Here they are in the building process order...
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| First the concept sketch (Phil's drawing except that stuff on the far left, that would be mine) |
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The computer model (all Phil's work)
We showed this to Eli and asked him which bed he wanted to sleep in and immediately said "up up mimi!" |
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The boys were involved in the entire process, no surprises, they'll learn and appreciate more that way.
They all got to hammer in nails too! |
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| TA DA! |
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| The slide is one of the best features, we used left over flooring from when we replaced the carpet in this room years ago. We figured it's extra smooth texture would be a good fit for a slide (but need to find some kind of landing pad so it protects my floors, the towel I have now is ugly and just not cutting it!). |
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| Storage/Staircase, they are not attached so if and when they outgrow the slide we can relocate the stairs to where the slide is for more space later on. |
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| The two lower beds nest into the taller bed for more space to play in. |
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| The beds are mostly made of cedar (it smells soooo good too) and a few non visible pieces are pine I believe (I have been corrected, it's Douglas fir). |
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close up
We did not want to paint it because the look of natural wood is so beautiful! (but we did stain it with a colorless lacquer) |
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| The lower beds have two wheels at the 'pillow' end and two peg legs at the 'foot' end. This makes them really easy to slide in/out, even the boys can do it. Also having just two wheels as opposed to 4 makes them stay in place and not roll around too much. |
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First bed time in our new beds!
The comforters were special made for them. When the boys were tiny babies a family friend made them but since they where on the big side I thought they'd be perfect for big boy beds so I put them away and brought them out tonight! I love the three different shades of blue and they also have three different cute patterns on the other side : ) |
Custom Made Triplet Toddler Beds
So if you notice I talk a lot about the space saving features in the picture captions. That was the whole aim of these beds, our house is small but I don't think it's too small. With some creative thinking and organizing we have plenty of space in my opinion and we'll make it work.
The cost of materials was way cheaper than if we had gone out and bought three toddler beds but Phil spent several weeks and many hours making them in his very sparse free time. So that makes these beds worth a lot more than those cheap little things they sell at stores! I mean, how many people can afford to hire an architect to design and build their triplets beds? : )
The boys have slept in their new beds since Monday night so about 4-5 days now. The transition has gone pretty well although the first couple of days they played too much and it took them hours before they fell asleep. I went back to my old strategy of just sitting in their room and watching them until they fell asleep. Last night and today for nap they went right to sleep without any babysitting so I think they are adjusted now. As I mentioned Eli picked the top bed and since neither of his brothers protested, that's the way we will keep it. Caleb gets the far in bed, since he is least likely to get up (like to pee or to come into bed with us). And Thomas got the bed that is closest to the door since he gets up a lot more. You might think why not put Thomas in the far in bed to curb his getting up, but my rationale is that I don't want him waking up Caleb by constantly going past him to get out the door. I also must add that Eli keeps thanking his dad for building their beds its so cute, even when he isn't around he says "papi mimi" and then signs 'thank you.' (mimi means sleep in Spanish baby talk)
The beds were the first part of their new big boy room remodel. I have chosen a theme of my own choosing because this will be the last time I can get away with it (hint: it is not trucks or trains, I'm sure that would have been their first choice but I still think they will really like it). I've made pillow cases, curtains, reupholstered a little rocking chair I found at a thrift store, and Phil bought canvases to paint each boy a painting on. So pretty soon I will debut the boys new totally awesome room, stay tuned!
Their new beds are a perfect example of how the older the boys get the less space they take up! I'm already envisioning the even more space saving bunk beds we'll build for them in a few years, I love adding a fun factor like the slide so I'm already thinking, 'fireman pole' for the next beds. But lets not get too far ahead of ourselves : )
