Sarah, with the help of her husband and parents, decided to take one of my past columns (Build a Loft Bed) and crude plans to build a gorgeous loft bed for her daughter. It only took a few hours to complete.

Look at how she dressed up the tops and bottoms of the posts. That's a wonderful finishing touch.

Sarah, congratulations on this magnificent project. I wish you would have been available a few years ago to be on my team. I'd have hired you in a New York minute!

"Hi Tim,

Yes, please feel free to use my loft picture in your newsletter! We're very proud of it and your directions were great. I can try taking a better picture tonight if the resolution is too low on this one. All the of the photos I have right now are from my iPhone.

We followed your plans and modeled ours after the pictures from Tom K. The base and the top of the 4x4's are decking toppers and bases. We also added a piece of pine trim along the front to cover the seams from the platform and the 1x6 pine board used to stop the mattress from falling out. We also added a 1x4 pine board to stop my daughter from falling out. :)

We used dowels for the ladder, and painted it to match her room.

For the desk, we cut MDF using the top of a sandbox (turtle) and an outdoor cushion to get the curves. It's held up with the table leg, brackets in each 4x4 upright, and two going into studs on the wall.

My dad and I built the platform and drilled the pilot holes to secure it to the 4x4's on Saturday (12/31) morning. Then my mom and I spent New Year's Eve and New Year's Day painting all the pieces. Assembly took approx four hours on Monday afternoon with four people (my parents, my husband and myself)."

Sarah