I ordered two ceiling curtain rods from Amazon to resolve this little problem. A short one for the end and a longer one for the side (links at the bottom). This way the "cave" can look clean and neat and we actually get two caves since the top bunk is also now covered. My son is now excited to try sleeping in his new top cave and maybe we'll get lucky and his little brother will take over the bottom bunk so we can get the toddler bed out of their room. The great part about these ceiling rods is that they have clips and all I did was use the flat sheet from his sheet sets since he doesn't use them anyway, so I didn't have to buy curtains and they matched his room perfectly. I simply folded them over to the length I wanted and clipped them up, no cutting or sewing required so it was a huge time saver and I didn't ruin the sheets in case we want to use them on the bed again in the future. Not only did we make bedtime a little neater but the boys had a blast playing in their new "hideouts" today. =)
One sheet covers the short end and a small part of the long side, so it's hanging on both curtain rods. The second sheet fits perfectly over the remaining part of the long side and I had enough to overlap the sheets by a couple inches to make sure there isn't a crack for my son to see through or the "monsters" to see in. I put the baton at the far end near the ladder so it can easily be pulled over out of the way to make climbing safer. I also tied a ribbon around the corner of the bunk beds so during the day if they're not using it to play I can pull it to one side and tie it out of the way to make the room look bigger and more open. You could easily set it up so the curtains can to ties to two ends for a different look during the day or if you had 3 sheets you could slide one to each corner and tie it up creating more of a 4 post bed look. I'm sure there are many other possibilities but this was my easy fix. =)
These are the curtain rods I bought but you may be able to find some cheaper elsewhere. I also considered some ring type hooks in the ceiling and some thick wire to make my own rod type unit but I love that these ones make it so you can slide the curtains all the way over and out of the way.
Shorter track (38-66 inches)
Longer track (60-120 inches)
Love it Laranda!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutley ingenious doll! Years ago I made something similar for Connor's crib when he was old enough to be out of a crib but we had no bed or bedroom for him. He shared our room so to create his "own space" for him, I attached pvc piping (easy to cut to size) with zip ties to the crib ends, starting at the floor (for stability) and up the crib legs to about 2' above the crib height. I used the fitting pvc "elbows" with 3 ends at the top of each "pipe" to make a rectangle at the top to cover all 4 sides of the crib and left the third connection of the elbow sticking up and free. I did not glue the elbows and pipes together. I used kid design sheets and thrift store kid curtains which I just slid on the pvc pipes and changed designs often by simply disconnecting the elbows. I also used the third "hole" of the elbow connector to hang his little cloth pocket type and velcro wall hanging "toys" (farm with small stuffed animals)etc. He loved his little space and would ask to "take a nap" (previous to this unheard of!) If yanked on, elbows just popped off, which did deter climbing, but if anyone wants to try this be sure "elbows" are large enough to not be a choking hazard and only do this with a child old enough to be in his own bed. I'm sure the pvc pipe "approach" would work on bunk beds as well, especially for "temporary", sleep overs etc. but cetainly would not look as nice as yours for longer term use and I'm sure not as safe. On the other hand, no hardware is attached to anything with the pvc, so good for renters and future removal. Love it and thanks for sharing! You have very lucky little boys!
ReplyDeleteYes, they are lucky little boys!
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