Repurpose: Rock-a-bye cardboard...

I've been wanting to make this bed for a while but found that general inertia usually prevented it. Not a lack of cardboard boxes! But a couple of Sundays ago, while enjoying a rare moment of doing nothing but drinking coffee, I found myself saying out loud to a toddler:

"Hey, would you like to make a bed for Jodie? (the doll)" 

She lit up and said "like Greta's bed?" (Greta being the $50 rag doll she saw in Pottery Barn Kids about 2 months ago!!)  

I said "yes, exactly like that!" (I lie to this child quite easily, it seems). 

And so we made a bed out of a cardboard box. It's not quite "Greta's bed" but Ms Ro doesn't seem to mind :)

What you need: 

1. A decently sized cardboard box and a strong box cutter / craft knife

2. A ruler and a surface for cutting (there's some detail involved with the notches)

3. The fabulous downloadable template care of the creator of this bed (click through here)

4. A determined toddler with her own tape measure to ensure project completion

5. A well-caffeinated co-refabber with a sense of humor... who doesn't mind being photographed at 8am on a Sunday morning

6. Scrap fabric and a little stuffing if you want to make easy bedding

Grab the hellobee template and try to be as accurate as possible. Because the construction requires no glue or tape, the build is unforgiving. One mistake we made: not cutting the notches quite wide enough on the first go-round. FYI: the instructions for how to "round" a corner using a box cutter are perfect... I had a lot of fun doing that!

I have a stack of perfectly square fabric samples - I don't remember where they came from. But they didn't need edging and the doll pillow is just what it appears to be - stitched, flipped, stuffed and sewn closed. I made it so quickly I didn't even sit down (yes, I manage to depress the sewing machine foot while standing up.)

And there it is! Our only critique: the legs up top, near the headboard, have a long slit in them to create the effect of "sides". This means they don't stand up well to anything resembling real toddler play. And our creation doesn't look quite as perfect as the model over at hellobee. Having said that, Ms Ro has had a lot of fun with it. And it cost nothing. And she was involved in making it, which means something to me!