Savvy Mum Who Loved £1,000 Princess Bed Makes Her Own For Under £200
- Nicole McShane, 32, wanted an amazing princess bed for her daughter
- Instead of forking out £1,000, Nicole made her own for just £200
- She used an IKEA bed and wood from B&Q
We all know the feeling of falling in love with something impossibly expensive online.
But one mum didn’t let sky-high furniture prices put her off her dream kids’ room, making her own for a fifth of the price.
Nicole McShane, a mum of two and operations manager from Manchester, was keen to get an amazing princess bed for her daughter Penelope.
After searching online and only finding beds at staggeringly high prices of up to £1,000, Nicole decided to create the bed herself using an IKEA KURA bed and some B&Q wood.
In the end, the incredible bed cost under £200 and took just a few hours for Nicole to make herself.
Nicole, 32, told money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk: “We wanted something special for Penelope as she’s seen a few friends' beds and was particularly interested in a princess castle - which little girl isn’t?
"I had a look round but the prices were ridiculous and I just couldn’t justify spending that much on a child’s bed. I searched online and on Instagram and Pinterest for around 18 months for something more affordable and came across this design on Pinterest.
"It was someone on Instagram who had done a design like this. I showed it to my husband who is an engineer and said that it would be easy.
"We bought the bed from Ikea - it’s the KURA bed and you can find tons of hacks on Pinterest using this bed.
"We bought tongue and groove from B&Q which was the exact right height. We just had to cut the ones for the door and window.
"We also got some extra 2x1-inch wood to make a frame for the top bit. B&Q will cut MDF for you so we got them to cut the roof to size.
"The tongue and groove was really easy to attach - even I could do that part. When it was all attached, I used Valspar paint on the inside and out which was colour matched to Farrow and Ball All White.
"We then added inch-thick frames around the window and doors. We used excess tongue and groove to make the flower troughs.
"We used No More Nails to glue it together and used L-brackets glued to it to attach it to the wall. We painted these and the roof in Valspar Fairy's Tutu pink.
"The flowers are a mix of peonies and roses like my wedding flowers which I found in Home Bargains for a few pounds.
"The main thing we wanted was storage, storage and more storage and this bed gives it to us!
"I often get asked how I keep my house tidy and my main tip is to have a place for everything. I love an IKEA KALLAX unit. The boxes are great for just throwing the toys in and the mess is gone.
"You can fit KALLAX units under the bed no problem and we then bought the IKEA TROFAST unit to use as steps which also has storage boxes in.
"My main tip for this bed is to make sure the area is big enough as it is a lot bigger than you would think.
"We knew this would not fit exactly so we didn’t box in the side with the steps so that we could open the storage boxes inside as we were about an inch short for opening them all the way.
"Another tip would be to take your time when deciding on a design. I have tons saved on my Pinterest and Instagram and just took my time picking which one to go with.
"Just think about what your main priority is. Mine was storage and then making it pretty. My friend has two girls and is doing similar but with another bed at the bottom as bunkbeds. It is really versatile!”
Nicole, who has added instructions to her Instagram page at @themcshanehome and her YouTube channel at Mrs Nicole McShane, was delighted with how the project turned out, and says that by doing it herself she saved up to £800 on buying a brand new princess bed online.
"It cost less than £200 to create, as the bed was £130 from IKEA and it was around £50 to £70 for all the wood and we already had the paint from doing the room.
“The quotes were between £800 and £1000 for princess beds!
"It took a couple of days just because we did it in the evening but if we did it from the morning it would have been a few hours to build.
"The painting took the longest time and then having to do two coats. Also, with the flower boxes as we had to wait for glue to dry.
"I’m really happy with it. I personally thought it would be a disaster but I actually like it better than the design we saw online because of the pink and trim we added to it!”
Tom Church, co-founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, comments: “There is some truly amazing kids’ furniture online, but some of it costs thousands of pounds.
“However, you don’t need these crazy prices to put you off creating the child’s bedroom of your dreams: make like Nicole and make your own for a fraction of the price.
“There are loads of online tutorials to copy - and your child will have their own bespoke bed made just for them at the end of all that hard work!"
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