Montessori Toddler Bedroom Tour (+Floor Bed IKEA Hack!)

After a few months of getting all the pieces added (with hubby's help in his spare time), I am SO beyond excited to finally be able to share Kylie's Montessori style bedroom with you all! Quick back story before you watch the video (bottom of post)...

She just turned 12 months old this week, so the bedroom tour you're about to see is geared toward both her current and upcoming practical life skills as a newly minted TODDLER (ahhhhh >.<)! However, she's been sleeping in a Montessori style set-up since she was 8 1/2 months old, when hubby came home from working in Australia after a few months of being gone and was able to help me properly baby-proof everything.

Up until now, her bed was just a simple mattress on the floor. But her constant rolling around all over the bed at night kept causing her to roll OFF the bed and wake up several times each night (although on rare occasions she stayed asleep somehow?!?). She's always been a very active sleeper, and I kept waiting for the time when she would "learn the boundaries" of her bed... but, alas, that day did not appear to be anywhere in the near future. Not to mention, neither of us was getting ANY sort of quality sleep in the mean time, because she would not simply crawl back into bed by herself... she would just wake up on the floor and start crying for me instead...

So hubby and I created our very own IKEA hack of the Kura Bed to allow her to retain her freedom of movement about the room (which is really the point of the floor bed) without falling out of bed constantly, as you'll see in the video! I haven't seen it anywhere else on the internet yet, so hopefully this helps someone else who might be having the same issue!

And I have to say... the new setup is working BEAUTIFULLY now! She no longer ever rolls out of the bed! It only took her one day to figure out how to get out safely using the "doorway", with a little encouraging practice time while she was awake during the day. She doesn't even really bother to get out of bed at night anymore, even if she wakes up, which she still does at least once usually. As for her two naps and in the morning (when it's time to wake up for the day), she will get out of bed on her own and either play with the toys or books on her shelf for a few minutes, or come straight to the door (which I leave closed, but cracked) and open it up herself. The baby gate prevents her from leaving the room so she doesn't get hurt, as our bedrooms are on the upper level of the house pretty close to the stairs. The stairs also have a baby gate, but it still makes me nervous, so having both gates really puts my mind at ease for night time sleeping. As for her naps, I'm usually awake and busy working in the loft area just outside her bedroom door, so I'm typically waiting for her as she opens the door anyway (you'll see this in action at the start of the video - so cute!).

Now, without further ado, let's take a look at Kylie's Montessori toddler bedroom!