Sleepy, Not Grumpy!

Sleepy?  Just give me a minute...

With the little Thumper on the way our guests quickly lost their comfortable sleeping quarters on the top level, but as much as we love our parents we just weren't willing to give up our entire basement for a guest bedroom.

Hop right in!

What's the answer?  Sofa beds are like sleeping on logs, futons are like sleeping on bricks (unless you are willing to spend), so what would we do?  Why a wall-bed of course!  The simple solution became complicated again by the fact that these beds cost  about as much of an investment as a used car...YIKES!  So after discussing it with me Pappy (and despite his "Not being so sure about this") we decided to just build one.  I mean, how hard could it be I'm sure there are free plans all over the internet...WRONG!

Despite the lack of direction, it came together quickly.  Just cut some 3/4 plywood, 3/8 plywood, 2x4s, 1x2s, 1x4s, and 2x3s.  Then slap it all together with some anchors, gate hinges, screws, and hinge pins and you've got a fold-up guest bedroom for about $200.

Sure, we made some sacrifices.  Pappy worked for "World-Best Carrot Cake" and room-and-board (thanks Dad!).  We also did not buy the $300 mechanism that would make it easier to lift (that's what strong husbands are for).

After about a week of off-and-on work we were left with a comfy, cozy, and rather convenient guest space when we want it, and our full basement when we don't!

I hope our guests don't mind Raskal's toys.

Hope you don't mind my buddy staring at you all night.  Oh well, you should see the neighbor's view!

Our new permanent "guest!"

Chewing on wires is bad for kids?

Apparently you are not supposed to let kids chew on electrical wires anymore.  Kids these days, so coddled!  When I was a kid...Anyways, my lovely bride informed me that my custom built entertainment center just didn't make the cut anymore.  The open design with accessible wires, DVDs, and pretty much everything else was going to be a hazard. 

The answer?  Just cut off the back, build doors, and seal it all up so our little lovely can't get her mittens in there.


 Easier said than done...everything was going smoothly until I had to glue the doors together, which turned out to be quite a pain.  Needless to say after a few runs I got the hang of my new router table, built the door, and several weeks later finished this little baby up.

It's ready to go for another five years!