Make an ordinary bunk bed fit for a princess.
A typical bed for a princess room has a canopy with soft draperies. You can create a such a bed even if your small room needs sleeping quarters for two princesses. Build a lightweight PVC canopy frame that attaches to a set of bunk beds without damaging them. Drape your bed with sheer blue fabric to make a Cinderella bunk bed. When the princesses get older, drape the frame with a floral-print fabric to create the look of a garden gazebo covered with flowering vines. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Measure the height of the bunk bed along the outside of the corner support. Measure from the floor to the top of the support and add 4 inches to this distance. Cut two pieces of schedule 40 pipe this length. Cut two pieces of pipe 1 inch longer than the first two pipes. Cut the pipe by placing it in a miter box and cutting straight across with a hack saw.
2. Place one of the shorter pipes along the outside edge of one corner of the bed. Tie the pipe to the bed with 1/4-inch nylon cord. Place one tie just above the platform for the bottom bed and another just above the platform for the top bed. Tie the other short pipe to the corner of the bed that is diagonally across from the first pipe. Tie the other two pipes to the other two corners in the same way.
3. Measure the distance from the top of one pipe to the top of the pipe diagonally across the bed from it. Calculate the length of the top bars of the canopy by multiplying this distance by 0.57 inches. Cut four pieces of pipe this length.
4. Insert the four top bars into the openings in two 60-degree-angle schedule 40 pipe fitting to create two angled lengths of pipe. Pipe fittings are labeled according to the amount the bend varies from a straight pipe. So a 60-degree fitting has been angled 60-degrees from 180-degrees to create a 120-degree angle in the fitting.
5. Install 60-degree pipe fittings on the other ends of the two top pipes, to create the top frames of the canopy. Place the open ends of one piece of the frame on the top of the two shorter pipes on the corners of the bed so that it goes across the bed diagonally. Push the frame firmly onto the pipes. Place the other half of the top frame over the first half and install it onto the remaining pipes in the same way.
6. Measure the distance along the pipe over the entire frame, from the floor on one side over the top to the floor on the other side. Cut a length of sheer fabric 11 inches longer than this distance for each half of frame.
7. Iron a 1/2-inch fold on the cut ends of both pieces of fabric, then iron up a 3-inch hem. Sew the hem in place by machine stitching 1/4 inch from the top fold or hand-sewing the hem.
8. Drape the fabric over one-half of the frame by placing the center of the fabric over the center of the top of the frame and tying it in place with a short piece of ribbon. Drape the fabric along the top bars of the frame to two corners on opposite ends of the bed. Tie the fabric to the frame at the corners with an 18-inch length of ribbon. Knot the ribbon tightly around both the pipe and the fabric, then tie the ends of the ribbon into an attractive bow.
9. Place the center of the second piece of fabric over the center of the top of the frame and tie it in place with an 18-inch length of ribbon. Knot the ribbon and tie a bow in the same way you tied the ribbons on the corners. Drape the fabric to the remaining corners and tie it with ribbon in the same way.
10. Pull the fabric that runs along the top pipes gently out to the sides to create a flowing canopy. You will be pulling the fabric up through the ribbons on the corners. Pull the fabric up until the hems are even with the floor.
Tags: Drape fabric, fabric over, this distance, 18-inch length, 18-inch length ribbon
