Lofting Beds – Money Well Spent

We spent the weekend in construction mode.  I decided a month or so back that Little Gymnast would move into the twins room for the summer no matter what we decided as far as long term housing.  He’s just at the age and with them working quite a bit this summer, it was a good time to make the move.

I researched bunk beds, custom built lofts, diy lofts and as I was at the hardware store pricing things needed, I came up with my own brilliant, if I do say myself, design.  I called my dad as he has years of construction experience and ran my idea by him to make sure it was viable.  With just a few modifications, he thought it would work and for just a few dollars more than a traditional bunk bed we created our own custom lofts in the two bedrooms. Figured a picture was better than my description. Please excuse the messiness, we are still organizing and arranging.

We purchased the following to complete this project:

• Four steel utility shelving units, 2 per loft at $72 each
• Eight 2″x4″x10′ to bolster the lofts at $3 each
• Two sheets of plywood originally 4’x8′ but they trimmed the width down 2″ for free at $20 each
• One box of nails at $3.60
• One twin mattress at $119

Each loft (not counting the single mattress) cost right at $178 each. The design solved multiple problems in one fell swoop ie storage, desks and separate beds. They are identical in the two rooms with the exception of my king size bed under Princess’ bed and both the twins’ beds under Little Gymnast.

You will see in this picture that Princess and Gymnast both have plenty of room to sit up in their beds and are using the top shelves have made desks. We’ve then been able to use the remaining shelves for much needed storage…shoes, extra blankets and possibly a stock pile of home goods that up until now we had no way to store.

Everyone is proud of a job well done, appreciates the new “private” space and is getting settled into the new boundaries and room situations. Overall, I think we have solved the bulk of the larger issues we were encountering with our small space living. And I’m pretty proud of the design.

Next up…dining room tables out of extra piece of plywood we already have and a set of saw horses. Just trying to figure out how to stabilize the plywood to keep it from warping.

Update: When I first wrote this, I forgot to say where this money came from and I’m sure it will be asked. We did not break out of our extreme budget. We used monies earned from the massive purge last fall when we were downsizing – between the individual item sales and garage sales we socked away right at $2048 which has been saved towards furniture. Aside from a few odds and ends in our new place, that money has remained untouched.

SOURCE: Blogging Away Debt – Read entire story here.