New Room

I live in a small house. Not that I'm complaining... usually. There are things that I absolutely love about my house, like the relative size of the kitchen to the rest of the house (it's actually pretty big) and the fact that my pantry is bigger than my guest bathroom. I love that we have a funky loft/attic space that we've been able to convert to a tv/playroom. And of course, I love the outside space (I believe I have waxed poetical on that several times.) Really, the one thing that requires careful thought and organization are the kids rooms. We were lucky enough to be able to add on a few years ago so at least we have 2 small kids rooms instead of just one... that really would have been a nightmare! The rooms are long and skinny, and have NO CLOSETS (which is really the hardest part for me). But, they have 9 foot ceilings. AND I happen to have a pair of men on the property who don't mind making crazy custom furniture for me. All in all, it works:)

This wasn't my first experience having Gary (my talented father in law) build a bed. In fact, the base of the current bunk was one he built for me when Pearl was ready for her big girl bed. At that time, I didn't really know what I was doing, and the finished product was totally awesome but pretty much took up the whole room... a little overpowering. The base originally had two very tall very solid bookcases as the header and footer... one facing the bed for Pearl, and one facing out of the bed that was Sam's changing table and toy shelves. When we built the second room, it became apparent that the taller of the two bookcases was never making it out of the room alive, so one stayed in there to house Max's changing table, toys, clothes, and the upper shelves are perfect for my therapy materials. The shorter one made it into Pearl's room and was converted to a closet/bookcase, it actually works really well. (you can see it in the bottom picture)

When I found out I was having another girl, I switched from worrying about how I was possibly going to fit 3 boys in one of those tiny rooms to now being able to design two rooms for two kids each. Upon further reflection, I decided that I needed a few years of big kids together and babies together... just for synergy of school, diapers, toys... you know. So, the current plan is to have Sam and Pearl bunk together for a few years until Ruby is ready for a big girl bed, then the nursery will be converted to a boy room for Sam and Max. This is really nice for me, because I also do therapy in the nursery, so without any big beds in there I'll have some extra space for a few years before I have to figure something else out.

When we switched Sam from a toddler bed, I bought this bed which was awesome because Max's crib fit underneath. But upon reflection, it really didn't work in the room for two big boys with two big beds, so I sold it to my friend, Ashley, whose bedrooms are bigger and whose boys will certianly enjoy it:) So, the option that was left was to convert Pearl's current bed to a bunk... so here we are!

It is BEAUTIFUL. Some of the things I love about it are...

-the drawers are HUGE. They seriously are half of the bed in size, so each kid has one and I can fit a full dresser full of clothing inside.

-Since it was custom, and we have really tall ceilings, Gary made the top bunk quite high... high enough so that when I am standing next to it and bending over to take care of Sam, the bottom of Pearl's bed clears the top of my head by a few inches. Sam can even stand up in his bed, though jumping was a failed (and painful) experience.

-Gary and Jared work differently.... I made it clear to Gary that I wanted it to look NICE.... unlike some other pieces of furniture he has made (ask Maryann to post a picture sometime of the tripe decker toddler bed... very functional, but not very pretty) so I trusted Jared to do the finish/painting work. I knew it would be FABULOUS, and it is, I really don't think I could have bought something with a prettier finish, but I also knew it would take a LONG TIME, which it did. This project was started in March:) My complaint that I couldn't possibly take care of a sick Sam on his current toddler mattress on the floor (don't ask) gave him the impetus to finish, so Pearl only had to spend one night curled up in a toddler mattress with Max begging to be released from his crib and read books:) Anyways, the upshot is that it really looks beautiful... couldn't have asked for anything nicer.

-Max can not climb to the top bunk. YEAH!!!!!

-the quilts.... they are amazing. My friend Luan Zenk makes them, and the amazing thing is that she mostly uses real scraps and hand quilts them. They are beautiful. When I decided to put the big kids together, I wanted something that went together but wasn't too matchy and would definitely create a girl space and a boy space. I am so happy with the current look. You can see more of her work here. I'm lucky I got to go to her house and pick them out, the kids will have them forever.

- Sam likes to hang a blanket from Pearl's bed to make a tent. Quite the rage at the moment:)
Ok, enough verboseness. Since they don't need dressers, I opted for a desk for each of them, to give them their own space. Pearl already had a large desk and corner set aside, so I squeezed in a desk for Sammy with what was left. I found something that was cheap enough, narrow enough, with a few drawers for his toys (he's still so little!) and that would fit the office chair we already had for him that coordinates with Pearl (floor models from the days I had eyes at Pottery Barn Kids a few days a week:)
The kids are happy, the room is full, but it works, and the new bed is wonderful. Thank you Gary! Now I have a few weeks to put finishing touches on the nursery (like actually setting up the toddler bed for Max) before things get crazy:)