Why should you get a bunk bed?
by Patrick Oakley
Nowadays, a lot of people have difficulty in find space in their children's rooms for all of their toys. This is the result of our overly materialistic culture, which offers so many things for children to buy that they can quickly build up a huge number of toys. Unfortunately, our storage abilities have not kept pace with toy development, and it can still be difficult to find somewhere to put everything. Despite the fact that families now are smaller, and houses larger, then they have ever been before, we simply can't keep pace. So clearly, the only thing to do is to find a more efficient storage method. It's all very well telling your kids that their room is a mess, but how can they clean it up if they don't have somewhere to put everything? It's our job, as the adults who bought them all the toys in the first place, to find a better way to keep them.
The answer is to find unconventional or under-used places to put things. Bunk beds, loft beds and trundle beds can offer a great deal of relief to this crowding. These furnishings are not a new concept, yet they are certainly more efficient than conventional beds. They are an old solution to a modern problem. Bunk beds and their kin, like bookcases, offer ways to convert horizontal space to vertical and free up huge amounts of floor space.
If you are bothered by the safety aspects of stacking beds on top of each other, then let me reassure you that modern bunk beds are far safer already then they ever were before. New designs are constantly invented, and government regulations ensure that the beds made adhere to the highest safety standards. If that isn't convincing enough, then let me offer a bit of personal evidence. I have six children, myself, all of whom sleep in bunk beds and yet I've never had a single accident. Well, at least not any bunk bed related accidents. Kids will be kids.
Back to the topic of storage space. Without having to switch to a bunk bed, you can find extra storage space under even a standard bed. The majority of currently popular children's beds have a good 20 cubic feet of space underneath them. That's as much space as you'll find in a large chest of drawers, or even a small closet. If you need a quick and simple storage solution, then just take some measurements of the space available to you, then go to your local Wal-Mart and buy as many plastic boxes as you'll be able to fit in there. For best convenience, try and get long boxes, that will reach from one side of the bed to the other. I would also advise you to remove the lids, as you really don't need them, and they make it much harder to access the boxes. If you have a little more time, then take a look at http://www.bunkbedsunlimited.com/ where you will find some good suggestions as to how you can best make use of this space, for example through oversized storage drawers or a trundle bed.
Loft beds free up the entire space that one twin bed takes and make it available for other furniture like dressers, chests of drawers, sofas, daybeds, futons, desks, dollhouses and the list goes on. Sometimes a loft bed can seemingly work a miracle in an overcrowded room.
Now have a look at a typical kids room. It's got two twin beds, two chests, and there are toys scattered all over the room. If you had a bunk bed in there, instead of the two twin beds, then you would have enough space for another chest of drawers and could quite possibly fit all of the toys neatly away. Drawers are easy to access, and if you use storage boxes with wheels under the bed, it will be easy for your kids to get to their toys.
Besides these reasons, there is something else you might want to think about. That is, what your kids want. Every child wants to sleep in bunk beds, as the thought of sleeping high (relatively) above the ground is just plain exciting. After all, every child loves to climb, and a bunk bed makes sleeping an adventure.
If you are considering buying a bunk bed or loft bed, I would recommend that you not buy the very cheapest thing that you can find. The cheap ones often do not hold up long with the rough use kids put them through. If cost is an issue, or you just want to build something nice as a family project, something durable that lasts, consider http://www.bunkbedsunlimited.com/. They have some great designs, easy to follow plans and great prices on hardware kits for the do-it-yourself person. You can also just look for ideas there. They even have a nice triple bunk bed plan that is very easy to build.
In the end, when you are trying to find a way to fit all your children's toys in the limited space of their bedroom, get prepared by reading as much as possible and putting together a careful plan of how you're going to arrange things. For example, once you have your bunk bed, how are you going to get it in the room? there are a lot of things you need to think about. Similarly, bear in mind how you intend to arrange the room afterwards. You should make some calculations, and decide if you'll have enough space as it is, or whether you need to get a bigger chest of drawers, or more storage boxes, or something similar. If you find that even after all this rearranging, you still don't have space, then you may need to shift some stuff out of the room.
Patrick Oakley is a professional carpenter who specializes in designing furniture to make efficient use of space. To this end, has recently begun providing bunk beds and loft beds online. Click here for other unique 'bunk bed' articles.
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