Three's a Crowd-ed Bedroom!

BEFORE

I put off taking down the crib and setting up a 'big-boy-bed' for Caleb for lots of reasons. First of all, I knew it would be a squeeze to fit another big bed in that room. (All three of my boys share a room and yes, three's a crowd.) Secondly, I was comfortable with our routine and dreaded teaching Caleb to stay in bed at night. He is such a monkey, I was quite sure it would be harder than it was with his two big brothers. Also I knew that I would have to refinnish the bed that's been sitting in our garage for the past year and half. (We inherited it from our neighbors.) I've never done that so there was a little fear of the unknown.

But when I found that Caleb was crawling out of his crib and onto the dresser, I knew it was time. (Quick! Before he brakes a leg or arm!) So just after Christmas, I took it out and sanded it down. It is a captain's bed with drawers underneath. I'd never actually seen it put together, but it was the right price ($0) so I figured I'd like it well enough. I did want to change the color from the old oak stain (a little too orangey) to a dark chocolate. (Ok, I admit it I'm a little obsessed with dark chocolate, but it is my favorite treat as well as a great paint color.)

BEFORE (Unfortunately I didn't think to take a picture until I took down the crib which was in the corner in front of the tree.)

I took down the crib when I decided to jump into this project, which was likely a mistake because it was a multi-day project. I also removed most of the baby blankets (except the ones my boys are most attached to-that I made or Grandma made), some extra sheets, and lots of baby stuff. How strange--that's the first time the crib's been down since we moved here. We had to teach Caleb to stay in bed laying on a matress on his floor. Actually, that was the easiest part--I had dreaded it for so long, but Nathan only had to get after Caleb 2 or 3 times (about staying in bed at night), and we haven't had a problem since!

I think I chose the coldest days of the year to work out in the garage. It took me a day or so to get it all sanded. I caught a cold and it triggered my asthma, which still hasn't calmed down. I guess following up the cold and dust with a few coats of paint and then poly urethane (again in the cold) didn't help. Oh well.

AFTER

Once we got the 'new' bed reassembled we realized that the beds fit best in an L shape making the drawers inaccessible. I guess the drawer part will remain in the garage until we move (some day??). It's just as well because the drawers didn't go all the way back and we need to utilize all of the storage space we can. The bed is very high up off the ground. (About half way between the bottom bunk and the top bunk. Caleb climbs from Liam's bed onto his.)

I'm pretty content with the storage containers that we found to fit the space. The Star Wars and the Legos boxes are readily accessible and clean-up is pretty easy. The laundry hamper is no longer the dress-up (there was too much for a good fit), now it is the gun and lightsaber hamper (of course-what else would a hamper be used for in a boys' room!). Nathan is remaking a table top, to better fit the space, for the trains. He also replaced the broken fan-light in the room. Caleb's clothes are now under Liam's bed in containers like Daniel's. So now we use the plastic drawers in the closet for more toys. I was actually able to get the toy storage down to one box in the living room! I still need to reconfigure pictures on the wall, make Caleb a new quilt, and fix the bench drawer etc. But at least most of the sorting, and heavy lifting is done. I really like the feeling of having the room organized.

Caleb is thrilled to have a "big-boy-bed". He tells everyone who'll listen about it. Some days he says that Santa gave it to him.

Actually, I wish the bunk beds were the dark chocolate color as well, but I don't know if I'll feel up to more sanding, paint, and poly urethane for a while.