home projects – Page 3 – SunnyMommy Creations

Posted on May 15, 2025May 15, 2025 by Sunshine — 2 Comments

DIY Doggie Door Insert

In. Out. In. Out.

Opening our sliding door for the dogs was starting to take up approximately 82% of our day, and my kids and I were sick of it. But those sliding door inserts with doggie doors in them are NOT cheap, so today I figured out how to make one myself. I had scrap wood, paint, and window screen, but all total this project would only have cost me $85 – certainly cheaper than the $175+ doors I’d shopped for!

Supplies:

(As an advertising affiliate and Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. But it doesn’t cost you anything extra and helps me keep up my site!)

Doggie Door (ours was the XL, comes with screws)
Three 2x2s
Screen (cheapest to get a replacement kit like this one)
Paint
Staples
Scrap wood

Tools:

Tape measurer
Drill
Staple Gun
Miter saw (or something to cut the 2x2s)

BEFORE: Having to open the sliding door for our dogs.

Step 1: Measure for the doggie door insert. Since this doggie door was only about $56, I opted to buy this part rather than try to figure out how to make one from scratch. It worked perfectly, so I’m glad I saved myself the headache.

First, I measured for 2x2s that would attach across the top and bottom of the doggie door. I wanted my long side pieces to also attach tightly, so I pulled the wood in a bit to allow room for the side pieces to go all the way down. Starting at the bottom, I measured from the bottom corner screw hole to the other bottom screw hole. This was 14 inches. The same was true for the top – 14 inches.

Measuring for the top and bottom pieces.

I wanted a third piece at the very top of the whole insert, so I planned for another 14-inch piece there too.

As for how tall the insert would be, I noticed that my sliding door’s frame would perfectly fit the 2x2s inside the track at the top as well as along the side where the door would normally close. I had about an inch of depth inside the tracks, so I made the tall sides of my door insert a half inch shorter than the whole height from the bottom of the door to the top inside the track. This would let me install the whole insert by pushing the top piece up inside the track, then lower the bottom piece in place so the whole thing would sit on the bottom track but also stay in place at the top, just inside the tracks. As for the side, I could just slide it over into that track space where the slider normally closed. By doing this, the insert would be held in place at the top and along one whole side, and that would make it easy for the sliding door itself to gently hold the other side in place.

So, this height for the 2 sides needed to be 76.5 inches.

Step 2: Cut the wood. I cut three pieces of 2×2 down to 14 inches. Then I cut two more to 76.5 inches each. That was it!

Step 3: Paint. In all honesty, I didn’t paint the wood pieces until I had the whole thing assembled and the screen on, BUT it would be much easier to do now, before you have to worry about slobbing paint on the screen. 🤦‍♀️ I’ll save you that trouble by telling you to paint your wood pieces at this point rather than later.

Step 4: Place wood pieces around the doggie door and secure. This was SO much easier than I’d feared, and I did it all on my living room floor in about 15 minutes.

(Note: If you buy a doggie door like the one I used, be sure to remove the solid insert that normally would be used to “close” the opening. You might not be able to get it out once the whole doggie door frame is assembled. I completely discarded mine, since I’ll just take my constructed doggie door out of the doorway entirely when I don’t want the dogs to use it.)

Anyway, by pulling the two sides of the doggie door slightly apart, I could set the bottom piece, top piece, and side pieces in place evenly (where normally the doggie door would fit inside a normal door). My 2x2s wouldn’t fit all the way inside like a normal door because the screw hole things get in the way. But the 2x2s set inside enough to hold in place so that I could screw the two sides of the doggie door back together and the whole thing held tightly.

First, I held one hand pushing on the doggie door’s frame to be sure it held the bottom 14-inch 2×2 pinned in place, and then I screwed the bottom section of the doggie door together by using the screws provided.

Once the bottom was secured, I did the same along one side, again holding the frame tight to be sure the long 2×2 stayed in place. Most importantly, you want to be sure the corners at the bottom line up nicely. (See picture below.)

Screwing parts together with wood in place.

Once the bottom and one side were done, I took my second 14 inch piece and fit it along the top part of the doggie door. Pushing the frame down to hold this 2×2 in place, I pushed the last side piece in place as well, again making sure the bottom corners of the 2x2s were even. Then I screwed the doggie door’s top together, and that other side.

Lastly, I put the very top 14-inch piece in place and made sure the corners lined up with the ends of my long side pieces. Then I used my drill to screw in 1 screw at each end.

Insert frame assembled!

Step 5: Add a screen. We had a scrap screen door lying around that had never fit right over the door to our garage, so I cut off a section of that screen. If you need to buy screen, it’s fairly inexpensive to get a repair kit for a screen like the one I linked in my supplies list. You want to make sure your section of screen is a little bigger than the actual opening, so I measured for 53×16 inches and cut the screen down to that size.

With my frame lying back-side up (the side that will go outside), I positioned the screen over the open space of my frame. Then I used a staple gun to staple the screen edges into the wood frame. Pretty easy!

After the screen was on, I took a few scrap pieces of wood and set them around the edges, over the staples, to really hold the screen in place and keep it secure. These wood pieces I nailed on with a few little nails. (You could also use wood glue, but I’m not that patient.) Just be sure not to place the wood too far to the outer edges, where they’d be in the way of the 2x2s fitting inside your door’s tracks. You could skip this step altogether, but I wanted to help my screen stay as secure as possible.

Back wood pieces covering screen staples.

Once my whole doggie door insert was assembled, I carried it to my open sliding door and lifted the top so it slid up a little into the top track, then I moved the insert to sit on the bottom of the doorframe, and finally I pushed it over to fit inside the track along the wall where the door would normally close. It stood in place pretty well like that all on its own, but with the sliding door closed against it, it was really secure.

My 5-year-old gave it a test run, and she reported that it worked great! 😂

That was it (after I painted 🤦‍♀️)! With the sliding door closed tight against the insert, it looks pretty even – like it belongs. And I’m really glad the insert stays put in the door’s track system even when we open the sliding door wider, because now we can still open the slider if we humans want to get outside too. I only remove the insert at night or when it’s raining and the dogs don’t want outside anyway.

AFTER: Doggie door insert – always ready!

I’m happy to report that the dog in the picture figured it out pretty quickly. Our younger mutt is less sure about this thing, but hopefully she’ll get the hang of it. 🤞

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Posted on March 28, 2025March 28, 2025 by Sunshine — Leave a comment

“Live Edge” Door Frame

One of my favorite ways to screw with my husband is to text things like, “Do we have a crowbar?” Oddly enough, he replies, “Why?” very quickly.

Today I managed to complete my project without needing a crowbar, and honestly I was a little surprised by how easy it was to tear out a doorframe. But the old doorframe had annoyed me ever since we took the door off for our basement stairs to be open. I wanted to do something unique and new here instead, since obviously those hinge holes and the extra moulding don’t look great.

Similar to how I’d created my “live edge” side table, I decided to cut boards with my jigsaw to make surrounding trim that looked like rough, naturally unfinished wood.

Supplies:

(As an advertising affiliate and Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. But it doesn’t cost you anything extra and helps me keep up my site!)

Eight 1x6x8s (3 for the doorframe, 2 for the front trim, 2 for the back trim, 1 for the front trim, and using the scraps to finish everything for the back and decorative top trim pieces)
Loctite adhesive
Wood filler
Wood stain
Sandpaper

Tools:

Multitool cutter
Utility knife
Hammer
Screwdriver
Miter saw
Table saw
Jigsaw
Nail gun and nails (optional)
paint brush for stain

Step 1: Tear out the old doorframe. This took me about 10 minutes. I used a utility knife to cut all around the exterior of the trim that surrounded the door. I did this to help loosen the boards from the wall and also to make sure it didn’t pull paint off when I pulled the wood free.

Next, I took a long flathead screwdriver and pushed it behind the trim, then used it to pop the trim off the wall. I did this at the middle, top, and bottom of each side, and this was enough to pull loose the small nails holding the trim in place. I did one side of the door, then the other, and finally took it off at the top.

After removing the trim from the front of the door, I did the same for the backside of the doorframe – the side you see when coming up our stairs.

With the trim all off, this exposed the doorframe’s 2 sides and top piece. I could see the ends of the drywall on either side of the doorframe now, plus a little of the 2x4s that the frame was nailed into. This is where I might have used a crowbar, but the back of a hammer worked just fine. Once the frame’s pieces were detached, I pulled them free and disposed of them.

Now I could see my naked space that needed a new frame.

Step 2: Measure and cut new frame pieces. The 2x4s plus the 2 sides of drywall meant I had slightly over 4.5 inches of width to cover all around the sides and top of the doorway. I started at the top, which was 34 inches across.

So, first, I went into my garage and cut a 1x6x8 board to 34 inches long. I then used my table saw to cut this 6-inch width down to a little over 4.5 inches. (Remember, boards aren’t actually 4 or 6 inches wide when you buy them, so I’d bought boards at the 6-inch width to have some wiggle room, since I knew I’d need them wider than 1x4s.)

Taking this board to my doorway, I held it in place, made sure it covered the ends of the drywall evenly/exactly, and then used a few small nails from my nail gun to secure my board to the top 2×4. You could just use the Loctite adhesive if you don’t have a nail gun.

With this top board in place, that left 81 inches along each side of the doorway. So, I went back in my garage and cut 2 long 1×6 boards to 81 inches each. Then I used my table saw and again cut them down to a little over 4.5 inches wide.

Back inside, I position one side’s board in place – covering the ends of the drywall entirely again – and nailed it into the 2×4 behind it. I nailed at the top, bottom, and one in the middle, and this was plenty to hold it on. Again, you could just use the Loctite if you don’t want to do nails, but they do help hold it immediately.

I then repeated this for the other side.

Main pieces of the doorframe were done!

Step 3: Measure and cut “live edge” side trim pieces. For the trim around this doorframe, I started with the side pieces rather than the top. Again, I wanted them 81 inches long to cover the ends of the doorframe’s side pieces. So, I cut 2 more long 1×6 boards to 81 inches.

As for width, you could make these trim boards however wide you want, really. Since I was using 1×6 boards, I decided to leave them about that wide all the way up. But the trick here is to use a jigsaw and cut a purposefully wavy, NOT straight line all along one side of each side trim board. Just be sure you keep track of which board will be on the left and which will be on the right – you need the straight side of each to line up with the doorframe’s side boards for a smooth, straight corner.

I thought about drawing a line to trace along each board with my jigsaw, but I realized that following the grain lines made the most sense. This helped as a guide and also looked most natural once I was finished cutting. Basically, just cut with a jigsaw along lines nearest the outer side of the board.

I cut my 2 side trim boards this way and then sanded down all my edges really, really well.

Step 4: Adjust baseboards. Once my side boards were ready, I took them to my doorway and stood them near each side. Since the baseboards on either side of the doorway obviously had run all the way to the old door trim, they needed to be shorter in order to fit my new, wider trim pieces. I measured the bottom of my board for the left piece and found it was 4.5 inches wide. So, I measured from the outside edge of my new doorframe to 4.5 inches over the baseboard. Marking with a pencil, I then carefully used my multitool to cut the baseboard at that mark. Once it was cut, I pried the cut section off the wall.

I did this for the right side of the doorway too, and that side was 5 inches.

You could just take off the baseboard entirely, measure for new pieces, and install them in place. Since my doorway has corners close to either side, I didn’t want to deal with cutting and replacing all those angles, so I just used what was there and cut it shorter. 🤷‍♀️

Step 5: Attach the side trim pieces. With my baseboards now the right size so my trim could fit in place, I lay my first piece on the floor, back side up. I then used Loctite construction adhesive and dabbed it around on this backside of the wood.

With that ready, I lifted the board and set the bottom in place first, then slowly pushed the board tight against the wall, making sure to keep even with the outer edge of the new doorframe. Again, your live edge-looking side of the board should be the farthest side of the board while the straight-cut side is along the inner part of the door.

The Loctite only takes about a minute to hold the board in place, and I added a few nails at the bottom, middle, and top where this trim board stood over the inner frame’s board. This helped create an extra-tight hold on that corner where the boards met.

I repeated this for the other side.

Step 6: Measure and cut top trim piece. I came up with a few different ideas for how to do the top trim. You could easily measure from the outer sides of each side piece, cut your top piece to that length, cut a wavy edge for the very top side, attach it in place, and be done. That would look cool too, and uniform all the way around. OR, you could get a really wide piece of board and make a gigantic burl-looking top piece to go across. There are a lot of cool ways you could cut and shape the top!

I decided to create a little shelf along the top. I measured the whole way across – from the far side of the trim on the left to the far side of the trim on the right. I then added a few inches so the shelf would be a smidge wider, at 45 inches.

Taking the leftover 1×6 that I’d used to cut the doorframe’s 34-inch top piece, I cut this to 45 inches. I then used my jigsaw to cut a live edge along the board. I sanded that too.

BUT I added an extra cut and used my table saw to cut 1.5 inches along the straight side of that board. This created 2 pieces from my top 45-inch board – one straight at 1.5 inches wide and another at about 3 inch with one straight side and one live edge side. I did this so the shelf wouldn’t stick out very far but still create enough of a space to set picture frames on…or whatever decorations I could come up with later.

I sanded all these edges.

Step 7: Attach the top pieces. First, I dabbed Loctite along the backside of the straight 1.5 inch piece. Then I dabbed the adhesive along the straight edge of the other board – this would become the backside of the shelf.

Climbing on a stool, I held the piece with the live edge so that the live edge faced out and the straight edge (with the adhesive) touched the wall. I made sure to position this board so that an equal amount overhung each end of the side trim pieces that the shelf board sat on. I then used my nail gun and shot a few nails down through this top shelf piece into the tops/ends of either side trim piece.

With that on, I quickly took the 1.5 inch piece and set it evenly on top of the shelf board, tight against the shelf board to help hold it down in place. I used a few nails to help the Loctite hold this board against the wall.

Step 8: (Optional) Add decorative boards to top. Really, you could just use a wider board than that 1.5 inch piece along the top as a support. What I did was use 2 of my scrap pieces to create little live-edge sections for along the top, sitting on that 1.5 inch piece. This just added a little more height to the overall doorframe and a bit more character. I did stain these before attaching them just to be sure I got in all the little nooks I’d cut. Then I put Loctite on the backs and set them in place, holding them against the wall for a minute until they stuck. I didn’t bother with nails.

Step 9: Repeat steps 3-8 for the other side of the doorway. I plan to do something completely different on the inside of our stairwell, but to finish framing your doorway with trim, just repeat these same steps for the other side. If you don’t want a shelf on the other sides, just secure one board along the top, with the straight edge along the doorframe’s top board and the live edge side at the very top. Otherwise, do everything exactly the same as above.

Step 10: Use wood filler. This was a quick step, but it makes a big difference in the final finish to have all you nail holes filled in. I also used it in places where there was a little gap between the boards at the corners.

Be sure to use wood filler that takes stain or paint!

Step 11: Stain or paint. My husband came home in time to provide input, and we agreed to stain the wood in a dark walnut, which is what I’ve used in our nearby kitchen and also our nearby living room. It just ties in nicely. I was worried that the dark stain would hide some of the boards’ character, but the unique knots and such still stand out just fine.

I first put painters tape around the trim, just to be safe. (You could stain or paint the boards before install, but I liked it all being connected first to flow together better.) Once my walls were safe, I used a small brush and stained it all, including the ends and the top of my shelf.

Done!

This has way more character than our old doorframe (with the unused hinge holes and unnecessary moulding) and I really like how it ties in with the wood elsewhere in our house. Plus, the little shelf can be decorated differently for holidays or changing seasons. Now I just need to buy more decorations. 😉

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Posted on February 27, 2025February 27, 2025 by Sunshine — Leave a comment

Industrial Shelves + Mug Hangers

Recently I realized that we have more liquor we don’t drink than liquor we do drink. And the problem was that all those bottles were starting to encroach upon the counter space of my bar nook…which is also, most days, used as an overflow for coffee stuff.

I’d always intended to use the full vertical space along the sides of our nook for more shelves, and I finally got around to it this week. I also wanted a cooler way to hang our copper mule mugs. We’ve had them just hanging from hooks along the other side of the nook, across from the liquor shelves, but I wanted something a little better that matched the other side.

This project is basically just…how I hung shelves. But by using these pipe shelf brackets, you can do all kinds of custom arrangements, and I was really glad I found a way to make both sides of the nook match while also having different functions. This is a really good starter DIY project, if you’re looking to try something and want cool shelves!

Supplies:

(As an advertising affiliate and Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. But it doesn’t cost you anything extra and helps me keep up my site!)

Pipe shelf brackets (with mounting hardware)
1×6 wood board
Stain or paint
Screw-in hooks

Step 1: Measure and mark the wall. Honestly, this is what takes the most time for this project – get this right, and the rest is easy.

You’d think that the two sides of our nook would be the same width, but no. One side was a little under 23.5 inches, and the other was 23.75 inches. Glad I checked! Since I wanted these shelves to be as tight as possible (especially the mug-hanging side, for reasons I’ll explain in a bit) I wanted my measurements exact. This meant I needed one 1×6 board to be slightly under 23.5 inches and one slightly under 23.75 inches so they’d fit in the spaces.

For the shelves’ wood pieces, that’s all you have to measure – the length of the space you’re filling. I wanted 6-inch boards so there was plenty of room for wider bottles, plus my pipe brackets stuck out about 3 inches from the wall (I made the 5-inch side go vertical), so this put the brackets right in the middle to support each board.

Next, I had to measure the spacing for the shelf brackets’ bases that went on the wall. For the liquor shelf side of my nook, I already had lower shelves in place, so I literally just measured the spaces between all those screw holes and copied it for the new, highest shelf. (How did I decide on the height? I used our tallest liquor bottle. 😂 I also wanted to use slightly taller pipes on this top shelf’s brackets, so the height was flexible because it was going to be different from the lower 2 shelves anyway.)

I DID remember how I originally measured for those lower shelves, and I used that method to double-check my spacing for the new shelf too.

First, I used a stud finder…and discovered only one useful stud, right in the center of the wall. For all the other places I’d need screws, I’d have to add wall anchors. (These come with the pipe brackets I bought, along with the screws. 👍) So, for that center bracket, I held the round base in place so that 2 screw holes would be on that stud. I marked these and the third hole with a pencil…and I labeled which holes had the studs because I knew I’d forget. 🤪

Since I wanted this liquor shelf to be really strong, I wanted 3 shelf brackets in place to support the weight (2 probably would have been fine at only 23-24 inches long, but I also liked the look of 3). Since I already had the middle bracket’s base marked as above, that left me needing one on either side.

The easiest way to find the right placement was to measure from the back wall to the marks I’d made for the middle bracket. I went off of the top of the 3 marks, for consistency. Using a level and ruler, I marked the middle point between the back wall and that top mark, and this new mark became the top hole’s mark for my back bracket. I held that bracket’s base in place, lining up the top hole with my mark, and marked the other 2 holes with my pencil.

Then, I did this again for the bracket on the other side – between the front wall and the middle bracket’s marks.

Just to be sure, I checked my hole marks with a level (or…a cocktail collection box, as pictured above 🤪) and found everything lined up.

Moving across my nook to the other side, I again used my stud finder and discovered one usable stud, right in the middle of the wall. Because I wanted this shelf to sit at the same height as my new, top liquor shelf across the nook, I measured from the ceiling to my middle bracket’s top mark on that side of the nook. This was 28.75 inches.

So, for my mug-hanging side of the nook, I marked at 28.75 inches down from the ceiling and 12 inches in from the back wall (this was the middle where the stud was).

Using this mark, I held my bracket’s base so the top hole lined up with my mark, and I marked for the other 2 holes. Again, I made it so 2 holes lined up with the stud, and one would need a wall anchor. This was the only bracket I planned to use for this side’s shelf, so that was all I needed to measure!

SIDE NOTE: Do you really need wall anchors with these brackets? In my experience, yes. I used only one wall anchor per bracket base for shelves I hung in our pantry, and they started to pull out from the wall. I was able to fix this while I was on a roll this week, but I wish I’d done it better earlier, obviously. Save yourself the headache and use the wall anchors now, even if you’re not putting super-heavy things on your shelves!

Step 2: Cut and stain/paint the wood. This was the easiest part of this project. Using my miter saw, I cut one 1×6 board a tick short of 23.5 inches and one a bit short of 23.75 inches. After a quick test, I found they’d fit perfectly, with very little wiggle room between the ends of the shelves and the walls.

SIDE NOTE: If you’re not cramming these shelves in a tight space, obviously you’ve got more room to play with how long the shelves are and how they fit in your space. I will say, though, that for the mug-hanging side, it helped to have walls on either end to help that lone middle bracket – the walls will keep the board from wobbling at all.

I quickly sanded any rough spots or sharp corners on the 2 boards. After wiping them clean, I lay them out and used a little brush to stain the boards. I did the tops and bottoms as well as the ends and front sides. I didn’t bother with the back sides since they’d be tight against the wall. You could paint the boards instead, if you like that look better or want to match them to something else.

Step 3: Install the brackets. While my stain dried, I got to work installing the brackets. First, I used my drill and installed all my wall anchors over the holes where I needed them.

Next, I held each bracket base over these holes and used screws to secure them on the wall.

I screwed on each of these bases, then took the horizontal pipe sections and screwed them onto those bracket bases. BE SURE to use the same length of pipe for each one! I messed this up with one and had to unscrew it after I’d gotten it really, really tight. 🤦‍♀️

After that, I took the curved connectors and screwed those on. If you can’t screw them tight in the correct, upward-pointing direction, it’s okay to have them a little loose. The important thing is that they’re pointing as straight up as possible.

Then came the pipe sections that rose vertically. Try to get these as tight as you can.

Lastly, I screwed on the other ends of the bracket bases – the ends that your boards will sit on. Try to get these as tight as you can while ALSO, making sure they are level with each other. If one needs to be a little looser to line up level, that’s okay. Once it’s screwed into the board sitting on it, it won’t go anywhere.

I used the bubble level app on my phone to check all this, and to make sure each of my vertical pipes was level. Once I was happy, it was time for the boards.

Step 4: Attach shelf boards. With my stain dry, I set each board in place, making sure there was no gap along the back wall. I quickly checked that the board was level, then used my drill to screw in short screws up through the bases into the wood. (Use short screws that won’t come all the way up through the wood!) Each base should have 3 screws through the holes, so this holds on the board quite well.

Step 4: Add hooks (optional). For my mug-hanging shelf, obviously I needed ways to hang the mugs. This is why this side only had 1 bracket – this left room on either side to hang the mugs from hooks in the underside. I measured every 2.5 inches along the underside of that shelf, marked with a pencil, and then easily enough screwed in my hooks. I did 2 for each side.

This shelf, with only one bracket, might not be as strong as the liquor shelves with 3 brackets, but it’s still pretty strong. Since the board sits so tight in the space, it literally can’t tip one way or the other, either. I could safely set bottles on top of this one too, if needed.

It would also be cute to hang coffee mugs from a shelf like this, and in that case you could set coffee stuff on the shelf too.

That’s it! This adds some much-needed, out of the way storage to our little bar nook. Our seldom-used liquor bottles are out of the way but still look like they belong. The higher shelf also helps draw the eye upward and makes better use of the whole space. And I really like the way our mule mugs look now rather than just hung on the wall like an afterthought.

I might already have an idea for how to hang a few wine glasses under the mugs since there’s room to do a second shelf…but I’m also accident-prone and not allowed to touch our nice wine glasses, so we’ll see. 😆

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Posted on February 23, 2025February 23, 2025 by Sunshine — 2 Comments

Upgraded Loft Bed with Climbing Platform

It was time to give my 4-year-old a different bed. Her room is fairly tiny, so I thought for quite a while about how to give her the most space but also a bigger bed. (She’s a wiggler – she needs a bigger bed than a twin.) I finally decided to go up for more real-estate. She liked the idea of bunk beds, so I figured this would help with sleepovers while also, on an average day, giving her more room to play up on a second level. We had a spare, full-sized box springs and mattress, so I planned to put this under a lofted bunk bed…with some extra levels for playtime.

Supplies:

(As an advertising affiliate and Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. But it doesn’t cost you anything extra and helps me keep up my site!)

11 pine 2x4x8s
13 pine 1x4x8s
3 pine 1x6x8s
3 pine 2x2x8s
1/8 inch plywood sheet
8-ft piece of baseboard
8-ft piece of wood casing
One pallet
Paint (I used Unicorn Spit)
Framing screws
small nails/nail gun
wide board for headboard, batting, and cloth (optional for headboard)
2 L-brackets, 2-inch size (optional for the headboard)
staples and staple gun (optional for the headboard)

Step 1: Build the bedframe. I did use the frame of her old bed that I’d built before, so you do need to follow those instructions first. I’ve included those supplies in THIS supply list above, but the full instructions for this first step can be found at “Using a Pallet to Make a Toddler Daybed With Bookshelf Headboard.” The only thing different is that you don’t want to attach the pallet bookshelf to the head of the bedframe, because that will be used in a different place later. This frame is very simple to make, and I’d also recommend painting it now (as I obviously had done) because that makes it easier to reach before it’s up as a bunk bed.

BEFORE: Bed frame and wood ready to make a loft!

Step 2: Assemble sides of loft. Using 2x4s and screws, I made two tall side braces that would stand at either end of the bedframe to hold it aloft.

I cut 6 of these 2x4s to 55 inches, and these were the vertical pieces. I cut 4 to 41 inches to act as the crosspieces sitting at the top as well as running along the outsides at the bottom for stability. (These bottom pieces I removed later because the pallet bookshelf holds the one side plenty secure without it, and the other side ended up having a 51-inch piece across the bottom for the climbing platform. So, if you want to cut that one bottom piece to 51-inches now, that saves some trouble later.)

Starting with what would be the pallet bookshelf side, I took 3 of my 55-inch pieces and lay them on the floor with the 41-inch top piece sitting up against the ends. I brought the 2 side pieces in 2 inches so that I would have room to screw up through that top brace into the bedframe that would sit on top. (You can see one of my prepped screws at one end in the picture below.) I also wanted to leave room for myself to screw up into the middle 2×2 of the bedframe, so I moved the middle 55-inch piece slightly back. This left me about 15 inches of space between the back 55-inch piece and the middle 55-inch piece while the middle to front pieces had a 17-inch space. Using my drill, I screwed 2 screws into each end, securing the 55-inch pieces onto that top 41-inch piece.

For the other end of the 55-inch pieces, I lay another 41-inch piece over the boards so that it would be on the outside of the loft side. Then I used 2 more screws for each and screwed them in place to hold the whole rectangle together.

MAKE SURE everything is square, or everything from now on will be off, end up less level, and potentially result in an unsteady bed frame. These sides are literally responsible for all the heavy lifting.

With that first side done, I stood it up and tested out placement in the room. It worked out that I could run an entire 8-foot 2×4 along the back wall and still have the space I wanted, so to make things easier, I put that back 2×4 in place now and used 2 screws to attach my first completed side into that back support. (See picture above, with one screw in and 1 waiting for me to take the picture.)

For my other side, I repeated the process same as for the first side. The only difference would be to use a 51-inch 2×4 along the bottom outside instead of a 41-inch piece, since that’s what I ended up needing later to complete my climbing platform on that end. Again, I screwed the second completed side into the back 2×4 brace, making sure this was placed at the 76-inch mark, where it needed to sit under the bedframe. Also, you can again see where I left a few inches at the top and readied screws in place for the bedframe above.

Loft side 2 (future climbing platform side).

SIDE NOTE: If you have bigger kids and want to make this extra secure, you could add another 2×4 back piece about midway up, going across from side to side. This would be easy to install later if you decide it needs it, too. I might do this someday and add a little shelf across, which would be nice for a phone, glasses, etc.

Step 3: Set bedframe on the loft sides. Impatient for help, I hulked out and lifted the bedframe up onto my loft sides all by myself. (5/10, do not recommend.) After minor adjustments, I got the bedframe exactly in place so that the top 2x4s sat directly under the 2×2 braces along the bottom of the bedframe. Also make sure the front ends of the supports don’t stick out farther than the bedframe’s front side.

Once the bedframe was in place, I used those prepped screws on the undersides of the top supports to screw up into the bedframe at either end’s front, back, and middle 2x2s.

Step 4: Build the climbing platform. First, I cut 2x4s into 3 short legs at 26 inches each. These I lined up along the wall at the end where I’d left a space between the bed and the wall. (This is where that back 2×4 sticking out longer than the bed comes into play.) Next, I took a 51-inch 2×4 piece and lay that across the tops of these legs. Using 2 screws for each, I screwed down into the legs. I also took a single screw and used that to secure the back leg to the back 2×4 that connected everything.

As you can see from the picture below, I had a vent to work around, so spacing of my legs was completely arbitrary around that. Basically, just space them evenly so they’ll support the platform, and be sure to have one right at the front end.

SIDE NOTE: Again, this whole bed was planned because my daughter’s room doesn’t have a lot of space, so I knew this climbing platform would be nice and secure, stuck in that corner. If your climbing end is more in the open, you might want to build this a little more sturdily. You could add another 2×4 across the back from the back leg to the back of the loft side. Once the other side of the platform’s support is on, you could add a 2×4 across the front end too.

For the other side of the platform’s support, I took another 51-inch 2×4 and ran that across the outside of the loft’s side so that the top was level with the wall side’s support. I then took a few screws and screwed that (making sure it was level!) onto the 3 vertical loft 2x4s – these worked as legs for that side.

With the 2 sides of my platform’s braces/supports ready, I cut a bunch of 1x6s to 18 inches. These I very easily lay across the braces and used a nail gun to secure them in place.

As you can see from the picture above, my 51-inch support on the loft’s side stuck out farther than that side. This gave the platform a little extra length. But it also meant I needed another leg at that end, so I cut a 28-inch piece of 2×4 and screwed that to stand at the end of the support ALONG THE OUTSIDE so that it rose to be level with the top of the 1×6 going across to make the platform.

This was also when I decided I needed a 51-inch support along the bottom, but you should already have that in place. You’ll want to screw the leg onto that as well, adding stability.

With the platform done, I cut a 16-inch piece to create a step where the platform stuck out farther from the loft side. This I secured with 2 screws at either end – one end on my new leg and one end on the front loft piece. Again, make sure the step is level. (You could also put a step at the end of the platform rather than this side spot, but I wanted to be able to slide my daughter’s crib through the space at the end.) I DID take 28-inch pieces of 1x4s to cover the front ends, hiding the less pretty 2x4s. (See the picture a ways below that shows the painted platform.)

Above the platform, I took 2 more 2×4 pieces and cut them to about 20 inches, then screwed them on as steps to climb from the climbing platform onto the top bunk. I put these across the loft side 2x4s that were closest to the wall. This left an empty space between the other loft sides so there’s room to crawl up there from the bed, if she wants.

Step 5: Secure pallet bookshelf and/or make shelves along the other loft side. Again, how to make this pallet bookshelf can be found on my earlier blog post about how to make the bedframe (link at the top). We still really liked it, so I set the bookshelf pallet on the inside of the other loft side. Pretty easily, I screwed this into the 3 vertical 2x4s of that loft side. This also REALLY helped stabilize the whole frame. I was then able to get rid of the 2×4 running across the bottom of that loft side.

SIDE NOTE: If you don’t want to use a pallet for a bookshelf, you could also make shelves all up and down that loft side. Or, you could just leave the bottom brace on and also add steps all up that side. For us, we needed more bookshelves!

As for how to add shelves, I added one above the pallet because we needed a little more room for books. I had a dresser sitting against the outside of that loft side, so this worked as a back for our shelves. If you want shelves, you could use similar furniture or else just take a sheet of plywood and secure it to the outside of the loft side.

For the shelves’ braces, I grabbed 4 little scrap pieces of 2x4s (2 for each shelf). These little pieces I screwed into the insides of the loft side’s 2x4s, making sure they were level across from each other.

Next, I set my 2x4s on top of these braces, made sure the edges lined up, and secured each end with a screw into the braces. I did one shelf between the front 2×4 and the middle 2×4 and one shelf between the middle 2×4 and the back 2×4.

In order to keep the books in place, these shelves needed a front piece, so I took a nicer, thinner piece of scrap baseboard and put that across the entire loft side, right in front of the shelves. (This baseboard was the same as I’d used on the pallet bookshelf.)

Step 6: Build the front rail. I cut a bunch of 1x4s to18 inches, since this would match the back/original rail that goes along the wall. These I placed on the original bed frame (the new bunk) along the inside of the 1×4 front piece that ran along the bedframe. Using my nail gun, I nailed these 1x4s vertically onto the front piece. I spaced these so they ran evenly across the front.

That done, I took a long, 76-inch 1×4 and nailed it along the tops of these to complete the wood rail. To cover the kind of ugly ends where the bedframe connected to the loft sides, I also took two 20-inch 1×6 pieces and used them to cover either end of this front rail, hanging low enough to cover the loft side top pieces.

Step 7: Build a headboard. I made this more complicated than it needed to be because I wanted a solid headboard that I could hang a stuffed animal-holding net from. If you’re doing stairs all the way up instead of bookshelves, you don’t need to do a headboard. Or, you could do the same thing as what I did for the front rail.

Here’s what I did. First, I took a 2×4 and screwed it across the loft’s side to act as a support brace for the headboard to sit on. Next, I took a solid piece of wood that ran the full width of the bed and rose about 10 inches, and I wrapped some batting around this board, stapling it on. Then I took an old curtain (she has blinds now) and wrapped the board from the underside, leaving the front and top unwrapped for now. I used a staple gun to secure the curtain all along the bottom of the board.

With this headboard prepped, I set it on that 2×4 support and screwed it into the main loft side’s top 2×4 along the bottom. Now I wrapped the curtain the rest of the way around the board, and I used my staple gun to hold the curtain tight around the headboard, stapling along the bottom where the back of the board met the bedframe.

To really help hold on the headboard, I took 2 little L-brackets and screwed them into the back of the headboard and also the backsides of the front and back rails. This made the headboard very secure and strong. (Strong enough for me to attach the stuffed animal net, which she can reach from the top bunk.)

Step 8: Paint! We went crazy. 😜 My daughter loves anything fitting a “rainbow theme” and wanted to use the same unicorn paint that we’d used on her original bed. This worked out in that it made the bunk bed, climbing platform, and new loft sides match. It was a little rough, however, because mommy wanted to make pretty swirls and my daughter…did her own thing. 😂 But she loves the colors and how it turned out, so okay.

Yay! Now she has a “Big Girl Bed” to wiggle in at night, plus a climbing platform to play on, plus a whole bunk to use as a fort and for sleepovers. And as an added bonus, her baby’s crib fits under the climbing platform, so her doll gets its own little room too. Plus, the stuffed animals are completely out of the way but have their own, accessible home!

AFTER: Loft Bunk Bed with Climbing Platform!

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Posted on January 30, 2025January 30, 2025 by Sunshine — Leave a comment

Custom Closet Stand/Bench Surround

During the January that will never end, we’ve had many, many snow days. This equals a mess. And when we don’t have snow days, we gear up for every trip outside. This also equals a mess, plus puddles. And so many mittens.

A while ago, I removed the doors to the closet right off our garage and inserted a bench with a shoe rack, plus moved in two little cupboard/shelving units to hide stuff away. Can my family be bothered to put things on these shelves? No. And since the bench didn’t quite fill the whole expanse, I always intended to use that extra space on the sides for bags and bigger items… But of course mittens and all sorts of “precious” things ran for their lives and disappeared down these sides. Also, my girls had to stand on the bench to reach the coat hooks, but with the bench against the wall, there wasn’t room without them falling over backwards. They also could barely climb over all the shoes to get to the bench.

None of this was working.

So, I finally snapped a few weeks into January and found a way to block precious items from ever falling into the abysses again. By building a kind of stand/bench around the nice bench I already had (I didn’t want to get rid of it, since we really like it, but it needed to be more functional) I created a place to set wet things while they dry. And, now the girls can stand on the bench and reach the coat hooks without falling over. PLUS, this gives me hidden storage for extra boots, bags, etc.

The nice thing about doing this custom is that it fits exactly into our closet space. I could have built a whole new bench insert and shoe racks (I know people will point that out) but I genuinely like the bench we have, and it looks nicer than what I would’ve come up with.

Supplies:

(As an advertising affiliate and Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. But it doesn’t cost you anything extra and helps me keep up my site!)

Spare bench
Two 2x4s
Screws
3/4 inch 4×4 MDF sheet
Paint
Epoxy, dyes, mica powders
L-brackets

Step 1: Remove closet items and measure. Our closet has one side wider than the other. I don’t know why, but it made measurements a little complicated. I decided that I liked the bench centered in the doorframe rather than centered between how far the shelves stick out. This left me with 5 inches on one side of the bench, 8 on the other, and 15 inches between the back of the bench and the back wall. I wanted ALL of that space covered, with absolutely no space for things to fall through. The bench was also 19 inches high, so I wanted the top of my stand to be level with the bench’s seat.

Step 2: Cut bracing pieces and assemble. Using 2x4s, I cut two pieces to cover the full width of my closet, 41 inches. (Yes, you can see from the lower picture below that I used one shorter scrap piece. This worked fine, but if you’re living in a perfect world, splurge and cut yourself two pieces at the full width. 😆)

For the front piece, I cut 3 legs at 16 1/4 inches, since this would bring my whole height once completed to 19 inches, like my bench. Basically, just figure out the height you want and make sure that the legs + the piece going across + the stand’s top = the height you want.

Also note, I didn’t need legs for my back wall piece, since I knew where the studs were. If you don’t want to screw into your studs, create extra legs for that back piece going across too.

To assemble these braces, I stood up my 3 legs and lay the long piece across. I made sure to bring in the 2 legs on the ends so that the closet’s baseboard wouldn’t be in the way. I only used 1 screw to secure on each leg. You could use 2 if that feels sturdier. Just be sure that the heads of the screws don’t stick up higher than the wood.

Once that front brace was assembled, I set it in the closet and tested placement by setting the bench where I wanted it to be. I nudged and wiggled until the brace was exactly lined up and straight, then I just made little marks on the walls at either end so I’d know where to line things up if it got bumped. You don’t have to secure this brace to the walls at all, which makes this pretty easy! Once I knew the correct placement, I took the bench back out again so it wasn’t in the way.

For the back piece, again, I just screwed it into the back wall’s studs.

Step 3: Make the stand’s top pieces. You could use plain wood, then paint or stain it. You could use countertop stone pieces… There are probably many options for how to create the top of this bench surround. I decided that I wanted something dark (to match the look going on with our wallpaper) and something waterproof (so we could lay wet stuff on it to dry). Since I had a bunch of leftover MDF and epoxy, that’s what I went with. I also chose this because I could match the bathroom countertop in that same area of the house, and I plan to do the same with our laundry room counter nearby – we can have a matching “wing of the house” this way. 😜

First, I checked my measurements for the 2 side pieces I’d need. One was 5 inches wide (wall to side of bench) and 24 inches long (back wall to front doorway’s inner side. The other was 8 inches wide and again 24 inches long. I cut these 2 boards of MDF, then tested their fit. 👍

For the bigger, middle piece that would sit behind the bench, I decided to leave a little wiggle room so my fingers could get in there to lift off this part. Under here was where I’d get that extra storage. So, I went with 14 inches deep (back of bench to back wall) and 26 1/4 inches long (left top board to right top board, leaving a little room, about 1/2 inch either side).

For my FULL process on how I epoxy counters, etc. see this post. Basically, if you go this route, follow the instructions of whatever epoxy you’re using. I use StoneCoat Countertop epoxy, and it’s always worked great for me. For this project, I used only 2 Solo cups’ worth of epoxy – first for the color coat and then for a clear, protective coat overtop.

First, I sanded the corners of my MDF, especially the sides that would be facing the bench, not facing the wall. Next, I used plain-old latex paint and put on a coat of black. I gave this about 4 hours to dry.

Next, I mixed the epoxy according to instructions – I can do this by look and feel at this point, but be sure to follow your instructions if you’re new to this because mixing it well is very important. Then I added a little black epoxy dye into my epoxy, stirred, poured that on my boards, and sprinkled on a little gold mica powder. Using a glove, I wiped around until I liked the look of it, being extra carful to make sure it went over my corners to get the sides. Then I took a few drops of white acrylic paint and wiped that around to make little, broken, marble-like lines. NOTE: This acrylic paint will shrink up and get crackly, so keep an eye on the look as it progresses, because it won’t necessarily end up looking like what it looks like right away.

Once done with my design, I hit the surface with a quick pass of my kitchen torch to get out bubbles, let it sit for 20 minutes, torched out bubbles again, and then let it set for 10 hours. Once it was not tacky to the touch, I poured on my clear coat, torched it, and again let that set.

Again, different epoxies vary, but I let mine set for a week to cure. After that, it was ready for light use, even though it takes a full 30 days to completely cure. When my pieces were ready, I sanded the undersides to remove the dried bumps of dripped epoxy. Then they were ready.

Again, you could use something else for the top pieces of your stand/surround, but I really like how this epoxy always turns out, plus it’s super-durable.

Step 4: Installation and finishing touches. Taking my top pieces to my waiting braces, I started with the 5-inch side. Making sure I had that 5-inch piece turned so the nicer edges were away from the walls, I set it in place and found that it fit perfectly.

Before securing it in place, I went underneath and installed a little bracket thing. This I screwed to the inside of the front wall/doorframe side. If you don’t have these, use a little L-bracket, which honestly would work better and easier. (I just happened to have these things and was looking for a way to use them. lol)

Anyway, I added this bracket with the top board in place so that placement was easier – I could see exactly where it needed to go to be a level support.

Once done testing the placement of my 5-inch top board, I removed it and applied a little wood glue on the tops of the 2 braces where they’d touch my top piece.

Once ready, I pushed the 5-inch piece into place on the wood glue. I next went under the braces and screwed up through them – don’t get too long of a screw!! – to secure the brace and the top piece together. I also went under and screwed the bracket to the underside of the top board.

I repeated all this for the 8-inch side’s top board.

All of this keeps the loose brace in place rather than having to attach it to the side walls because, if your top side pieces sit snug enough in the space, this whole stand/bench surround won’t even wiggle.

It was at this point that I decided I wanted to paint the braces in the same black as the paint I’d used for my top pieces’ base layer. You could do this earlier, if you choose, but I liked seeing everything in place and knowing exactly how much would be visible anyway – I needed to be careful with the little paint I had left.

For the middle top piece, I considered putting hinges on it. But, I can easily imagine little fingers getting pinched with a slam. Or, I could’ve put handles on it, like drawer pulls, to make lifting it out of place easier. But, I wanted everything to look nice and smooth, without anything to catch on little butts if they sat back on this part. So, I opted just to put little cupboard bumpers on the bottom corners of the big middle piece. This lifts it slightly where the piece rests on the 2×4 braces, making it both easier to grab and also more stable so it doesn’t move around or do any damage when set back in place.

Step 5: Place the bench in place! With everything secured, I slid my bench back into place in the gap. It fit great, with no room for losing treasures, and looks really nice. My 3/4 inch MDF worked perfectly to bring the full height of my stand to match the bench’s 19 inches, so it all looks like it is meant to go together.

The best part? The next snowstorm, the girls threw all their stuff on the bench’s surround, everything dried without making a soggy mess, and no mittens were lost.