Lightning McQueen Bed

For his Lightning McQueen room, my son needed a race car bed.  I wanted a bed that would fit a twin mattress, and the molded plastic car beds from Toys'R'Us and the like were all made for toddler mattresses.  Plus, they weren't really Lightning McQueen, just red race car beds.  

Hubby to the rescue!  He probably was wearing his Superman shirt that day haha!  He laid out a large sheet of 5/8 inch MDF and I covered it in wax paper.  The wax paper became my pattern paper.  I used my son's large talking McQueen toy, the DVD cover, and a scene from the movie (which we left on pause), and I drew out the entire side of the car.  The only area I redid a couple of times was where the driver and passenger window go.  It had to be high enough so he wouldn't fall out of bed, but low enough to allow easy bed changing access and for him to easily get out of bed.  Plus, it had to look sporty without looking like a convertible.

HubbyWe did two layers of MDF in some areas: all 4 tires and large and small lightning streaks.  My hubby cut it all out with his table saw and then went over each edge and side to round them off.  If he wasn't asleep right now, I would ask him what the tool is called.  I can't remember.  We used the red accent paint from my son's room and bought some new paint in yellow, orange, black, and silver.  A paint gun helped hubby us get the blends on the large lightning streaks.

End result: We all love it!  And, most important, when my son walked into the room to see it for the first time, he said, "Lightning McQueen!"

For the matching artwork we did, click here!

Linking up with some great parties!

Progress on the Deck

This is one of the fabulous planter boxes my hubby built for me. Or, rather, for the kids. I told them they could have their own garden with herbs and veggies. I may be more excited than them, but not by much!

We (me direct, hubby do) piled all the nasty clay-dirt in the bottom of the planter to take up space, then nailed in landscaping fabric to keep the weeds out. Up next: fill the planters with dirt (sorry, Mom, soil) and let the kids help with the planting. Can't wait for garden fresh veggies and herbs!!


Here is the planter box on the left side of the steps. The wood covered box in the top left of the photo is the sandbox. Another "we" project. You know what I mean.


The planter on the right is much taller. Hubby put rocks in the bottom to take up space. The only part missing is the top ledge that go on this coming weekend.


View of the new wraparound steps! I am in love with these!! Maybe even more than the super loverly weather we've been having! :)


How was your weekend?

Deck Sneak Peak!

Hubby has been We have been working on the deck over the past little while since we have had all this wonderful weather (except for this past weekend when we had hail. Yes. I said hail.) and I am sooo excited to get this finished!

We have a small backyard so I designed a low deck with some extras for visual interest. I did do want rails around the deck as that would break up the view and I wanted a seamless integration in our small backyard. I am hoping to get this project finished within the next month, flowers and all, and am planning a reveal around the middle to end of May.

In the meantime, here's a sneak peek of the skirting that my hubby installed last week. Goodbye, bunny family! Now you will have to move to someone else's yard and eat their plants.