We used ikea kitchen cupboards which we cut to size to fit together, and fixed them to the wall and the bed. The cupboards open up to reveal storage boxes for the kids clothes. The boxes pull right out so the kids can see everything in the box allowing them to put together the best possible outfit for the day! ;)
We used our trend and colour wall hook knobs on the doors and they look great adding a real pop of colour. We added a safety rail (more for us than the kids!) This is just a plain wooden banister rail painted white with an LED light strip stuck underneath which illuminates the stairs at night incase (when) the little people wake up :)
If you're interested in building your own house bed we'd say go for it! It's really rewarding to have made it ourselves from an idea.
The other great thing about the house bed is that it offers a little hideaway for both Sammuel and Dixie and each has their own toys, books and lamp etc in their own little space. Sammuel chose the pink Farg Form bedding so we contrasted that with the black Farg Form clouds bedding for Dixie which also works well with her slightly softer baby bunny/cat/dolly toys. We used mainly monochrome cushions in Sammuel's bed to balance the pink bedding and added the Normann Copenhagen wall pockets for his books and water bottle. In Dixie's bed we lifted the dark bedding with bright cushions. We gave her a shelf for her bunny night lamp, books, slippers and cuddly toys.
So here it is...the finished house bed, definitely worth all the hard work! To recreate this look with all the trimmings see our inspiration board here.
Dixie is wearing Hello Apparel Leggings from our lovely friends Southwood Stores, and a cloud t-shirt from the wonderful Whistle & Flute.
Sammuel is wearing a super soft Hello Apparel T-Shirt from Southwood Stores, and Farg Form leggings from our site.
In part 2 we'll take you round the rest of the bedroom...bye for now! x
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