"Making" Furniture

Okay, part-time pioneers. I just know that you, like me, have things you're storing in your garage or attic that you might need "some day". That day is here!

Here's my need: long bookshelves for my upstairs landing to handle the overflow from the four bookcases in the living room (and two upstairs). Yes, we have a lot of books, but we homeschool and use almost all of them.

Finding a bookshelf that fits the size requirement would be easy if I were willing to pay big bucks for one. I'm not. Thrift stores have had various types of bookcases and small entertainment centers, but nothing that will fit our needs. I want something loooooong. And cheap. Hubby suggested planks from a lumber yard and suggested getting them cut to size. He was close, but I knew we could do better.

Then I had my "aha" moment. My boys used bunk beds from a company called This End Up. The furniture is designed to look like old packing crates and is very, very durable. While the boys outgrew the beds, I couldn't bear to get rid of them, even to sell them. For one thing, we're still using the dressers and I'd hate to break up the set. Anyway, all the parts are stored under the current bed, and out in the garage.

The parts I want are the side rails that slide into the headboard and footboard. The rails are low, made of wood and they're flat. There are four total and they'll be great propped up with the all-purpose cinder blocks. I don't have any blocks, but Lowe's has them CHEAP, so I'll be heading there tomorrow.

Of course, two of the rails were stored under all the Christmas decorations. I had to haul all the bins down tonight, which is no lightweight task. I have something like 20 bins of decor, most of it being Dept. 56 collectible houses. I can't just throw the bins around! Pulling out the rails took about 45 minutes (I found four heavy bins of photos, too, which I brought down to see if I'll ever get in the mood to scrapbook). Then came the quest for the other two rails. I finally found them behind the outdoor freezer (yes, I use every inch of space in this place), but was too pooped to grab them tonight. Steve's got some friends coming over to play tomorrow, so they can play "movers" first and haul that stocked freezer out from the wall so I can grab the dusty rails. Hope there are no mice back there.

I'm happy to be using these bed rails, as they are obviously not doing me any good out in the garage. Some day I'll sell off the furniture (or loan it to my sister for her little boy), but in the meantime I'll put the parts to good use. Now that's pioneer ingenuity!