minimalist bed for kids? « Back to Group Discussions

[Oliver's Mama]

So happy to have this group! I lurked in the decluttering forum, but never quite fit in!

I have 2 boys- a 4 year old in a toddler bed and a 20 month old in a crib who share a 10x10 room that doubles as their main play space in the home.  The little one is ready to move out of the crib, and the older one needs a bit more room to wiggle in, and in thinking of possible sleep solutions, my initial thought was to just get rid of the beds and put their mattresses on the floor side by side, or give them a full size mattress to share.  Surprisingly, dh was totally on board, though he's not really minimalist and insists on doing things "properly" (meaning, don't question the standard). They have no other furniture in the room, other than their train table and toys.

I know plenty of people share beds and just do mattresses on the floor, but it is weird at all to ask our kids to do that, if we as their parents won't? It would certainly save space and I hate the under-the-bed black hole, and they loved sharing a bed while on vacation last week.

[Mommel]

I don't think that's weird at all! As a kid I had my bed on the floor (no dust bunnies to clean or places to shove excess stuff - I guess I was a minimalist even then!) and I shared a bed with my sister until I was ten and she was seven. I am co-sleeping with DS and as soon as he starts to roll over I am going to have to ditch the boxspring and bed frame. If you are looking for support for that idea, I doubt if you'll find many dissenting opinions here! 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oliver's Mama 

So happy to have this group! I lurked in the decluttering forum, but never quite fit in!

I have 2 boys- a 4 year old in a toddler bed and a 20 month old in a crib who share a 10x10 room that doubles as their main play space in the home.  The little one is ready to move out of the crib, and the older one needs a bit more room to wiggle in, and in thinking of possible sleep solutions, my initial thought was to just get rid of the beds and put their mattresses on the floor side by side, or give them a full size mattress to share.  Surprisingly, dh was totally on board, though he's not really minimalist and insists on doing things "properly" (meaning, don't question the standard). They have no other furniture in the room, other than their train table and toys.

I know plenty of people share beds and just do mattresses on the floor, but it is weird at all to ask our kids to do that, if we as their parents won't? It would certainly save space and I hate the under-the-bed black hole, and they loved sharing a bed while on vacation last week.

[Oliver's Mama]

Thanks for some reassurance! I guess I'm just feeling worried that living in such small quarters, their beds were their last individual sanctuaries, and that maybe I shouldn't impose on that for the sake of minimizing furniture. It won't hurt to give it a try with their current mattresses before moving out the beds though I spose.

[Ramzubo]

I think either way would be perfectly fine.

I personally would lean to pushing the 2 mattresses together because I'm a tossy-turny sleeper. My sister and I shared for a while and she always complained that I would kick her at night. I would worry if I bought a mattress that they might eventually annoy each other. If you have a full sized one and don't need to buy one then I might try that, I just wouldn't want to buy one and then find out they need personal space.

I don't see anything wrong with the beds being on the floor. Our guest bed just sits on the box-spring without a bed frame, no one's complained yet. If you really felt they needed to be off the floor later you could always just get a bottom frame that's really low to the floor. I think it's the headboard and foot-boards that seem to take up a ton of room, but really don't serve a purpose.

[Rainey Daye]

My three little sisters shared a full-sized bed for about a year...just the mattress on the boxsprings without a frame. 

What my mom did is since they were still short enough is that she pushed one long end up to the wall and made the bed that way (as in, one side of the bed then became the head of the bed while the other side then became the foot). She just leaned all their pillows up against the wall and that was their "headboard" when the bed was made. Since their bed was now as wide as the length of the bed, they all seemed to have enough wiggle room (though the two younger ones always seemed to prefer snuggling anyway).

I always thought that was rather genius of her...no toys under the bed, and a cute, low, but big enough bed for them!! All their clothes fit either hung up on the bar or folded into the small chest tucked into one side of the closet and all their toys except their stuffies and babies fit into the bottom of the other side of the closet. Then their stuffies and babies were lined up along the wall on the floor near the bed and that was that...three little girls in a small room!!

[Honey693]

What about a daybed with a trundle and you could push them together at night to make a king?  That way during the day there's only a twin bed taking up floor space.

[mudhugger]

I agree-- I think it's a great idea.  As long as it's a comfy space, I bet they won't even notice.  And no worries of the monster under the bed, right?  :)  Love the idea of trundling the mattresses!  

[SunnyB1978]

We did the mattress on the floor for a couple of years.  It was great so that dd didn't fall out of bed.  However, it gets stepped on a lot.  That bothered me because I just never really thought it was clean.