twin over full or regular bunk bed for 3 yo and 11 yo?

[caedmyn]

We want to get a bunk bed for the room my 3 yo and 11 yo share.  Our almost 2 yo will eventually be in that room also.  DH wants a twin over full so we can use it as a guest bed also.  We do not have any other space for a guest bed.  However, we very rarely have overnight guests other than my parents (maybe 2-3 times a year, usually a single person).  My parents prefer to sleep on our couches and wouldn’t use a guest bed.  DH also thinks the twin over fulls are sturdier than regular bunk beds, which would be a good thing if they are as my boys are wrecking machines.  But the bedroom they share is on the small side, about 10x12, and it has a large dresser in it already, so a full bed would take up more of the limited floor space.  Also, I think my boys would try to jump from the top bunk to the bottom with a twin over full.  Is it worth getting a twin over full, or should we stick to a regular bunk bed?

[Ottakee]

With the twin over fill you could put older da on top and have younger 2 share one bed.  Or as they got older put oldest ds on the bottom with the full so he had more room to spread out and put them 6-7 year old up top.

Our twin over full was very sturdy.

[Corraleno]

DS had a twin over full bed when he was younger, even though he didn't share the room. He very often used it as a play space because it had a fort-like quality but was also big enough for two (or more) people to play, spread out toys, etc. It was also much more comfortable for story time and snuggling — often DD would join in, and sometimes DH would pile in as well so all 4 of us would be in there. So I'd say that if you and/or DH will be doing story time and other bedtime things with both boys together, then I would definitely go with a full for the bottom bunk.

ETA: Ottakee makes a good point about sturdiness — DS's bunk was wood and super solid, there was no way anyone could tip that thing over. Also, if kids were horsing around in the top bunk and someone went over the rail, at least they landed in the bottom bunk instead of on the floor.

Edited May 25, 2020 by Corraleno

[cjzimmer1]

We had 3 girls so went the twin over full route.  In hindsight I would have skipped that and went with regular bunk bed and then a pull out or separate twin even if it didn't leave much floor space.  Reason being when they are small they didn't mind sharing a bed but as they got older, no matter which 2 shared a bed, their sleep was really impacted by not having their own space.  And by the time they were around 10 no one wanted to share a bed with anyone.  So we ended up getting rid of the twin over full and just going with regular bunk bed.  Since I view furniture as a long term investment, I found it wasteful to have to replace it after 6 years when my other 2 sets of bunk beds were still in use after 15 and 10 years respectively.  (Yes, I have now purchased 4 different bunk bed sets and the only one not in use is the twin over full).

[gardenmom5]

given the size of the room - I'd do a regular bunk bed.  (you can always do a "pull-out" mattress under the bottom bunk.

  how sturdy a bed is, is based on construction.  I've seen regular bunks that are sturdier than some twin over full.

[katilac]

If you're going to have 3 kids in there, won't you need more than two twin beds? One option is a bunk bed with a trundle, it's nice because the trundle doesn't take up extra space like the full. They look like this.

 

[caedmyn]

The youngest would sleep in a toddler bed til age 5 or 6.  My oldest will likely be out of the house in 4 or 5 years so we’ll probably have another bedroom available by the time he needs a regular sized bed.

[Pen]

Twin over full.  Much more versatile.

also better if someone falls off top bunk onto padded bottom one..

[katilac]

19 minutes ago, caedmyn said:

The youngest would sleep in a toddler bed til age 5 or 6.  My oldest will likely be out of the house in 4 or 5 years so we’ll probably have another bedroom available by the time he needs a regular sized bed.

If your siggy is accurate, your oldest will only be 18-19 by then. I wouldn't count on him being gone, lol. 

[katilac]

1 hour ago, caedmyn said:

Also, I think my boys would try to jump from the top bunk to the bottom with a twin over full.  

I've never known a kid who wouldn't try to jump from the top bunk to the bare floor, so . . . 

[KungFuPanda]

My daughter had a twin trundle bed that pulled out and popped up to regular height. It was very versatile. We could have a twin footprint, or a king, or two twins when necessary. We’ve even used the trundle lie to the floor when necessary.

A bunk can always be secured to the wall. 

[hippiemamato3]

11 hours ago, caedmyn said:

The youngest would sleep in a toddler bed til age 5 or 6.  My oldest will likely be out of the house in 4 or 5 years so we’ll probably have another bedroom available by the time he needs a regular sized bed.

A toddler bed till age 6? They are literally a crib mattress. There's no way that would be appropriate.

[ktgrok]

12 hours ago, CuriousMomof3 said:

I wouldn't put an impulsive three year old in a room with a bunkbed.  I'd get a trundle bed, maybe a trundle bed with an upper bunk you can add later, but bunk bed falls are common, and I've see the results of head injury from a similar height.  It's not a risk I would take.  AAP suggest no one under 6 on the top bunk, and unless you could guarantee he wouldn't climb up there, I wouldn't risk it.

This. A million times this. 

I know the risk gets blown off usually when I bring it up, but bunk bed injuries are a real, documented thing, and not uncommon. Especially with wild boys. Especially with a 2 yr old in the house who will be climbing up faster than you can blink. Then someone gets mad, there is mild shoving with no ill will, or some wrestling, and someone falls over. Plus risk of hanging/entanglement, etc. No. 

If the youngest was 6 or so, okay. But not with that the oldest. 

A trundle bed is MUCH safer, and my kids LOVE theirs. We got a daybed with trundle, and during the day it is a little couch for them basically, and they have a TV in there now so they can lounge on the daybed part to watch TV, read, etc. Then at night they pull out the bottom bed. For bedding/linens what ended up working was matching bottom sheets, matching pillow cases, with both on the top daybed duringthe day, and two fleece blankets (they don't use a top sheet. The fleece blankets are the same kind, but different colors and both are (theoretically) folded and thrown over the arms of the daybed during the day. In actuality they are just tossed on each end, but it still looks fine. Oh, and some throw pillows in coordinating colors. (we have grey sheets and grey pillows, with teal and gold throw pillows, a grey fleece blanket and a pink fleece blanket )

We have a similar set up for the 3 year old - she sleeps on a daybed in the playroom/school room, with a trundle that i often pull out and sleep on when DH is snoring too loudly. That one we keep a comforter on, plus arrange the pillows to form a back for lounging, etc. 

Plus SO much easier to make the bed than bunk beds! Changing sheets on a bunk bed is NOT fun. If the kids will be PIA about who sleeps where just take turns. With the matching sheets that is even easier. Photo shows there's as it normally is, those sheets are a bit big for the mattresses, hence the wrinkled look. Other photo is of daybed for 3 yr old, in the toy/school room, with a comforter to hide bottom mattress. I just took it now, the comforter and sheets/pillow cases need to be washed as they have wet dog foot prints on them - it is raining here and they just jumped on it. DD sleeps UNDER the comforter, for that reason, unlike siblings. Obviously, one could make these look way nicer....but I'm showing you the "as is" version, lol. I'm a HUGE fan of trundle beds now - just so much safer especially with littles, and we have tile in that one room, and the older kids think it looks so "grown up" to have a "couch" in their room.  (other kids could have comforters if they wanted, they just were not interested...they got fleece blankets for christmas and like those better. But looking at it, I may put a comforter on just to have it look nicer, and DS can sleep on top of it, with his fleece blanket)

Edited May 25, 2020 by Ktgrok

[Pen]

 

26 minutes ago, Ktgrok said:

 

That’s Sandy? I had No idea she was so big!!!  Great picture! 😊

[RootAnn]

We ended up getting a twin over full futon bunk bed when dd#1 moved to her own room. We put dd#3 in with her for a few years & then moved her out. The summer before dd#1 left for college, we moved her out & moved ds#1 & ds#2 in.

I don't regret the purchase because it is so versatile. We've moved kids around a lot.

[Clemsondana]

My 14yo didn't want to give up any floor space, but we had to move him out of the twin once he was taller than 6 feet - he just didn't fit.  We ended up with a twin XL.  We would have happily gotten him at least a full, but he'd rather have the space in the room.  My daughter has always had a full - these days it's a low loft and her bookcase, her American Girl dolls, and a blanket where she sits to do a lot of her school work live underneath.  You might also consider a lofted bed with a bed turned perpendicular underneath to make an L, maybe in a corner of the room, instead of a traditional stacked bunk.  My daughter's loft, for example, is a bed frame on a detachable loft base so at some point we might choose to unloft it.  This might let you swap out the bottom for a full or twin XL in the future if you need to.  

[ktgrok]

54 minutes ago, happysmileylady said:

I have two pieces of information about a trundle.

First, if you have carpet in the bedroom, it can be a pain to pull out and push back in.  Before we got them the bunkbed (which we didn't get till after we moved here) we had a trundle for their very small room.  It was not a pop up, it just pulled out at the bottom.  It was so hard to move on the carpet, that often, we ended up just leaving it pulled out most of the time, which of course, defeats the purpose of having it. lol.  But if the room has a hard surface floor, it will be much easier to pull out.

Second, the pop up kind.

So, yeah, I had one of those when I was a kid.  When I was 10ish, my siblings and I figured out how to set up the pop up but not actually lock it.  Once we figured that out, we would set it up, then run down the hall and into the bedroom at top speed (my bedroom was at the end of the hall, so direct line lol)  and then jump on the trundle, which would then immediately fall down.  It was hilariously awesome because for a split second, we would hang in the air before hitting the bed.  Still probably not as dangerous as falling off the top bunk of a bunk bed, but given that the OP has a group of very rambunctious boys who like to rough house.....that's probably something that the OP should consider.

 

 

Did the trundle part have wheels? the one in the kids room does and it rolls super easily...granted that is on tile but I can't imagine it being too hard on carpet. It's actually too easy to roll on the tile, in my opinion. The one in the play room is just a mattress on the floor that I slide out..that would be very hard on carpet. 

35 minutes ago, Pen said:

 

 

That’s Sandy? I had No idea she was so big!!!  Great picture! 😊

Yup! She's around 70 pounds of golden wolfadogadoodle. 

[katilac]

59 minutes ago, happysmileylady said:

First, if you have carpet in the bedroom, it can be a pain to pull out and push back in.   

This hasn't been my experience at all, so I think it must depend on the type of trundle you have. Also, if you're old enough to have grown up in the era of shag carpeting, I'm sure that would be a very different experience 😄

You just need a trundle with large casters that raise the trundle above the floor a bit. Cheaper ones may not come with them, but I think they can be added after the fact. That's the biggest thing. If  you still find it hard for the kids to do, an easy fix is to put a plastic mat under the trundle to help it start rolling smoothly. 

[ktgrok]

7 minutes ago, katilac said:

This hasn't been my experience at all, so I think it must depend on the type of trundle you have. Also, if you're old enough to have grown up in the era of shag carpeting, I'm sure that would be a very different experience 😄

You just need a trundle with large casters that raise the trundle above the floor a bit. Cheaper ones may not come with them, but I think they can be added after the fact. That's the biggest thing. If  you still find it hard for the kids to do, an easy fix is to put a plastic mat under the trundle to help it start rolling smoothly. 

Yup, the cheap one we got off Amazon rolls super easily. 

[KungFuPanda]

23 hours ago, hippiemamato3 said:

A toddler bed till age 6? They are literally a crib mattress. There's no way that would be appropriate.

It’s not inappropriate for a small kid to use a small mattress. A child under 4 feet tall will fit on a crib mattress as well or better than an adult man on a twin mattress.  
 

my daughter would have been past 8 before a crib mattress was literally too small. I only moved her out when her brother graduated from his crib. It didn’t make sense to own a second toddler bed frame. 

[catz]

We bought an extra long twin over full many years ago and it has been nice to have that flexibility.  My kid is 19 now and he still sleeps in that bed.  He's probably going to take the twin on top with him to his college apartment this fall.