New Posts  All Forums:
 

Bunkbeds -- Good or bad?

post #1 of 33
12/15/09 at 12:16pm
Thread Starter 
OK - since I've decided that my boys will be sharing a room for a long time, if not forever, I have some questions about bunkbeds.

My boys have twin beds in their room that could be bunked. We don't have them bunked for several reasons:

1. They would block a window (there are two windows in this corner room).
2. Our ceilings are fairly low (7.5 ft high) and the bunkbeds are full height.
3. I'm worried the kids would get hurt.
4. My kids like to flop on their beds and read. We like to sit on their beds and read to them.
5. Each of their twin beds currently has a set of three drawers that go under them, so each boy uses that as his dresser (enough space for now, but not for when they get older and wear larger clothes).

Obviously there are also many benefits to bunking the beds. Does anyone love their bunkbeds so much that they would try to convince me to try bunking ours?!

Thanks!

You may also like:

Sitting or Squatting: What's Really Best in the Bathroom?
There Is Not Always a "Fix" For the Difficult Child
10 Things You Don't Need For a New Baby
post #2 of 33
12/15/09 at 1:00pm
I think how you have it now is good for them now.

In 6 months, a year, you might find that they're using the space differently and bunking the beds works better.

You might never bunk the beds, and instead turn both of them into lofts with desk space underneath when they're teens. Or, since they'd be teens, maybe they'll do it.

Since they like flopping down on their beds, underbed storage is probably a better choice right now if you need some more room in the room.
post #3 of 33
12/15/09 at 1:01pm
I"m curious about people's opinions on this too. We are moving soon and right now our girls' beds aren't bunked, but they could be and it seems like when we move might be a good time to make that transition...
post #4 of 33
12/15/09 at 1:03pm
My son had a lofted bed for a time. I didn't like that you couldn't cuddle him or read in his bed with him. If I could go back... I'd find another solution.
post #5 of 33
12/15/09 at 1:12pm
We had a castle loft bed. It was a really cool bed, but I always felt nervous with her sleeping up there. I liked that she could play under it, but it wasn't worth it to me. I'm glad we got rid of it, especially since she started being a lot more active in her sleep as she got older.
post #6 of 33
12/15/09 at 2:48pm
Thread Starter 
I am thinking I will leave them as is. Maybe in a few years they will demand bunkbeds and at that time I can reconsider. I am definitely a worrier, so having the bunkbeds might keep me up at night! I should have added that one to my list....

They look so cool, though, and they free up so much floor space!

Oh well.
post #7 of 33
12/15/09 at 3:20pm
We got Barn Door furniture about twelve years ago. We've bunked them, L-shaped them, Lofted them - all different arrangements! Now that my son is 18 and sharing a room with his 13 yo brother we have one lofted w/a queen size mattress underneath.

I don't think twin beds are long term beds for teenagers, they're just too small for larger than average teenage boys. My 18yo is 6'4" and weighs about 190lbs. Picture a man climbing into a bunk - not gonna happen.

ETA: He's been the same size since he was 14, FYI.
post #8 of 33
12/15/09 at 3:51pm
Thread Starter 
Ours are This End Up, so very similar to Barn Door. Fantastic furniture. I can't even imagine what things will be like when my oldest is 18 -- hopefully he won't be as big as yours! Wow. And they still share a room!
post #9 of 33
12/15/09 at 6:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by taubel View Post
Ours are This End Up, so very similar to Barn Door. Fantastic furniture. I can't even imagine what things will be like when my oldest is 18 -- hopefully he won't be as big as yours! Wow. And they still share a room!
Yep, and let me tell you he stays out of a lot of trouble due to it!
post #10 of 33
12/16/09 at 1:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Usually Curious View Post

I don't think twin beds are long term beds for teenagers, they're just too small for larger than average teenage boys. My 18yo is 6'4" and weighs about 190lbs. Picture a man climbing into a bunk - not gonna happen.
But twins, well, long twins, are what most colleges use in the dorms.
post #11 of 33
12/16/09 at 5:50pm
My girls have bunk beds. For me it is a real space saver. Their bedroom is tiny - it couldn't fit another bed, even without the other furniture in the room. It's been that way since they were 3 and 4. It works well for us, I use under-the-bed storage bins too.
post #12 of 33
12/16/09 at 6:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sapphire_chan View Post
But twins, well, long twins, are what most colleges use in the dorms.
We don't have xl bunks, though. I imagine the basketball dorms may have bigger beds. I hope they do.
post #13 of 33
12/16/09 at 6:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Usually Curious View Post
We don't have xl bunks, though. I imagine the basketball dorms may have bigger beds. I hope they do.
Our college had regular twins in some dorms, and xl twins in others. My first dorm had regular twins that could bunk or loft, but they were too short for the basketball players, so they had special xl beds, but they couldn't loft or bunk, so their room was always really crowded.
post #14 of 33
12/16/09 at 8:10pm
We have loft beds from Ikea plus the tent
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10123996
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20116207

The tent fits whether the bed is in the high or low position. In the low the tent rests on the high rails. It has worked great for us. We have really short ceilings about 6'8". This fits perfectly. My younger son we kept low and my older son is up high. If anyone wants a change all you do is flip it owver. We have very uneven wood floors with wide gaps between the boards so underneath I bought and cut foam flooring to fit. It gives a good flat area for legos or playmobil and the wood of the bed keeps everything contained. We did buy the Ikea mattresses because a regular twin would be too thick when up high and be above the edge.
post #15 of 33
12/17/09 at 12:39am
Another option would be to build a loft (not too high) for one of the beds, and put the other one underneath it in an L-shape.
You could always loft both beds to create more space under them for dressers and what not. You will probably end up with more space solutions this way then with a bunk bed.

There are many styles of loft beds. Just do a google image search.

two examples:
example 1
example 2
post #16 of 33
12/17/09 at 12:41am
we have not one, but two sets of bunkbeds in our sons' room. It actually ended up creating more space. They're the lower height ikea steel ones. The boys' room isn't that big, and now there's more "separate" space for each of the two kids.
post #17 of 33
12/17/09 at 1:04am
Thread Starter 
I do like the idea of the Ikea bunks and the mid-height loft beds. Unfortunately, we don't an Ikea in our area. Wish we did!

I would love to get the mid-height lofts, but the furniture we have was given to us, and I don't want to spend a fortune on new stuff.

Maybe I could get someone to build some sort of thing to raise the beds up though.

And we do have the option of lofting both beds in the future and having a desk and dresser under each.

The only problem is the layout of the room. There is a wide window on two walls, a closet on the other, and the blank wall is where you walk into the room, so there's really no room there.

We will probably end up switching bedrooms with our boys in the future. Our master is only two feet bigger, but the windows are in the corner, so there's a lot more wall space.
post #18 of 33
12/17/09 at 8:53am
Love, love, love the bunkbeds that we just got. Granted we have had them for less than a week, but there is now room for toys and playing in their room. The room does have nice size closets, so we keep thier clothes in bins in there. We have underbed storage in a drawer and i used one for baby dolls and one for dress up clothes. Wonderful!
post #19 of 33
12/17/09 at 12:12pm
We got bunkbeds just this year, I had plenty of reservations too but we've really been loving them. I was worried DS1(6) would fall from the top, despite the wooden safety rails on it, so we added an extra, inexpensive bedrail. I was also worried about not being able to fully tuck him in, but the kind we got is thick wood with drawers on the bottom so we're able to stand up on the side of the bottom bunk to reach his little face and check on him and all. We screwed a little shelf in the wall by the top bunk so he could have a space to keep his books, water, etc.

The space it saves it awesome. Both boys' beds and big drawers in just a fraction of the room! Changing the sheets on the top bunk is a total PITA, though
post #20 of 33
12/17/09 at 9:00pm
I find it a PITA changing linens on bunks, even the low-height ones.

Another con for me is that sleeping under a bunk is really bad for anyone even remotely allergic to dust.

You may also like:

Sitting or Squatting: What's Really Best in the Bathroom?
There Is Not Always a "Fix" For the Difficult Child
10 Things You Don't Need For a New Baby