a new sister, a new bed.

Hadley is almost here, which means Mikey has to pass the torch down to his little sister, and give up the crib. I've been a little worried about this day, because in all my research on transitioning from a crib to toddler bed, almost all mom's said NOT to transition before 2 years old.

Well, I'm breaking the mold.

Having another baby with Mikey being nearly 17 months old and having 2 cribs seems silly to me. After much thought and consideration, Michael and I believed that our little dude was ready to sleep in a regular bed, but which one? The possibilities are endless when it comes to toddler beds! Again, I researched, and researched, and researched and then decided I didn't want a toddler bed at all. Why buy something he will grow out of so quickly?! Why not just skip the toddler bed and go straight to a twin size? So that's exactly what we did.

Now for my next challenge, which twin size bed? I still wanted a railing to he wouldn't roll off, but I wanted the bed to last him more than a year or 2. I felt like once I jumped one hurdle, I only kept running into another. I knew exactly what I wanted the bed to look like, but I just couldn't find the one that took my breath away. So, I decided to make one.

Introducing Mikey's new bed - made from re purposed pallet wood!

I'm obsessed with this bed. Thank you to my Step-Dad, Mike, for helping me build this beauty! It's exactly what I had envisioned, and Mikey loves the freedom.

Some things about this bed:

1. I found inspiration for this bed HERE*Of course, Mikey's bed is quite a bit different, but this post really sparked my design for creating a toddler bed out of pallets.
*Follow me on Pinterest for more cool kid room ideas!
2. This bed is on wheels. Being made totally of wood, it's heavy. Really heavy. Putting the bed on casters lets me move it around the room, and clean underneath it when I need to. Mikey isn't big enough to move it, though.
3. The toddler rail is totally removable. Like I said before, I wanted something that would fit him now ... and later. He won't be a toddler forever, so it was important to me that this railing can be used when needed, and removed when the time came.
4. This is a twin sized bed. I can sleep on it, Michael can sleep on it. A standard twin sized mattress is what we have on the bed which leaves room for growth.
5. I sanded and sealed the bed to eliminate splinters. I seemed to get that question a lot from my family and friends when they saw the bed. It typically went something like "Isn't he going to get a splinter from all that old wood?" Of course, I don't want my kid waking up every morning with pieces of wood in his skin, so we sanded and sealed the bed to make sure that didn't happen!

This new bed is perfect for their shared room, and gives that rustic boy feel to Mikey's space that I was looking for. I couldn't be more happy with the final result, and neither could Mikey!

What do you think?