low to the ground is safer for out of bed spills in the middle of the night

In preparing for future foster children, we planned on one child.  Well, of course, with that deciding phone call we got a little over eager and accepted two.  This lead to a bit of a dilemma. The children had to share a room, they were both under three, we could not use bunk beds, and we had to have a dresser.  We already had a convertible crib/toddler bed but what to do for the older child?   When I found free plans for a toddler bed on Ana-white.com, I fell in love.  (also see here)  The plans were inspired from Pottery Barn Kid’s Fillmore Bed and the barn-wood look idea came from Shanty 2 Chic’s website.  But I knew that short of moving a wall, a twin sized bed would not fit in the room.

platform bed for a crib mattress

So I decided to attempt to adjust the measurements to match a crib mattress.  I left off the headboard and just had the trim go all the way around. My dad cut all the wood for me in advance- thanks Dad!  I stained the pine wood with a black milk paint wash to give it a weathered look, and assembled the bed in the living room during nap.

toddler platform bed- crib mattress size

There are benefits to making your own furniture besides being able to get the exact look and size you want.  The wood isn’t inexpensive, so cost is minimal. For the eco-conscious/people who are have chemical sensitivities building your own furniture is great because it allows you to control the type of wood, the glue (I used Titebond as the guy at the eco-store told me it is non-toxic), the paint, and the finish.  I had some non-toxic black Milk Paint (Miss Mustard Seed’s Typewriter) left over from another project and decided to water it down and use it as the wash & I think this gave the wood a nice aged look.  (I used two coats and it was so easy.)  Don’t worry if the milk paint looks weird and grey at first, an application of hemp oil (also Miss Mustard Seed) gets rid of the chalky look milk paint gets after it dries.  The hemp oil also seals and protects your finish. I talk about the benefits of non-toxic milk paint in my previous post about painting my desk with milk paint.

thinned (watery) black milk paint for an aged barnwood look

The bed turned out to be the perfect size for the kids and both of them loved it!   It’s low enough to the ground that falling out of bed in the middle of the night wouldn’t be too big of a deal.  And it’s easy for the kids to climb in and out of.  I do recommend gluing and enforcing everywhere you can.  Children love to jump on a bed this size.

Now the toddlers have moved on and I’m debating what to do with it.  I can’t help but think it would make a great (if a little long) dog bed- when we get more room!

or is it a cat bed?

Here is the cut list:

2- 2×4 @ 52
2 – 2×4 @ 30
4- 2×4 @ 5.5
2- 2×2 @ 49
2- 1×3 @ 52
2- 1×3 @ 32
14- 1×3 @ 27

Also, as Ana White recommends, I used the mini-kreg jig to make this project.  It’s only $20, easy to use, and makes furniture look so nice!  Any questions/concerns/ideas of your own, don’t be afraid to comment!