Out of this world (Upcycling bed sheets)

From old make new.

The boys have been totally into the solar system and Star Wars recently. For a recent Star-Wars-themed birthday party, I thought it would be really cool to paste glow-in-the-dark stars on their ceiling. And it was. For about five minutes. They all fell down within a week. Fail. We even tried to restick them with  mounting putty (that’s the generic name for Fun–Tak®). Apparently, we have a ceiling that resists having things hung on it. Only four of the stars have survived.

However, I had not yet given up on the idea of giving the boys some “starryskies” for their bedroom. So I decided to upcycle our old starry bed linens and into a sort of canopy for their bunk bed.  It was time to retire the linens anyway. These were sheets we have had since long before my elder son was born. And he’s almost nine now. 

Several steps were involved: measuring the area to be covered by the new canopy, figuring out how to hang the canopy, tailoring the sheets, and mounting the construction. And I had a lot of help from my husband and his mother.

The lower bunk was slightly easier than the upper bunk. Here, we measured the lower part of the upper bed, sewed the fabric to size, and attached ties to tie the sheet into place. It ties right onto the slats of the upper bunk.

Over the upper bunk, there is a slope to the ceiling under the pitch of the roof. We decided the best way to hang the upper canopy would be to create three tunnels, insert wooden dowels, and hang these dowels on hooks from the ceiling.

The canopy along goes well with their sheets about the solar system.

(The sheets have all sorts of interesting information and facts about the solar system on the back. I try never to miss an opportunity to teach the boys a thing or two. Even while they’re falling asleep.)