Since my son and I bond every Sunday afternoon over our shared love of Transformers, I’m always on the lookout for activities for my daughter and I to share.

Recently my daughter discussed how she would love a canopy bed like she had seen in various TV shows.  Looking online, I could find nothing that would really suit her particular bed and bedroom set up.

So the thought occurred – lets make one together!

This design is super easy and pretty cheap to do.  Even with all the materials it came to well under $100 (aud), purchasing most at Bunnings and the rest online and at a local Habberdasher.  But the best part was it was something for us to do together.

The height, width & length can all be adjusted according to the size bed your canopy frame is y to go over.  And if you wish to go basic you can certainly make do with 4 upright pipes, two for length and two for width.  To add a little extra structural stability for the one my daughter and I made, I actually did 3 widths, cut the two lengths in half, thus making 4, and added a ribbon lengthways as well.

Because it’s so simple to make, and the materials are relatively inexpensive, you can really chop and change how you see fit.

For our design to cover a child’s tall single bed we did the following:

 

Materials

6 x 20mm PVC 3 Meter Pressure Pipes

2 x 20mm PVC Plain Tee

4 x 20mm EzyFit 3 Way PVC Joint

4x 20mm PVC End Caps

2 x Spray Paint Cans

1 x Canopy Cover

 

Method

1. Cut the piping into the following:

• 7 lengths of 1.05 Meters
• 4 lengths of 1.95 Meters

2. Spray paint the piping in the colour of your choice

(my daughter chose gloss pink)

3. Attach the End Caps to one end of the 1.95m lengths, attach the 3 Way Joints to the other end.

4. Attach two of the 1.05m lengths end to end with a Plain Tee. Do this again with two more.

5. With a helper, stand up the 1.95m lengths at each corner of the bed. Use the 1.05m pieces to span the width at the head and foot of the bed by inserting into the 3 Way Joints. Use the already joined other 1.05m lengths to span the width and insert into the Joints.  Use the remaining 1.05m piece to connect the two Plain Tee’s across the middle of the bed.

6. Use 3m ribbon to tie from the centre of the bed foot frame to the centre of the head frame, wrapping around the middle pipe as you do.

7. Put canopy cover on top and drape over your frame.

And that’s it!  Really simple and easy to do and a fun father-daughter activity to help fill in a weekend.