Ikea hack: Toddler Bed

The other night when everyone was a sleep I was bored, and decided to sketch (excuse my poor art below) a bed for Alyonushka. I saw someone on Pinterest who had done something similar and figured if they can do it I can defiantly (make my hubby help me) do it. 

Here's a before photo from IKEA's website. I do not like the look of those legs.

I think my project is different and unique than the others I saw because my bed not only upholstered but it is painted. I wanted my bed's legs to be different as well.  So I found this footstool on Craigslist (photo from craigslist) 

We chopped off legs.

In time will reupholster this ottoman and place it in Alyonushka's room in the reading corner.

I originally had a regular mattress from crib and didn't feel like I needed to purchase new one. Here's where hubby comes in with his saw, we measured our mattress size and the bed and just chopped off same amount on each size, old legs got chopped off too.

Next I needed to trace my desirable design for headboard.

Hubby did pretty good job trimming this peace.

I had some foam leftovers from before and didn't need to buy new foam. Below you can  see how I constructed this Frankenstein :)

I used bread knife to cut foam (I know, not the best tool out there) 

Next I stapeled 2 layers of batting.

And I wasn't gonna use some fancy fabric because I would be painting this whole thing pink. That's right, you heard me :) I did this before for my master bedroom's headboard and it looks awesome!  We screwed headboard to IKEA's existing headboard so it would be one nice solid peace.

I wanted to have effect of a tufted headboard but didn't want to buy buttons. I tried tracing position for buttons in the front, but for some reason measurments were wrong, so I flipped board and it all came out perfect.  Hubby predrilled holes so I could go with my upholstering neadle and an upholstery thread (I had those already)

 And to make the thread stay I tied it to little pieces of fabric that have been rolled. 

 This is what it came out looking on the back.

I had some pink fabric to cover the back (even though it'll be in hidden I still want it to look pretty)

Sadly, I didn't take photos of how we screwed legs to the frame, but it was three screws from an angle and one on top. (For wood not to crack hubby predrilled holes for screws)  It is nice and sturdy, and can hold my weight as well. 

Here's Alyonushka just testing out the bed, you can see here tufted effect on the headboard. 

Next was to upholster the whole frame of the bed, I had fleece fabric, that was 1st layer and then added 2 layers of bating. 

And last, went on my (another shade of weird) fabric.

(Testing out paint)

Here you can see how the bed looks with 2 coats of paint (I like this pink color got it from lowes in oops paint for $2.50 per quart)

Last thing what I did was adding furniture wax and rub all over the painted areas, once it dried I buffed it with cotton cloth and now it has affect of a pink lather effect rather than fabric.

I'm glad my sketch could finally come a live :) 

I'm thinking to paint legs white but left them like this for now.

Areas where I had tufted effect I glued sparkly buttons. And here's bed finally in her room, she loves it! So do I :) 

Just for fun here's couple other angles.

Let's breakdown total cost:

Bed frame - $20 (Craigslist)

Legs - $15 (Craigslist)

Staples - $5

Paint - $2.50

Screws - $3

Total Cost: $45.50 

This was fun project and good practice for next bed for Aly. 

Stay tuned for more changes in Aly's room I will be bringing newly repainted dresser, book shelf and adding diy canvas paintings as a mural to the back wall. We decided to go with a princes theme.

I hope you enjoyed this post!