DIY: Changing Table Pad to Doll Bunk Beds

I'd had Bojey's old (but hardly used) changing pad sitting in the pile of stuff to sell on Craigslist, and the chicks kept driving me nuts by pulling it out and playing with it. One day, as Bojey was laying on it with her arms and legs dangling over the side, the inspiration hit me: it would, if cut in half, make the perfect doll bunk beds.

So I kept it sitting around, for a long, long, annoying time, and finally, over this past week for Ninna's birthday, I made it into doll bunk beds. I did NOT, in the interest of full disclosure, make the adorable quilts and pillows. The chicks' grandma made those for them last year. The final product does not look exactly like the vision I had in my head, but it's close enough to work. I never remember to take in-progress photos for a tutorial, but I can tell you what I did:

1. I sawed the changing pad in half with the little saw that I use for everything and which is good for almost nothing. If you've ever wondered what's inside one of those changing pads, I can tell you--it's a piece of cheap foam supported by a piece of cardboard. If you ever needed one in a custom size, you could totally make it yourself.

2. I went to Home Depot and bought a wooden dowel and had it cut into four equal pieces. I'm going to guess it's about a 1/2 inch in diameter, and if I were to do this over, I'd probably get it at least 3/4 of an inch in diameter to provide better support.

3. I painted the dowels with leftover yellow paint that I used to paint the rocking horse I got them for Christmas from Craigslist. My theory on paint is that I will use up what I have and buy another color when we run out. This means we're ending up with a lot of yellow things. I realize this is absurd and not how normal people do things, and since Ninna recently told me she doesn't like yellow, I hope it runs out soon...

4. I decided where the rods would go, and, with an exacto knife, cut four holes into the top of one mattress, and then I cut four holes into the bottom of the other. I then poked the exacto knife in and turned it to make the holes big enough.

5. I took some soft, fleecy fabric from my stash and glued it all over the "mattresses" with tacky glue. This was the most time consuming part because I glued each section separately and allowed it to dry before moving on. I had to do some special trimming around the corners that I can't really explain.

6. I snipped the fabric over the dowel holes on the bottom mattress with fabric scissors and squeezed a bunch of tacky glue in the holes. Then I inserted the dowels into the holes.

7. I squeezed a blob of tacky glue on the top of each of the four dowels that were now sticking up, and I inserted them into the bottom of the top bunk.

8. I let it dry and then showed it to the chicks.

The grand total for the project was $3.18--just the price of the wood dowel. Everything else I had on hand.

So far they seem to be enjoying it. It's pretty sturdy but, as I mentioned, would be sturdier with thicker dowels. For some reason Bojey has decided it is something to carry around the house. Every couple of hours I hear her say something like "Baby bed. Bathroom." And I walk over and see that she has dragged it in front of the toilet. If it withstands her insistence on using it as a wagon, I suspect it will see a lot of use!

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