I have this incredible knack for coveting items that are way out of my league. Now, I’m not talking about Coach bags, Jimmy Choo shoes or a Maserati. No, I’m drawn to seemingly simple everyday items that inexplicably cost a fortune. Let me paint you a picture: [on Pinterest] “Oh! That’s a really cute rug! … wow.it’s.$900…next” *Thud*

So when I came across a beautiful toddler teepee bed with pull out trundle that I couldn’t stop thinking about for days and knowing it would be perfect for my son, I knew what was in store for me. My first clue was the price of this adorable piece wasn’t listed on the site. I know, bad news bear. I later contacted the company for a quote when curiosity got the better of me. The bed is well over $2000 without shipping, tax and duty fees. Yikes!

Something kept luring me in though, niggling at the back of my brain, forcing me to visit and revisit the listing and single-handedly doubling their site’s daily viewership. What was it?

Then in the wee hours of the morning, I all but shot out of bed. I’ll make the damn thing myself. How hard can it be? *Glares* Check out my step by step tutorial!

UPDATE: It’s been 2 years, almost exactly, since I made this bed! It’s still going strong and looks the same as the day I finished it! There isn’t really anything I would change about it except that I have some better tools that would have refined its finish a bit if I were to redo it. In fact, I’ll be making a second for my daughter when she graduates to a toddler bed, that’s how happy I am with it!

If you’re about to read on, it may be because you would like to build one yourself! I encourage you to do so and I’m here to help with any questions you have…however, I’m not an engineer and so, I don’t feel comfortable upscaling the design for you to accommodate a bigger mattress. I went with this particular mattress and size so that I would have solid sides made of a single sheet of wood. Making a bigger version may result in seams or frankensteining pieces together that would threaten the integrity of the structure. Since this is a child’s bed, I don’t want to give advice I’m not qualified to give and so I can only answer questions on my particular build.

With that out of the way, let’s get down to business!

After days of studying the photos from different angles, making my own schematics, soaking up encouraging blanket statements of “No, I don’t think you’re crazy” and “I love that you want to do this” from my fiancée, and several trips to Lowe’s later, I got started.

What began as “How much money can I save?” quickly changed to “How far can I take this?” And with the help of some old favourite tools, brand spanking new tools, and even tools I had to macgyver myself, the answer was pretty clear; ALL the way! (An extremely brave, supportive fiancée and a couple several bottles of wine also helped).

Needless to say, a lot of lessons were learned during the past few weeks: 1. NEVER cut corners. You’ll just be doing that ______ over again tomorrow if you do. 2. ALWAYS test, test, test. Test cutting a circle with your weird, hand-made, mounted jigsaw contraption before cutting that $45 piece of wood. 3. Wood is NEVER the thickness it says it is…nor is it the length or width that it’s advertised either. I’m still pretty annoyed about that last one.

All in all, it turned out great! It’s sturdy, the corners line up, it can be disassembled and reassembled with minimally visible screws, it’s personalised with stain to match his dresser (that we also finished ourselves) and metallic stars to match the decor and it has a second pull out bed for sleepovers! I am very proud of myself!

I think someone else is proud of me too and excited to be in his new bed…a year from now