flip a hemnes loft bed into a princess bed

update! a reader, maike, kindly retouched the earlier photos which were too dark. am reposting with new, brighter photos.

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marybeth, who has never ever held a saw prior to this, hacked an ikea hemnes loft bed down to size.

she says, "about 4 months ago, i hacked my ikea twin loft bed. i became tired of sleeping high in the stuffy air, became sick of the wobbly bolts creaking with every move i made, etc. it was poorly designed and i wasn't happy that i had paid a few hundred dollars for it.

so, with the help of my roommate, i flipped the bed upside down, removed the post stabilizers and chucked the safety sideboard to allow storage beneath my brand new, awesome princess bed. i have never been happier and look forward to long, peaceful nights in my creation.

i had to disguise the ugliness of the posts with the mesh curtains you see hanging from them. (which, by the way, were also purchased from ikea.) the funny thing is, whenever people see my bed, they are besides themselves, they think it's so cute and always ask where i purchased it ... and i get to tell them this story."

marybeth, my suggestion - if you still have the stabilizers, you could add them to the top of the posts and turn yours into a four-poster bed like this. i think that will look great too.