A 3 year old girl needs a Big Girl Bed! At least that's what we figured.
Not just a toddler bed, which was her crib modified so that it had 3 sides instead of the 4.
I love the look of a rustic farm house style bed, so that's what we made for her.
Safety first! Here we get geared up to begin building...
We looked at Ana White's plans for a twin farmhouse bed this picture is straight from that link:
I usually love her stuff, and I do love this bed in a queen or king size, but in this twin size I didn't like how chunky the frame looks. I think the legs are too thick and the topper on the headboard and foot board is too big. I thought these plans needed a few modifications to be perfect for our little (now BIG) girl. You'll see...
First make all the cuts, pretty much just follow her plans, but for the legs use 2x4 not the thicker 4x4 and omit the 2x6 top of head and foot boards.
Oh, and having a great assistant / husband makes things so much easier!
So then build as she says. We just followed the steps on Ana's website.
It comes together really quickly and is actually pretty easy to do.
Then choose how you want to finish it. Stain, paint, chalk paint, or whatever.
This is the stain I chose, bought it at Lowes.
Two light coats of this stain gave me the aged rustic look I wanted. 
Then bring it inside a surprise the Birthday Girl with it!
Happy Third Birthday Miss R!
~Jess
