Do you like loft beds?

[MrsMe]

I was thinking of lofting dd's bed (she's 11).

 

She still loves to play with toys and could use another bookshelf as she reads like crazy. I don't want to be stuck though with a white elephant. I know sheets would be a major pain, but was the extra space worth it?

[amy g.]

My 13 year old really wanted one for Christmas, but my friends convinced me that I would be wasting my money because she would not be able to sleep where it was hot and cramped.

 

I ended up getting her a nice wooden queen sized bed. She is happy with it, and it will last as long as she wants it.

[MrsMe]

I have a high ceiling on one end so it wouldn't be hot. But I do worry about full size - weight limits and I'm not buying a new mattress. I have a Sealy.

[homebody2k]

My daughter(12) has one and it is great - she loves it.

 

But we have 9 ft ceilings in her room. So she isn't hot or cramped. We bought the really tall one from IKEA so I can walk under it also (I'm 5'7)

 

We had one years ago for my son, but it wasn't tall enough to walk under and he got tired of it - too cavelike underneath.

 

So I think it mainly depends on the height of your ceilings - but at our house it is great.

[JudoMom]

All 5 of my boys have lofts. It's one of the best things we ever did. They share two rooms, but now they each have their own space under their beds, with a desk and a set of shelves.

[amy g.]

Yes. Our ceilings are lower. That is why my friends thought she wouldn't really sleep in it. She also tends to be a princess and the pea type, so utter comfort was a priority if I was going to be spending money.

[MrsMe]

My daughter(12) has one and it is great - she loves it.

 

But we have 9 ft ceilings in her room. So she isn't hot or cramped. We bought the really tall one from IKEA so I can walk under it also (I'm 5'7)

 

We had one years ago for my son, but it wasn't tall enough to walk under and he got tired of it - too cavelike underneath.

 

So I think it mainly depends on the height of your ceilings - but at our house it is great.

 

Do you have the name of it?

 

 

Also, I just saw a picture of one with a bed a few inches off the floor and standing space above it. I think they pulled the bed out, but it does give me an idea to building shelving above the bed instead of the bed below. Although that may be a pain to clean.

[Rosie Q]

Ds has a loft bed, and he enjoys having the extra space underneath. However, it is very difficult to make the bed, and I have to "help" a lot. In retrospect, I wish we had not gotten it. I had hoped that my son would be more able to take care of making the bed himself by now - we've had it for about five years.

[homebody2k]

Stora is the name

 

here's a link

 

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80160867/

[KS_]

We bought them for both dc and the extra space has been very nice (their rooms are about 10 x 12), but making the beds is a pain, and I won't do it for them. So they are always in some state of messiness. And in the summers, they can get too hot up there and end up sleeping on the floor (no high ceilings).

[In the Rain]

We have had the same problems others have mentioned. The top level can be much warmer than normal bed height. One summer (in our air conditioned house), our dd slept on an air mattress under her desk. Even now at 10, she can't change the sheets. Dh has to climb up there and do it.

 

That said, we'd like a loft bed for our other dd. The girls have tiny rooms, and don't have room for a bed, dresser, book shelf and desk.

[MrsMe]

Stora is the name

 

here's a link

 

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80160867/

 

 

Thanks for the link. I think DH could make that! Looks kinda scary.

 

I agree that making the bed could be a real pain.

[AngelBee]

One good thing is you can't really see up there so if bed is sloppily made...you'll never see it! ;)

[MrsMe]

Stora is the name

 

here's a link

 

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80160867/

 

One good thing is you can't really see up there so if bed is sloppily made...you'll never see it! ;)

 

 

Yeah, and I won't know what's growing up their either.

 

Ewwww....that's another thought.:tongue_smilie:

[sparrow]

We've been thinking of building one for our son's room. It's the smallest bedroom in the house and he could use the space.

 

I found a website that provides plans and a supply list. They also have customer photo gallery, which provided some helpful ideas:

 

http://www.oploftbed.com/plans/gallery.php

[Dustybug]

My roommate in college and I ditched the standard dorm beds (put them in storage for the year) and put in a lofted bed that was specially built and passed down through our sorority year after year. It was joined at the footboard area with a joint ladder down the middle. It was great! It gave us so much more room in our dorm room. We each had our desks underneath and some bookshelves.

[Mom22ns]

Dh built dd a loft bed for her birthday two years ago. She loves it and so do I. She has shelves and a big comfy chair under it and spends lots of time there. She has never been to hot or cramped up high. Making the bed is a pain but we're not "the bed must be made every day" people, so it's all good here.

[Chris in VA]

Dh made dd11 this one last year for her birthday. The plans were really easy to follow. I thought the bookshelves were attached, but they aren't.

 

The only thing I don't like about it is that I can't sit beside dd anymore at bedtime, and talk or pray or just hug her. Wish we had waited a year.

[ZooRho]

We've been thinking of building one for our son's room. It's the smallest bedroom in the house and he could use the space.

 

I found a website that provides plans and a supply list. They also have customer photo gallery, which provided some helpful ideas:

 

http://www.oploftbed.com/plans/gallery.php

 

we built them for our boys.

we sort of used those plans from the OP website but did our own thing for one son

 

the other son we found one at a unfinished wood place.

[Spryte]

Our 20 year old had a loft bed for years. Loved it.

 

We had some kind of fan that we mounted the wall opposite, and he used that for white noise and a breeze every night.

 

As for making it... When he was younger, I'd climb up and do it. Then (maybe when he was 12?), I rebelled. I insisted that he change the fitted sheet once a week, and we opted for a duvet with cover - but no top sheet. Each week, he swapped out the duvet cover, and put on a clean one. He liked giving his room a different look every week. I asked that he straighten the duvet daily, but it was pretty simple.

 

Our 7 yr old has a beautiful twin bed, the kind that will last forever, wonderful craftsmanship... But I am dying to just drive to Ikea and pick up a loft - for the extra space it would give!

[In2why]

Both boys have lofts and love them. It has been 3 years and they haven't complained about heat and they really like the space underneath. The sets have dressers, shelves, and a small desk underneath. The sheets can be a pain but it is worth it. It gives them the floor space to build massive lego creations.

[love2read]

Loved the idea and built our own. The ceilings do need to be a certain height for lofts to be comfortable when sitting up and ours weren't.

[5LittleMonkeys]

My two oldest share the bonus room above the garage and have these loft beds. They love them. Fitted sheets aren't hard at all to put on and then they just use a blanket to cover up with that they fold and put at the end of their bed in the a.m. They've never liked flat sheets but if they wanted them I would just create corners on the bottoms and add elastic so that the ends of the top sheet would stay tucked in. (That's how I do my other two dd's bunk beds.)

 

They've never complained about being too hot but they have a ceiling fan in the middle of the room so that probably helps.

 

We do have 9 foot ceilings too. I don't think they would work well if we only had 8 foot ceilings.

[ashfern]

Dh made dd11 this one last year for her birthday. The plans were really easy to follow. I thought the bookshelves were attached, but they aren't.

 

That's the same one we built for DS. He has a small room & needed the floor space. He's never complained about being too hot.

[Lucy in Australia]

DS15 has one that DH built. While it's great for making more room, DS & I both dislike it because 1) it gets WAY too hot - we live in a warm climate- 2) it's a huge pain in the neck to change the sheets and 3) it's not practical to use as a guest room when the guest is Grandma and not that keen on clambering up and down when she has to go to the toilet at night :tongue_smilie: We will not be doing it for the other kids :glare:

Edited January 1, 2012 by Lucy in Australia
spelling :)

[K-FL]

We had 2 for our dds. They had their chest of drawers under one & desk under the other. They put them together themselves at about 13-15yo. Since these are made for college students, they support adult-sized people. I do suggest putting plywood instead of the slats for 120lbs +.

 

Since they'd always had bunks, the maintenance of making & sheet changing was "the norm."

[Katiebug_1976]

Dd14 has a small room, so dh mounted her bed to the wall (like a top bunk but w/o out the bottom bunk. Does that make sense?). She was able to put her desk under her bed and still has room for a book shelp or comfy reading chair. It makes her room seem so much bigger and she loves it!

[Ester Maria]

I will be a voice of dissent: I really do not like them as a "standard arrangement" (rather than, say, having that kind of arrangement on another property you only use sporadically or for holidays, etc.). Unless there are real space issues which pretty much mandate that kind of arrangement, I would not wish it in my house. Most of those arrangements do not "look nice" to me (I am one of those superficial people for whom aesthetics of the place matters, LOL), and even though I know the constructions are safe, I always have an uneasy feeling about it. But, that is just me. :001_smile:

[Photo Ninja]

If your ceilings are tall enough for someone to sit on the bed, then loft beds are a great space-claiming option. The important thing is to learn how to deal with sheets. Use fitted sheets and a duvet instead of flat sheets and a blanket. That simplifies everything and makes making the bed much easier and faster. It is worth having a loft bed if you need the space for a dresser, bookcase and/or desk, or toys.

[QuirkyKapers]

I love loft beds. I think it just adds so much extra space to a small room. We haven't broken down and bought the kids any. I will have to keep in mind the ceiling height and making the bed. I was more concerned about them falling out and breaking something and hadn't thought about those other things. I always liked my loft bed in college.

[MrsMe]

Oh no! No kisses and hugs? That's one thing I didn't think about.

 

On the other hand I like the college link one... that the ladder is the bed and you crawl in from the foot. :)

[SweetMissMagnolia]

even though the one we got had rails I was afraid that kiddo would roll/fall off during the night...he never slept in it....I'd get a regular bed........

[KAR120C]

He likes it. It's not hot or cramped, he's never hit his head on the ceiling... and we don't have high ceilings - just standard 8'. It has rails all the way around, about a foot off the mattress, so it would take some effort to get over them (nothing that's going to happen by accident in the middle of the night). It is hard to make the bed, just because you can't walk around it on the floor, but he manages. This is the one we have, with a futon.

 

That said.... we're planning a move, and he's opting to sell the loft bed and replace it with a regular twin sized bed. There's a good chance the new house is going to have a 3rd floor (converted attic) room for him where there wouldn't be room for a large loft bed, but where he won't have the floor space limitations we have in our current house. So while this has been excellent for our current situation, he's not completely devoted or anything - it's just convenient.

[SW in IL]

My son had a loft bed for many years... From about age 8 or 9 or 10 until about a year ago. It was the kind that had dresser drawers and a desk built in and had a "cubby hole" for storage in the back (which we turned into a reading nook that he loved). The bed also had a pull out that was supposed to be used as a trundle but we never bought a second mattress so never used it.

 

The bed was great and ds loved it until he got to be 14 or 15. Then, when he sat up in bed, the top of his head almost brushed the ceiling.

 

Yes, it is harder to make the bed - I was quick to teach ds how to change his own sheets (I washed them). But the storage beneath the bed was worth its weight in gold. I'd highly recommend one to anyone who has very limited space (my son's room is meant to be a study with a tiny closet and not much floor space).

 

Sue

[ThelmaLou]

My oldest boys, 16 and 14, have loft beds. My 16 year old has a full size. He's 6'6 and has to sleep diagonally to fit in his bed, but still likes it. Ours are the Tromso style from Ikea. Creates much more space in their rooms. They have chairs/desks underneath. They love them.

[ocelotmom]

Zombie thread almost tricked me. Spam reported.

[LibraryLover]

My youngest had a loft bed until we moved (She might have been around 85 lbs at the time she had to give it up.  It was the little kids' full twin Ikea one, since other loft beds were too tall for our eaves.  No issues). Her room was small and this gave much needed space. She had set up the bottom as a reading nook. It was very cozy.

[abacus2]

I see that this is an older thread, but I am commenting anyway since I am sure others have this question. I don't like the really tall walk-under loft beds, but we recently purchased a mid-height loft with a pull out desk, drawers, shelves, a cabinet, and a bedside shelf for my 10 year old that is great.

 

http://www.walmart.com/ip/38197816

[SweetMissMagnolia]

for older kids yes I think they are a good idea...for my son when we had one in his room it made me nervous that he would fall off (even with the railing)....