I build a loft bed out of IKEA furniture

Over in my Youtube it’s finally time for part 2 of Kiki’s bedroom makeover, and while I’m typing this I realised I’ve never put part 1 on the blog!

When we moved into our new home the first room I tackled was Kiki’s bedroom. The room was a very 70’s spare room with olive green carpet, horrible wallpaper and a damp spot on the wall that needed looking at. I stripped the room, steamed off the wallpaper, took up the carpet and put a new carpet down. Installing carpet was something I’ve never done but I thought I’d give it a go as doing it yourself is a lot cheaper.

The walls were primed but I was still waiting on the wall paint to arrive, that wait took a long time as I was using a new paint that hadn’t arrived int he country yet. Impatient as I am I started the bed build, I also didn’t want Kiki to have to sleep in the guest bedroom for too long. Have a look at the video below to see how I turned an IKEA Malm chest of drawers and an IKEA Ivar unit into a loft style storage bed!

I love this build!! Kiki is very happy with her bed too, she has been sleeping in it for a year now and loves that it is her special little den. She decorated her roof with rainbow stickers, hung art work inside and uses the doodle paint doors turned back of her bed to draw on. Its so nice building new things from materials I already had. The only new timber I bought was a few pieces to build the frame for the roof, everything else were materials from old build and pieces of furniture I couldn’t use in the new house. The IKEA Malm chest of drawers had Kiki’s clothes in it in her old bedroom and still houses her clothes. The IKEA Ivar used on the right is the shelving unit I had in the living room of the old house. It in itself was an IKEA hack find the tutorial here.

An old muslin square became the curtain and I used the bed base of Kiki’s toddler bed as the new base of the loft bed. Some left over brackets and a little plank became Kiki’s hair station and left over floor planks became the cladding on the outside of the bed. This bed might be my best IKEA hack/upcycled build to date!

Little helper building her bed

There was a little cupboard in the bedroom, a small storage spot under the stairs. I took the doors off (one of them was reused in the bed build) put carpet down on the floor, painted the inside pink, filled it with cushions and turned the cupboard into a secret den. I perfect spot to read a book or play with your toys. Strangely enough Kiki never plays in it but her friends that come for play dates absolutely love it!

I used Rust-Oleums Little Stars wall paint in Kiki’s room, this paint got launched last year and is specially formulated for children’s rooms. The paint has no odour and best of all it is air purifying. The white colour is Ice Palace and the pink inside the reading nook is called Bed of Roses. To make the nook stand out I painted an arch around it, giving a great colour pop.

Kiki’s old bed, an IKEA Minnen extendable bed stayed in the room, it is now a lounge spot, perfect for reading books before bed time and it will come in handy for sleepovers. As I used its bed base for the new bed I put a plank of plywood under an old mattress. I’m planning on getting a proper base in it soon though.

Kiki room is the first room in the house completely finished. I really like the white walls, thick cream carpet and pops of pink in the room. What do you think?

I have an ongoing partnership with Rust-Oleum and the paint used in the bedroom was gifted.

All the after shots are by James Gardiner for Rust-Oleum