Dec 21, 2013

Getting ready for Christmas around here, and a DIY


We were planning on getting a living tree for Christmas this year, so that we could keep it for a couple of years, and then plant it.
But it turns out that the smallest ones we looked at were $50 and then my mom offered us their old tree for FREE it kind of just worked out that we snagged the free tree.

Their old tree is an artificial 7.5 foot some kind of coniferous looking beast, which in their place totally works, but in our apartment would loom.  Menacingly.

So I just set up the top half and it worked great!

We are working on the No Touching of the ornaments with Sonny.

He really wants to touch them all.  All the time.

We're working on it.

And something else, totally unrelated to the holidays, is this bed railing that I built for his toddler bed.

He's got a convertable crib/bed from ikea and about 4 months ago I think, we decided it was time for him to loose the railing and be able to climb out on his own.
I think it was the getting up at 5 am yelling at us to let him out so he could play that got us thinking about it.

But we couldn't order the ikea railing, that was a beautiful $15 whole dollars online due to warehouse something or others, and I wasn't in a position to drive over for an item less than $20.
That would be crazy.

So I checked out a couple DIYs that I saw on pinterest and made this!

 The felt furniture pads keep the railing from damaging the bedframe, and also help snug the brackets up to make it more secure.

 It's great because it just slides right on, and he can climb out on his own in the morning.


And then in the morning we just slide it under his bed.
We tried the pool noodle wrapped in a towel for a while, but it took up a lot of his sleeping real estate, so this is a better option for him.  
Plus he's a roller.

Before we sorted this out he rolled out of bed a few times.  Never woke up, but would have FLIPPED OUT if he woke up on the floor.

Plus the first night he rolled out, I am not even sure how he managed it, but he got himself rolled out of the bed, turned around and pressed up against the heater.

In, like, an hour.

No roll outs with this baby!

I got everything from the Home Depot, spent maybe $30, and once my father in law helped me cut the corners off the board it took a whopping 20 minutes to put together.

Now I have plans to build shelves for the bathroom!
Heck yeah I do!



11 comments:

  1. What department did you find your brackets in? I have been to Home Depot and lowes and have had no luck finding that type of bracket.

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  2. I'd like to know how to find this bracket too, please.

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  3. Hi guys! I bought "L" shaped corner brackets and used a bench vise and a hammer to bend them to the shape I needed. I got two different sizes and the smaller worked better, much easier to bend!



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  4. Quick question, why did you cut off the corners?

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  5. It was strictly a personal style decision. I liked the milder look to the edges, but also my kid is a super sleep mover, so I wanted to make sure that he didn't bonk his face on it too.

    I'd love to see yours if you make one too!

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  6. Totally going to make this for my toy hauler raised bed, will post pictures soon. Thanks for the idea!

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  7. The metal pieces that you have on the bed rail I cannot find those at Home Depot I have been searching because I'm trying to basically do the same thing for my granddaughters bad what part of Home Depot did you get those in

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  8. Hey everyone! I am sorry I missed these comments, I have been off the blog for a while!
    They are "L" brackets that we clamped in a table vise and bent over with a big hammer! I measured where I wanted the bend, and that's where we clamped the bracket in, and then we really gave them a good whack (or 4) with a big mallet!

    I hope this helps!

    Jana

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  9. These might work!
    https://www.amazon.com/Drop-Open-Security-Brackets-Boards/dp/B00H1BRXYM

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  10. They make them to fit 2x4 wood. It's called an open bar holder

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  11. Look up z brackets, I found them on Amazon. Gonna try to make a rail like this one.

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