Turning Trash into Treasure!

We were given quite a bit of scrap building materials of all kinds, from several different people, when we first moved to the country 10 months ago. 

This is just some of what we were given. All of these boards were given by one family who was about to move, so they tore down their son's fort! We were sure grateful, and we have put much of it to good use!

We now have 4 bedrooms, but we I had another purpose for the "extra" room, so we I insisted that all the boys go into one room. Jonathan, the oldest at  almost 12, has been BEGGING for his own room for, well, pretty much his whole life (no one else does this!), so we finally gave him his own space using these scraps. Here's what we did.....

We still have the baby with us, so 3 are sharing the small-ish room. They still have their triple bunk bed though that doesn't take up much floor space, so honestly, they had more floor space than their sister! But they also have more stuff, and with Jonathan in Boy Scouts (a.k.a. knives and other things dangerous to little ones) and not really into toys anymore, I racked my brain to find a solution that would work for everyone.

Though the ceilings are only about 7 feet high, we decided to make a loft. The height divides the room almost exactly in half. We put the bunk bed up to the closet, which is just about the same size, built the loft to go between the middle and top bunks, and then we just closed off the area going from the middle bunk to the loft (it can be pushed open though for a 2nd way off of the middle bunk, in case of emergency). We also put in a new shelf in the closet to extend his bunk bed, basically doubling the width of it. And here are a few pictures of the process:

Myles wasn't going to help, but I really needed his help with the frame at one point, then he ended up taking over! We did have to buy the plywood, but the rest of the wood was free, and it is VERY sturdy! It is free-standing on four posts, but it is such a snug fit that it will not budge AT ALL! We joke that if a tornado comes and levels the house, this loft may very well be the last thing standing. No lie.

All the kids got to help out a little, but for some reason I didn't get a picture of Jonathan! He absolutely LOVES his very own space and actually thinks it is much better than a regular ol' bedroom (though I'm sure he would still prefer a whole room to himself). Our long-term plan, if we are here for several years, is to help Jonathan build himself a "tiny house" in the back yard, then Jacob will move up to the loft and Jack will take over "the cave" (Jacob's middle bunk, where we added a shelf in the closet to match his bed height). Then Joe will have "the fort" (the bottom) all to himself, unless we have another boy by then!

I have added pictures of their entire bedroom in another blog post. The loft was the biggest part of it, but we've been adding more to the whole design over the last few weeks.

Needless to say, Jayla wants a loft in her bedroom now. Though she has a whole room all to herself for the first time in her life, she is actually jealous of her brothers and spends most of her time in their room, often even sleeping on the bottom with Jack. Well, it IS pretty cool!