life in the dawg pile

My mom was at a thrift store when she found a bunk bed for $20. She bought them for me. They were n really bad shape. The previous owner had carved their name in it. It was covered in some sort of yellow goo. There was gum and popcorn kernels stuck in it.

As you can see from the pictures they were pretty bad. The first step I took was washing them with Pinesol and warm water. I then used Goo-Gone on the parts that were really nasty and sticky.

I knew I didn't want them to be bunk beds, because my boys like to jump off any and all furniture. I knew it would be an accident waiting to happen.

The way the beds were set up was to have the larger one on bottom and the taller one on top. It also had the slate looking side facing the back, so it would have been against the wall. So I drilled holes in the slate side to make it the front.

Next, I filled in all the holes I no longer needed. The holes to connect top bunk to bottom and the old holes from turning it around. I filled them in with wood putty. I also filled in the places that had been craved out.

After a few days I sanded all pieces down with my hand sander using 100 grit sand paper.

I didn't need to prime the pieces as they were white and looked very even.

I got some furniture paint from Home Depot in black. I ended up putting on 4 coats of paint to make it even. I then sealed it with 2 coats of Polyacrylic.

And here is what they look like.

I was very happy with the way they turned out.

I also refinished the nightstand pictured. I got it for $10 at the same thrift store.

My middle boy turned 4.

At 4 I let my boys have their first friend party. I asked him what kind of party he wanted. He told me he wanted the kind of party where he got to fight his uncle. Last year, my oldest had a pirate party and his uncle and dad were the bad pirates and they had to fight them to get the treasure. So a pirate party is what we had.

I think I went a little overboard, but I had so much fun! I made a pirate boat with my folding table. I got dowels from Walmart and duct taped them to the table, then cut a hole in a paper bowl and put it around the dowels to secure it. I covered the table with a black table cloth from the Dollar Tree. I cut the remaining dowels in half and cut some old fabric put it on them. I then hot glued them onto the other dowels. I also had to use some twine to secure the dowels to the ceiling.

I bought some net from Michaels and put it on the table with some sea shells on it. I made the HAPPY BIRTHDAY banner with some red & white paper i got from Michael's and glued it on some black paper. Then I printed Happy Birthday on some sticky paper I had.

I also made a banner that said AHOY!

I got the Parrot from the Dollar Tree.

I borrowed the skull banner from a friend. And the skull on the pirate flag came from a pack I got a few years ago from Michaels.

For the treat table my husband made the cotton candy and we filled pirate party bags we got from Walmart. We have a cotton candy machine that we got as a gift. The crate they are in I have as part of my Halloween decorations. I bought it off of craigslist a few years back. I printed the sign from here http://www.poofycheeks.com/2012/03/pirate-party-printables.html.

The cannon balls are whoopers.

I got these suckers from Joann's in their wedding section for $7.

The shark bait was Swedish Fish from Costco.

In my dining room I used some of the borrowed skull banner and printed a picture of the Birthday Boy in his pirate attire. Next to it I put a jar of sea shells that is part of my summer decor.

I made this pirate flag for my oldest sons party and it survived for this party.

On the table I used a red table clothe from Dollar Tree. I put an old scrape of black and white fabric I got from my mom. Then a piece of net I got at Michaels with my Skull from my Halloween decorations. I put some jewels around that I purchased from Joann's jewelry making department.

This chest is an old one that my grandpa gave to my mom. I filled it with my Halloween skeleton pieces and some more jewels and sea shells and a sword I had left over from the last pirate party. I got them at Oriental Trading but they all broke before the party was over. I loved the ones I found at Target this time. They all held up!

To start the party off I had made some copies of a pirate hats and let the kids color them and put pirate stickers on them.

Then they went and got dressed like a pirate. I made this sign that said, "Ye Best be lookin' like a pirate ye scurvies."

Swords from target for $2 a piece

Compasses from Hobby Lobby $2.99 for a package of 6

Eye patches from Target 4 for $2

Bandannas from Dollar Tree $1 for a 2 pack. The pirate one was $3 at Joann's.
The mustache stickers from Hobby Lobby $2 for page.

Necklaces from Dollar Tree 4 for $1. A friend had the earrings left over from her sons party.

And here is the Pirate Captain and his Brothers

After opening presents we had a lunch of hot dog pirate ships.

This was my husbands idea. He even made the sails. I found a free printable here http://www.classyclutter.net. I wrote the names on them. He then cut them out and made the sail and put them on sucker sticks. They turned out so cute. After 11 years of marriage I am starting to rub off on him.

I made mustache straws for the drinks. My friend has a Silhouette machine and cut out the mustache shapes. I then hot glued them on some black straws.

After lunch my husband told them a story about how there use-to-be pirates that lived here on the lake and told the kids they may have left a treasure map. So we searched the house and found it--the TREASURE MAP. I used some brown wrapping paper and drew the clues on it and burned the edges.