Bed Space Saver!

We had seen some posts floating around Pinterest of beds built with drawers underneath to save space (like this one).  I immediately LOVED this idea and even found plans to build them on Ana White's amazing site!  I soon realized that basically all this was was a bed build on top of a dresser and set out to convince my amazingly handy husband to figure out how to do a thrifty-er version!  We ended up with this amazing bed that we all LOVE. (Disclaimer: if I were a "real" blogger, this post would be full of beautiful pictures, however, it's just me blabbing about my projects so... you know. You get messy rooms and clothes and stuff everywhere, because that's life around here!)

We found the dresser at our local Goodwill for $15!  (I wanted it when it was $30 but the hubby thought that was too much and snagged it when they put it on sale!)

It is not solid wood but is very solid and sturdy and I knew I would paint it anyway (and I have a very hard time painting over wood...)

This is the first picture I took of the process, already sanded to scuff it up a bit for paint, and minus the drawers.

We painted it that lovely deep purple, and awesome hubby figured out how to take her existing bed and put it on top. I believe he screwed the actual sides of the bedframe into the wall, and also added some 2x4 brace posts as well. It is also screwed down into the dresser (obviously not in this picture yet, since we switched the position!). You can see above how this does leave a good size space behind the dresser.  We had thought about adding a little bookshelf door that would swing out, but for right now, her hamper sits right in the hole, and it's used as a fun little hideaway!  Eventually, it will be great to store things like larger or out of season clothes, etc. 

A nice big 1x10 with some matching curves cut into the top makes a nice guardrail so she won't fall off in the middle of the night. 

And some matching paint to bring it all together! The sticker just adds the finishing touch, we got it from Icon Wall Stickers when I won a giveaway...just pretend it isn't slightly crooked! (The little clothes labels I also won in a giveaway from Crafterhours.)

She will be sharing her room with her baby sister and this helps consolidate furniture so much!  We love that its a "fun" bed to sleep on since its higher, but is still fairly easy for mom to help make up with sheets if needed.  We will probably do another when baby girl is old enough to need one (though there is a debate about that vs. a bunk built up above...). We'll see...

Foldable Grocery Bags and Produce Bags!

So everyone has seen the re-usable grocery bags at all the grocery stores... ok, really ANY store sells them now! And you've all heard the hype about how we should all use re-usable bags and help save the environment... have you also heard of how those bags probably have all kinds of bacteria in them?  As cheap as they are, I don't imagine they are easily washable- I have a collection of my own and haven't tried that yet, though they get sprayed with Lysol occasionally... Anyway, I stumbled upon this tutorial from Yarnkgeek (promise, no knitting or yarn involved in this one!) for folding grocery bags.  There are a few other tutorials around too, but this seemed to be among the simplest for me (and plus she doesn't mind if one sells things made from her tutorial... hint hint... let me know if you are interested!).

Here's how mine turned out:

From the tutorial, you can get 2 bags from 1/2 yard!  And they fold up nice and small!

They fold up nice and small (see, about 5 1/2 inches). I have grand plans to make myself more and get rid of my old germy ones. Since these are just cotton, you can chuck them in the washer!  I also plan to make up some kind of little pouch to store them all in. Handy dandy!

I used fabric I had for these (from my Grandma!) but you could buy cheap amazing fabric and make it gorgeous! 

I also thought these produce bags were so cute, so I tried out another tutorial from Daisy Janie.

The 2 sizes of loops allow you to cinch it closed!

And til I make my little pouch, i just folded up the produce bag and tucked it inside the grocery bag! 

So go GREEN and sew up some cute bags!