My mom and I have been working hard at getting Emory’s new loft bed all set up.

Like I mentioned before, we bought the MYDAL bunk bed from Ikea for $159.00.

It is designed to be set up as a bunk bed, but we made the following adjustments:

1. Removed the bottom rail

2. Cut a new piece for the bottom of the ladder

It was super easy and the bed is still very sturdy.

The height is the best part too, it isn’t crazy high like the other loft beds Ikea sells.

Yesterday, we spent a couple hours sewing some panels for the sides of the bed.

We bought some pink satin fabric from a local discount fabric store for $7.00/yard.

We needed 6 yards, totaling $42.00. 

We simply hemmed the sides and sewed a rod pocket.

We hung the panels on the front and two ends.

We used inexpensive tension rods to hang the panels, they worked amazing!

And we made sure they could close creating a little “play house” too.

Emory’s new little vintage play kitchen fits perfectly underneath.

There is about 44″ of head room under the bed, which allows her to comfortably stand.

It is so nice to have some extra play room in our small condo!

This picture of my mom gives you a good idea of the scale of the bed, it’s definitely not too tall (which helps me sleep at night!).

I also picked up the rug from Urban Outfitters today for $20.00.

I am still haven’t decided if I am going to keep it or not, what do you think?

Do you like it?

Now it’s time to get our paint on! 

I plan on painting the bed a crisp white, I am exhausted just thinking about it.

I also need to paint over the black and white stripes, eeek!

So what do you think? Do you like it so far?

UPDATE: Head on over here to see the finished loft bed. It is white and oh-so-pretty.

For the past 4 days my parents have been visiting from the Great White North!

Which means…I have done plenty of shopping, eating, visiting, playing, and not much of anything else.

It has been so fun, we love it when they visit.

(Doesn’t my mom look super young? I am hoping those genes pass on…)

We did manage to make it to Ikea and purchase this bunk bed for Emory.

After realizing the original loft bed I wanted wouldn’t fit with an 8′-0″ ceiling, we had to get creative.

We bought the Mydel bunk bed from for $159.00 and converted it into a loft bed!

It is much lower to the ground and was super easy to convert.

I still have to paint it and add fabric to the sides, but Emory sure doesn’t care…she is obseseed.

I’ll share more pictures and details soon, but for now, I am off to enjoy my family 🙂

Friday was Emory’s 4th birthday party and it was so fun!

Like I mentioned before, I planned, prepared, and threw the party in 24 hours.

My motto was keep it simple but magical.

We did the party play-group style, I loved it that way.

I made Emory’s cake with store bought cake mix and icing.

I layered 2 round cakes on top of each other and iced the middle.

Since store bought cake is less than amazing (and so are my baking skills), I served the sugar cookies instead of the cake.

I made the cake bunting from a printable and paper straws.

You can get the printable and tutorial here, from the Tomkat Studios.

It was really simple, I just printed them out, folded and taped then together, and hung them on a string.

The only decorations were the ombre ballon wall.

I blew up 22 balloons in 3 shades of pink and randomly taped them to the wall.

I  love how it turned out!

 I kept the food simple.

Fruit, cookies, fruit roll-ups, juice, and diet coke (for the mom’s of course!).

My girlfriend made these amazing crown cookies.

We did blue and pink icing, just incase the boys didn’t want pink cookies!

Then it was time to open presents. 

Em loved all the attention!

When the kids arrived, the girls received wands and the boys received swords.

They thought that was really cool.

And when they left they got ring pops!

I found these adorable little chevron bags from the party store to put them in.

I think it was a success!

At least I know Emory loved it!

Emory’s 4th birthday party was a success!

Here is a sneak peek…

And this picture perfectly describes Em’s silly personaility.

Planning, preparing, and throwing a party in 24 hours is exhausting.

I’ll be back on Monday with all the details, right now I need a nap!