Old cot? New spot!

Upcycle, or re-purpose your old baby cot into a lovely day-bed! I really love the new space I’ve created for sitting and looking out over my beautiful garden:

Isn’t that dreamy? There’s a lovely breeze coming in the window and the soft South-facing light coming in is perfect for relaxing on a Summer’s Day.  (I’m in the Southern Hemisphere, remember! South is our “dark” side.)

Creating this space was the easiest thing in the world because our old cot was already quite a flexible type: remove one fixed side and the other pieces hinge freely. I simply pushed the drop-down to side up into it’s “keep baby from climbing out” position and installed the cot base up high, like you would for a newborn.

Plonk the cot mattress back down, cover it up with a nice blanket or quilt (I’m using a daggy old cot sheet for now, but I’m planning to make a quilted cover), stick some comfy pouffy cushions or some bed pillows on top, and it becomes a wonderful day bed. It attracts the children like magnets!

I had to shove aside my crafting table so that I could fit it into the room nicely (the sides are high, and solid, so they were too bulky in the corner near the fireplace). Which was a little sad, because that was also a great spot for the natural light to come in onto my sewing desk. Now I just shove the curtain out of the way to let some natural light fall in at the sides.

Not all cots can be taken apart easily like ours. I think this would work best with flat-pack items that you have to screw together yourself. You can still upcycle a solid cot, but you need to be willing to cut into some wood! This is usually a one-way trip, unless you are good with carpentry. 🙂

What have I done with the remaining side of the cot?

I tipped it sideways and balanced it on my bedside table area and used it to hang a pair of lovely cross-stitch embroideries (worked by my mother-in-law many years ago!). I like the sort of ad hoc way it fills the blank space beside the bed, without being cluttered. I find that I can only keep areas like this tidy by not having any stuff there, otherwise it tends to attract piles of stuff!

If you have an old cot, and nobody to pass it on to, why not consider re-using it for something else? If you haven’t got space and want to get rid of it, you can try selling it locally (gumtree or ebay or your equivalent), or just give it away to your local thrift store or charity. Would you believe I see cots like this on the kerb come council clean up time?