Cottage Loft Bed & 5 Freebies

My little Lola just turned 3 on New Year's Day! Turning 3 in our house means a big girl bed.  I got it in my head that I wanted a cottage loft bed.  This little girl has played robots, dinosaurs, cars, and been surrounded by all things boy for three years.  That's what comes from having twin brothers 15 months older than her.  Lately she has been wanting to play in her room with her dolls, dollhouse, and play kitchen so I really wanted her to have a little girly place in this boy world. I was thinking of a cottage loft bed similar to the one from Pottery Barn but I just couldn't imagine her safely getting down a ladder during the night.  So, I had to come up with another plan…

Plan A:  Buy one!  I went on a search for a reasonably priced one with stairs.  Let me save you some time - there isn't one. This plan was the easiest, but unfortunately it was the most expensive and hubby wasn't going for a $1,500 bed.  Maybe if we won the lottery or something. Haha!

Plan B: I could build it!  So, then I started looking for building plans and found these at Ana White.  But, there's no way with three kiddos, 4 and under, at home that I could build it.  Who was I kidding?

Plan C:  Talk hubby into building it!  I spent the most time on this plan.  He even went to Lowe's to price materials.  But, in the end, he said there was no way he had time to take that on.  He also said he thought I was too picky and I would end up not liking what he did.  What, who me???

Did I give up on my, I mean Lola's, dream?  No!

Plan D:  Find someone else to build it! My cousin Josh is a carpenter so he took a look at the plans I found and the millions of pictures I sent him and said he could do the job.  Woohoo!  We agreed on a price (let's leave it here and say I got a cousin's discount).  If you're interested in him building you a custom bed like this it would be about $800.  Don't hold me to that, because of course depends on all the details you add.

He delivered it and got it all put together in her room.  Lola was so crazy excited!

All put together in her room!

It took me a full week to paint and add the details and it was so fun to watch Lola's anticipation build of finally getting to sleep in her new bed.  She absolutely loves it!  We were running errands yesterday and she said "I just want to go home and play in my mommy kitchen house bed."  Every night when she goes to bed she's so excited.  Last night my husband said "You were right.  She loves it.  She will remember this forever." 

Ta-Da! All finished and ready to play.

For the steps I whipped up these printable vinyl stickers with inspirational words.  She can't read yet, but I read them to her as she climbs into bed at night.  Good things to have on the brain when drifting off to sleep. 

So, in honor of Lola's birthday I'm giving them to you!  Get them HERE for FREE! These labels/tags are in transparent PNG format (no yucky white background) and are each about 9" x 7".   Perfect for cards, decals, scrapbooking, and anything else you can think of.  We would love to see how you use them!  Come share your project using these inspirational words with us on Facebook!