Kids room revamp #3 - the big finish

So in the final installation of the room revamp, we're featuring the bed! And the wall it sits against.

The kids have the ikea kura bed, something we bought a while ago before Joanie was born, but barely used. When we moved to our current place, the bottom bunk of the bed was pretty much used as storage space and eventually, the top of the bed got pretty cluttered too. And if we wanted Josiah to move to his own room, the bed was probably the most important piece of the puzzle!

The room revamp actually started with the bed, I started with painting the frame white (lazy me only painted the outward surfaces) and got the ikea trofast unit to serve as 'steps' up to the bed. I bought the pine trofast unit (and painted it) rather than the white one because I wanted something sturdier for the kids to walk up and down on. The trofast unit also displays some books (easy access for Joash especially) and holds their cooking and supermarket toys, which they play with everyday.

Since the ultimate goal of the room revamp was to transform it into a fun, creative space, I chose to place a fake grass carpet (from Taobao) on the floor of the bottom bunk, and also got a colourful foldable floor cushion made (inspired by this, but instead of buttons, I used a zip)

(Left) The kids having a picnic in their 'garden' 
(Right) Cosy reading corner

Because the one light in the room is positioned such that the bottom bunk of the bed doesn't really get the light at night, I put in an LED lighting strip (the Ikea Ledberg) under the bed. Lanterns from Ikea complete the garden party feel!

The lanterns are actually solar powered, but I replaced the battery with a regular battery, and tied the part with the solar mechanism & switch to the slats at a corner of the top bunk.





The dark pink chevron fabric hides 2 ikea trofast units, that the kids use for their clothes, from sight. This fabric and the one used for the floor cushion are from Spotlight.

 

Nap time!
Although not exactly the purpose I'd intended for the foldable floor cushion, the kids enjoy sleeping on it and Joanie has spent quite a few nights and nap times 'camping' in their 'garden'. :)

The final touches for the wall where the bed lies against was to cover it with a self-adhesive blackboard wallpaper (for more creative play!), bought from none other than Taobao again...and a black Ikea Ribba ledge to hold Josiah's night light and some other knick knacks (possibly some photos and prints too in future)

Blackboard wall! I wanted to cover the whole wall but the hubs said he prefers it like this, with a border of sorts. I think he was just trying to save me the extra effort...should I cover the whole wall?

And with this, the room revamp is finally done! We've had moderate success in moving Josiah out and he's 
slept in his bed 75% of the time since it was ready. Yay! :)

*On a side note, I was at Ikea and saw them training (what I think was) a group of new employees about the Ikea kura bed. The employees were told that the bottom bunk was NOT suitable to be used as another bed, as once a mattress is placed there, a child's head could potentially be caught between the mattress and the bottom rung of the ladder. I think many people use it as a bunk bed though, and I will still be using it as a bunk eventually, but it's good to take note of the potential danger.

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