Spring Break Project

Well, what have I been doing this last week since I haven't been blogging? We've been on Spring Break here and that always spells out tons of fun for us because Daddy is home for a whole week straight!! We did do some fun stuff as a family for sure this time but, this year, we had some different things on the agenda that took up most of our time. Here, I'll let you in on the details.

So.....as you know, we've got a new little baby coming in about ten weeks and currently, all of our boys sleep in the same room. Our plan was to get one more in there but we weren't really sure how we were going to do it. Basically, our boys love sleeping together and we love it too because we live in about a 900 square foot house with 3 bedrooms and so, having them all together is a great space-saver for us. Plus, we think they'll have great memories of being all together when they grow up.

All of this in theory was great but the practicality of it all started to get a little bit difficult because we began running into some space issues. We couldn't figure out how we could get Joshua into a bed and have a crib in the room at the same time. And the baby will need the crib. So we began to brainstorm...and we thought about it....and we went through tons of options until we finally settled on a triple bunk bed.

That's right people. A triple bunk bed. Have any of you ever even heard of one of those? Well, I had but my husband hadn't and so we started researching them online. They are extremely expensive. And it's very rare that they are sold used because it's not that common that a family would need one. So we either had to fork over at least $800 for the cheapest, flimsiest one or come up with something else. That's when my husband saw the link to build your own triple bunk bed...and the plans only cost $10. We decided to invest the ten bucks to see if we could do it ourselves. After he looked it over, he decided he could do it so we took the plunge.

So this Spring Break Steve has spent hours and hours and hours building this triple bunk bed. He's a pretty handy guy but he's never done anything of this magnitude. It was a big job and he learned a lot as he went. He started out by going and picking out all of the wood (which his Dad helped with and provided a truck to haul it all home). Then he had to measure and saw the wood into all of the right sizes. Steve's brother let us use their side yard to do all of that work which was a blessing because they have more room--and lucky for us, they live down the street. Then Steve had to measure and drill holes that would be used in the assembly. Then he had to sand it all with a borrowed power sander from his Dad, stain every last bit of it and then put it all together. Sounds easy enough right? It was a TON of work!!

Lucky for us, my parents watched our boys for two days straight so that we could bust a move and get the bed done. I helped hold boards, did some hand sanding, kept Steve company and just cheered on my husband. When he was getting tired, I'd keep him going by giving him small goals to reach. We had such a good time working together. And at night, we took time off for ourselves and had so much fun. Of course, Steve did most of the work, but those two days working together were so priceless for us. Two definitely are better than one.

Here are some pictures:


This was only half of the wood needed for the bed.


Isn't he handsome? We probably spent twelve total hours sanding together. It was really hard work. Now, let me just straighten this out before all of you think my husband had his seven months pregnant wife using the sander...I just helped hold down the boards and flipped them when needed...he did all of the sanding. But anyway, Steve had already sanded the boards a lot up to the point I started helping him...we just had to shape all of the edges so that the boys wouldn't get hurt on the sharp corners if they fell on them and that just took a really long time.


Steve had to do all of the staining because I didn't want to be around the fumes. So I just did some fine hand sanding on the boards that needed it and sat on a stool talking to him while he stained. The staining took about six hours.


There's all of the wood for the bed!! Now it just needs to be put together.


This crazy crew put it all together today. Steve's Dad and our good friend Matt helped for about five hours straight today as they drilled everything together. The boys loved the finished product. Isaac's on the very top, Caleb's in the middle and Joshua will go on the bottom.


Now we just need one more mattress...and to get rid of our other bunk bed. We thought we had a buyer for it but then he never showed up today. I hate how flakey people can be!!! Side note: if you know of anyone in this area that needs a solid bunk bed...let me know. We're looking to sell ours. It's in great condition.

Basically, tons of people helped Steve pull this project off but it was his determination and hard work that made it come to fruition and boy is it a beauty. Steve did it all by hand and he did a marvelous job. He saved us a ton of money and we've got a bed, a family heirloom, that will last for many years to come. Oh how I love happy endings.