Project 1 of 7: Toddler Bed

No true before pictures for this project, but here's the basic concept: B needed a bed. With baby #8 coming, he needed to move out of our room. Since we prefer to use a side-carred crib next to our bed for newborns and young infants, B couldn't take the crib with him to his new room to convert to a toddler bed. 

Several months ago my mom found this old crib headboard and footboard for free. They had been part of a drop-side crib and couldn't be sold as a crib, and the owner just wanted them gone. My mom snagged them for us as a temporary solution for a different issue in our old, tiny house. But now I had a new use for them. These plans helped me figure out how to do the supports & such: http://ana-white.com/2010/02/plans-toddler-farmhouse-bed.html

I bought B a brand new crib mattress and measured it to make sure I wouldn't make the bed too long or too short. Then I cut these 2x6s to the correct length, drilled holes in them, and attached them to the head & footboard. This was actually trickier than it sounds because I used traditional barrel nuts on the bottom to ensure a strong hold, and it's tricky to get all the holes lined up correctly so the long carriage bolt can connect with the barrel nut. Anyway, it worked. And I just used some really long screws to anchor the top of each sideboard so they wouldn't swivel or twist weird.

After painting the whole thing, I installed 1x2 cleats near the bottom of each sideboard. On top of those cleats I mounted 18 more 1x2 slats as the main supports for the mattress. These slats are each screwed to the cleats, and the cleats are firmly mounted to the sideboards, which are firmly attached to the head & footboard. The entire bed is pretty solid, and can support Dave's weight also (when he goes to snuggle with B).

All done!

B LOVES his new bed. It has still taken a few tries to keep him in it, but he doesn't mind getting into it, and when he's tired he has no problem just rolling over and going to sleep when we say goodnight.

Others seem to like the bed too. Here's a little "Goldilocks" in baby B's bed. :)

And another, bigger "Goldilocks" (though this one is a very dark brunette).