Elevated Bed!

A couple weeks ago it became apparent to me that the boys needed more room in their bedroom for clothes. They only had one dresser, the small bit of drawers that were attached to the bunk beds and then one small nightstand. First the boys were having a hard time even fitting their jeans into the drawers so they could fully shut it. Zeke wasn't even really strong enough to shut the the drawers to their one and only chest of drawers. So I came up with a solution to get them more storage in their bedroom. 

Of course this solution required Michael to actually do the work! My husband really loves me and my ideas! ;) 

Actually he did say that he's been able to use his new tools that he bought a couple of months ago a lot! So I just think of it as me giving him the opportunity to use those tools! 

We had recently found Owen's utility tool that we got him for his 8th birthday so he was super happy to help in any way he could. The nice thing about this project was it only required a little altering to things we already had and a few 2x4's and one 2x6. In the end it only cost us $20! 

All the kids were wanting in on the action! 

The first thing Michael did was alter Owen's old bed that slide under the bunk bed. He had to remove the slats that held the panels for the mattress to sit on so they would be lower in order for Jack's mattress to fit down into the frame more. 

Then he built a sturdy frame for the bed and attached it to the side panels. 

In order for the bed to fit he actually had to remove one of the end pieces. 

Then came the tricky part with getting the new frame up on top of the dresser and getting it to stay in place while he screwed it in and then built the legs. 

Owen wanted me to take a picture of him....photographic proof that my 9 year old is a weirdo! 

Here is the view from under the bed and behind the dresser....a secret tunnel! 

Tada! Jack's elevated bed with clothing storage and a fun tunnel! 

I was actually amazed how perfectly it fit in between the existing bunk bed and the wall....like it was meant to be! 

He was so proud of his new bed he wanted pictures with all his siblings! 

Cute buddies! 

Big brothers! 

Everyone was super picture happy! 

The boys in the tunnel! 

The tunnel is fun and I have since attached a couple of those under cabinet lights so it's not pitch black in there when they want to play. 

Here's the completed monstrosity! This is now one giant piece of furniture! One neat thing is that Michael didn't have to build a separate ladder for Jack since he can just use existing one and step over. 

You can see the kids also added a big pillow to the tunnel. Jack loves his new bed and I'm super amazed at how huge their room really is. We have this giant piece of furniture and 3 boys in one room and there is so much floor space it's crazy! 

So why did we really do this? So this one piece of furniture could fit in their room. This was the wall where the dresser was. Now that it's under Jack's bed we could move this into their room for more storage. Now the dresser is only Owen and Jack's clothes and this cabinet has Zeke's clothes and we use the door area for all their linens. There are still 4 drawers that aren't even being used so it's good that they still have room to grow! 

I can't say it enough I have an amazing husband!