built-In Bunkbeds Part 2

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Welcome to Bunkbeds Part 2 where we finish up these adorable custom built-ins! Up until now in Part 1 we’ve designed/prepped our space, built the frame/bones of the beds, and are now moving on to electrical for our cubbies!

I wanted each bed to have a little cubby with a light and outlet! When we have guests they will sleep in this room and it will be so nice to have a space to charge a phone or read with an individual light.

LIGHTING:

When it came to choosing a light I wanted something small and preferably had a lampshade for me to make my easy DIY shade. I looked online and really wasn’t finding much. We were also trying to finish this project in a certain time frame (ASAP) so I preferred not to wait over a week for them to get delivered. In the end I saw there were these lights at my local Ace Hardware that I quickly went and picked up!

I know what you’re thinking….they’re kind of ugly, right? Not the cutest option but I figured I could give them a transformation using paint and a lampshade!

I grabbed this metallic paint while at Ace Hardware and spray painted them an antique gold.

I also flipped the sconce itself upside down and like it much better this way! It gives off such a nice little warmth and looks totally different than the light on the box!

PAINT COLOR:

Next up, PAINT! When it came to choosing a paint color I’ve actually just given up trying to make big decisions because I could think about one paint color for months before I take the leap. To make it easier on myself I just grabbed three yellow paint colors from the Magnolia paint line and did some testing.

Growing up I had a yellow room that I remember being so bight, fun, and happy. I wanted to go with a yellow to give that same brightness but I also wanted to to be a mature yellow not like a nursery.

In the end I went with the one on the very right called “Heirloom Yellow” which is not everyone’s cup of tea but I like it and am re-doing this whole room so it’ll all come together in the end!

This color holds true to it’s name! It is a vintage-like yellow that can change a bit depending on the lighting.

“Heirloom Yellow”- Magnolia

Even before it was all finished; this quickly became our favorite place to hang out! The kids loved flipping the lightswitch and having a new place to play.

BIGGEST EXPENSE:

The most expensive part of this project was definitely all the finishing touches like covering the whole thing in nickel gap shiplap and trim. We have used a lot of this with our projects and have found that one mistake can be costly. We decided to trace as much as possible, like our ladder steps, instead of trying to measure and that made a world of a difference!

FRONT DESIGN:

Back to my original inspo, I knew in order to make it look “built-in” it needed to have a front with a design so it wasn’t just a open square but felt like you were cozy while inside. I grabbed my paper bag from trader joe’s and opened it up to create my template.

I needed to trace my template onto the tops of each bunk bed. It worked great so I could flip the template horizontally to create a mirrored design.

Of course, I somehow managed to measure incorrectly and we had to correct it by cutting a couple of inches out of the middle in the top piece so the railing would be high enough and no one could roll out of bed.

With the front installed it was time to prime and paint! I used 123 primer which was awesome and saved me a lot of paint! The color I chose looks pretty harsh in this lighting but I had to just trust my gut and hope it looked okay in the end!

We had a happy little girl up in her top bunk while we worked on adding some crown molding around the top!

MY FAVORITE:

I absolutely love the character and charm of the front detail! It is custom, unique, and our first “built-in” project we designed ourselves!

IKEA HACK:

I also love that the bottom bunk pulls out to a king which we’ve slept on and is roomy and cozy! We used the Ikea BRIMNES pull-out bed as our base and love that it can pull out and be a king bed instead of a trundle with two twins.

BEDDING:

I bought these cottage green gingham sheets off of amazon that definitely add charm and compliment the yellow. The rest of the bedding is what we already had but I’m going to be adding new pillows and accents.

FINISHING TOUCHES:

I purchased this gorgeous floral rug which will elevate the feel of her room and make it super cozy. There has never been a rug in her room since we re-did the flooring recently.

Here are sources of finishing touches I’d like to add to her room as we go!