Painted blue spindle bunk beds for girls

Are you looking for bunk bed ideas for girls? I’m going to show you how I took a vintage wood spindle bunk bed and transformed it with paint. This soft blue paint color is a great girl bedroom idea, especially mixed with the palest pink wall paint and colorful accents.  I used a custom mix of general finishes milk paint to get this light blue paint color.

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Supplies

• Wood glue
• Wood clamps
• Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint
• Persian Blue milk paint
• Snow White milk paint
• Paint Brush
• Small paint tray and roller
• Sandpaper

Before: Vintage Spindle Bunk Bed

I found this second hand bunk bed for $150 through Facebook marketplace. I love a bed with spindles, and I thought this bunk bed was perfect for our girls’ bedroom. They were in really great condition, except for a few minor cracks and dents.

Step 1: Repair the wood bunk beds

The bunk beds had just a few small cracks and holes. I used the air compressor and blew some wood glue into the cracks and clamped it tight. I filled all the holes and dents with spackling and let it dry.

Step 2: Prime the wood bunk beds

Before priming the beds I cleaned them using water and tsp. Once that was dry, I lightly sanded using 150 grit sandpaper,

Next I did a coat of primer on the beds using a 4 inch paint roller. With chalk and milk style paint, you don’t always have to prime. I generally like to prime, it makes me feel that the paint will go on smoother and provide better coverage.

Step 3: Mix the paint

I decided to use general finishes milk paint and mix two shades to get a custom light blue color for these bunk beds. I used the same color combination for the dressers in the girls bedroom, and I wanted the beds to match. The ratio I used was of 1 part Persian Blue, and 4 parts Snow White milk paints.

I used my measuring cup to add 4 parts Snow White, 1 part Persian Blue, and mixed it all up to get a beautiful custom light blue color.

Step 4: Paint the spindle bunk beds light blue

I removed the bolts from the bunk beds before starting to paint. Then I applied two coats of light blue paint using a small paint roller, and using a paint brush to get into the hard to reach places. I sanded in between each coat using 220 grit sandpaper, and when the final coat was dry I lightly sanded with 400 grit.

Step 5: Spray paint the hardware

The only hardware on this bed were the bolts holding the brackets. I removed the bolts and spay painted them using oil rubbed bronze spray paint to match the hardware in the rest of the room. Once everything was dry, I put the beds back together and brought them up to our girls’ shared bedroom.

Girl bedroom Ideas with Blue painted bunk bedS

This bunk bed makeover started because our 4 year old daughter was still in her toddler bed, but was started to outgrow it. We wanted to move her up to a real bed, but in a shared girls bedroom we didn’t have the space for two twin beds.

I also decided to paint the walls in the girls bedroom. We had so much leftover paint from when we built our house, that I just mixed up a bunch of white and grey paint, with just a touch of pink. This mixture ended up as a very soft pale peachy pink. And I also finally painted all the trim in the girls’ bedroom. After three years living in our new house, I’m slowly chipping away at painting all the trim.

I made some bunk bed bedding using sheets I found at Value Village. I  sewed the sheets together on one side to make inseparable sheets, and also cut a white quilt in half to create coordinating bedding for each girl. I’d love to know what you think of these bunk beds for girls!

Check out these other girl bedroom ideas