Easy Canopy bed for kids

A few years ago we started out our girls in a shared bedroom and playing room but keeping in mind that the furniture is coordinated and flexible for the time when the girls would want their own rooms. Well, my younger one decided that she wants a canopy bed… something I hadn't planned for. Even though Pottery Barn makes beautiful canopy beds, I couldn't order a canopy kit for the Catalina bed that we had and I didn't want to upgrade the whole bed for what might end up being a passing fancy.

Pinterest came to my rescue and I found this beautiful post for ceiling mounted canopy by Olive and Love. I followed all the directions from their post, except that I ended up using a plastic coated cable and that made the double ferrel too small for the cables to move freely, so go with a size up if you're using the plastic coated cables. I also wanted the flexibility to remove and wash the curtains if needed (my girl is a chocolate lover and sometimes she gets mistaken between hanging curtains and towels on bars), so I replaced the double ferrel on one end with the wing nut.

I did use the Ikea sheer curtains but had to personalize them so I sewed the same pom-poms, that I had used for making the fabric banner just a little larger in size, along the edge of the curtain. It was meant to be a surprise for my daughter but I forgot to put away the project and of course the first thing that she noticed after she came back from school was the pom-poms and played with it. Her joy was contagious and I ended up taking pictures of it all. 

Here's how the canopy looks once its all hung up. I wrapped the cable that hung the curtains with the fabric banner that I posted about in the last post, it hid the hardware detail in a perfectly playful and feminine way. The white muslin backing was neutral against the chevron wall but the banner is bright pink against the white of the curtains in the front.

The final product, after my girl styled it with some of her toys and pillows.