bunk bed building

Compromises. Why does life have to be filled with them? Esp in a large family. It feels like we are constantly compromising about something! The most recent was bunk beds for the girls' room. I wanted these adorable white ones with sweet little spindles AND they came with 2 "free" mattresses. But the hubby thought 5 hundred something was too much for said beds. He said we should keep looking. Even though I had been looking for two years for those exact beds at under six hundred. But the mattresses??? Did I mention they were FREE!!?? My usually optimistic hubby became all cynical, scrunched his eyes and said "nothing is FREE-- remember the FREE puppy??" ahem, I think we were talking beds here, NOT dogs. So I looked around online and found free bunk bed/ loft bed plans to BUILD them. It is a basic set. No spindles. But it did look sturdy(very important in my house). The picture showed 6 adults on a top bunk.(I know practically WHEN would that need to happen?? but still it meant STURDY!!) So I asked him what he thought. He wanted to build them. He was excited to build them. I said, if you build it, I will paint them white. It will be our compromise. Here is the breakdown.
The supplies-- 180.00
The plans-- free
The labor-- free but several hrs of building then several hrs priming and painting

This is Dan building them. The boxes were assembled in the garage, then the posts and extras were actually put on IN the room. It is a really heavy set!



This is with the ladder on the end. IT is built. Now ready for painting!



This is the set fully painted and ready to move and get the mattresses on(which WERE free because we already HAD them.)


Moriah's bed! Made and ready for my little Ninja sleeper so she can sleep HERE and not with mommy!!! wooohooooo!!!!!(not that she did not have a bed before. and not that she stayed in it very much the first night, but I keep calling it her "special new bed with high hopes)


awwww, my sweet petite ballerina enjoys her new bed. At least for the super cute photo session.

The finished product is a bed that is simple, takes up little space and works. Not bad for under 200. The ladder is built into the end which makes it easier to build (and did I mention thereby taking up less space?). The girls love it. So that makes this one successful compromise. BUT the biggest problem now? We have to do another set for the new sisters.