Bunk/ Loft Beds

http://www.target.com/Mission-Bunk-Bed-Trundle-Cherry/dp/...

We got this online from target and love it. There were some hassels in putting it together (i.e. they sent screws that were too short, etc) But once it's together it is great. The up and down ladder (rather than the slanted one) saves room. The finish is great. You can get a trundel or drawers underneath (I think).

My little girl slept on it for a couple months and then decided she was afraid because she saw a few spiders on the ceiling and thought they'd get her at night up high. So she hasn't slept on it for months. But she's pretty young and I'm hoping she'll grow back into it:)

We had the opposite problem. When we put the bunk beds together when our girls were young (about ages 4 and 5, the younger girl was afraid to sleep under the other (go figure-she was claustraphobic). So, we took them back apart for 4 years. In the mean time, the older girl moved into our spare room. Now, recently, my husband put them back to one bed, and the younger girl sleeps on top and stuff collects on the bottom!

C.,
Here is my experience. My son is 6 and we bought him a great bunk bed from PM Bedroom Gallery on Route 59 in Aurora about two years ago. We had the delivery guys put the bed together as a loft and they left us with all the parts in case we wanted to change it to a bunk bed later. The bed frames are made for PM Bedroom Gallery by the Amish and they are really sturdy and stylish. Also, the type of bed I bought can be taken apart and made into two separate beds. We purchashed a full size bunk bed. This way when college days are here, he'll have a bed to take and one to leave!! I love the bed and so does my son. Having a loft bed allows toys and his train table to be stored underneath. Hope this helps.

We got a very nice quality loft bedroom set for my daughter who has a tiny room and no closet space. We got it from a new store called Cribs to College on Rt. 59 near North Aurora in the Fox Valley area. They just closed their small store and are opening a much bigger store on the northeast corner of that intersection (near the old pop and popcorn theater) next weekend. My daughters room is 11x11 and we got a full size loft bed, dresser w/mirror, chest, desk and chair with a hutch, and another dresser w/hutch that goes under the loft and two side bookshelves with drawers. LOTS of storage and even has a staircase with pull out drawers to get up to the loft. All fit right under the bed except for the chest and dresser w/mirror. Finally enough storage for all her stuff in a very small space.

Hi C., I bought my bunkbeds from Room 4 Kids located in Chinatown. They have weird hours, but their furniture is great! All very solid and similar in design to Pottery Barn Kids & Land of Nod. The prices are half what you'd pay in the store b/c they manufacture all of their own stuff.

My husband spent weeks and weeks planning out a bunk bed that he built for my girls. We had seen one in a magazine article about some celebrity and he thought it was beautiful, but way out of our price range. It is an amazing castle bunk with built in shelves in the turrets and a book/movie shelf on the front side. Every person who has been to our house wants him to build them one. He even made plans for a barn one too. My girls are another story. The bed has been in their room for about 2 years and I can count on one hand the number of times it has been slept in by my girls. When they have overnight guests they use it. Otherwise, my younger one won't sleep alone and her sister says the top bunk is too warm. I love sleeping in the bottom bunk and that's where I sneak off to for the rare nap. The top bunk now displays stuffed animals. So, no from all the other posts I at least know that my children aren't the only ones who won't use a bunk bed. No matter how beautiful, good luck getting kids to sleep in them.

Hi

I agree with the other poster I was hesitant to get a loft bed because when my older two were younger nobody wanted to sleep on the top. But due to the need for the room we bought a really nice double left bed from value city furniture. It really nice it is shaped like an L however the kids dont want to sleep in the top at all. They always end up on the couch I cant wait to move so we can get them some regular beds. I also recomend getting a lighter mattress I did and it makes a word of a difference when your changing the sheets. We got the mattresses at ikea.

Some kids love them, and then some kids think they love them but once they get home they're not interested whatsoever.

My friend bought her boys bunk beds because they always raved about how cool they were.

Two years later, to this day NO ONE has slept on the top bunk. They refuse. One sleeps on the bottom bed and the other sleeps on a mattress on the floor.

So...make sure your kids DEFINITELY want to do this before investing!

Hi C.,

Depending on how handy you and your hubby are, you can just purchase the plans for a loft and build it yourself. We ended up doing that for my stepdaughter, and you get to customize it however you want. I'd be happy to send you the PDF file of the plans if I can track them down.

IKEA has a very reasonably priced one that we put in our son's rooom and placed a desk under it so he'd have a homework nook. It was a fabulous idea until he got too tall and hit his head on the ceiling all the time (around age 11). If you want to come and get it, we'll let you have it for a song.