Loft Beds?

DD's mattress needed replacing not long ago, so we got her a lovely new one to st in her old Ikea bed.... when we got the mattress home, it became apprent that the old frame was a special ikea size, not standard single.

We are in the midst of deciding to move, not to move, to buy, tlo rent blah blah blah.... the idea was that we were going to buy a 2 bedroom unit and DD would get a loft bed in order to create her own space underneath - as sooner or later she will end up sharing her room with the baby. Now that I am in NEST NOW phase i really want to get her room all set up regardless of what we do, iinstead of waiting to buy her bed until after we move.

But - she often still gets out of bed for snuggles during the night. Do you think a loft bed is the best idea?

I am really tossing this one up.... thinking instead to get her a slightly raised bed with storage underneath - then maybe a loft bed when she gets older, and the baby can take that bed.

I guess I am asking for experiences with loft beds, age you started using, if it failed, etc?

DD is 7 ATM....

My DD (now 10) has a cabin bed (half the height of a bunk bed but with a pull out desk and storage room underneath). She's been in it since she was 8 and loves it! It has a really long solid rail on the side (DH keeps telling me we should take it down but I'm not convinced). My DD gets out of bed throughout the night as well but has always been able to navigate down the ladder ok. We have another thin mattress, and scatter cushions, lamp etc underneath DD's so she uses it as a chill out/reading/napping space.

But I'm a bit cautious of having a higher loft. They are usually much higher than a regular bunk (safety worries, more tricky to make the bed, etc) plus it's hot up there near the ceiling in summer! I'm not convinced that the space underneath would be fully utilised unless it has very well planned storage features.

Mrydean - where did you get this style of bed from? Did you have to get ie custom made?

I saw some siliar to what you have described, for the life of me I cnat remember where

I bought ours second hand from a lady at work (it's a nice wooden one). I have seem similar, at Harvey Norman or Freedom or somewhere like that. They are definitely called Cabin beds. Have you looked at the Ikea site?

oh bugger, I thought I had found the easy way out and you were going to tell me exactly where I could get one! :doh:

Yes we have been checking out Ikea, but everything I like DD doesnt.

We recently went to harvey norman and yes they had a great one - but by the time we bought that, and a desk and a bookshelf/storage unit it would have been close to $2k. She already has a really good mattress, we just cant spend that much at the moment!

I wanted a loft bed for Miss16, but I can't find one that doesn't feel rickety......

the harvey norman one looks really good lulu - took my shaking of it (much to the sales assistants disgust).... but was $1300......

then add the desk and the shelving....

I know quality is everything, but ATM we just cant... was hoping to use the december $1k to set her room up......

We have just taken our loft bed off Mr 16. He's had it for about a year and in the last few weeks of having it, commented that "it's hot up here".

Apart from that we've had no problems. It's a metal, king single one, very secure. (don't know the brand - we were given it) I often climbed up and had no feeling of it being rickety with it. We put DS2's bed underneath, firstly in a L shape to the top one, then when we needed more room, right in under like a bunk.

I think I'd be concerned with putting a 7 year old in a loft bed. Ours was certainly higher then a normal bunk, the bottom rung of the ladder was a lot higher then normal bunks as well.

we've just put our oldest( 4 this month) into a cabin bed - sounds like Marydeans with a pull out desk and draws/bookcase underneath. it's great! i was worried though as i knew my 2 year old would get up and play on it but i spent the first half an hour of it being made teaching him how to use the ladder and he's been fine - no accidents yet!

it's a really solid one and the rails are not flimsy at all - we got it from bedshed - they deal with the flat pac company or something like that - google cabin beds or kendal midi bed - i highly recommend them!

good luck

Julie x

thansk guys - some good things coming up on google under kendall, i think we will look at that rather than the loft, THANKYOU!!

We got DSS a loft style bed that has a pull out bed underneath, but also pull out desk too. It has heaps of storage (the stairs are all small little cupboards)
I think we got it from furniture galore.... its brilliant and he loves it and is great for sleep overs.
We did look at the Kendall bed initially, but decided this would suit us beetr cos of the pull out bed...

ETA - DSS is 10, however we would have had him in it at a younger age, and her had bunk beds before that (they were mine when i was a kid :))
HTH

I'm not 100% sure, but I think I was around 5 when my parents got us a bunk (my brother who was sleeping underneath was about 3. It was not a problem. They left a little night light on so that I could see what I was doing when climbing in and out at night. I loved it.
Bunks usually have guard rails so the kids can't roll out. And if they can safely climb in and out, I can't see a problem. If you are concerned, you could ask you child to call out for you at night rather than climbing out herself. just for a week or 2 to see how she is doing with it.

Saša

My kids had IKEA loft beds until earlier this year. They had no problems with getting in and out etc but I found them a pain in the bum! They are almost impossible to make, changing sheets was a nightmare! I also found if they were sick they couldn't get off them quick enough if they needed to vomit (sorry if TMI) so they used to sleep on the couch when they were sick.

So, I sold the lfot beds on ebay, made more than I'd paid for them and got them normal beds.

I know this is an old thread but anyway - we just dismantled Riley (7)'s home-constructed loft bed as it was too warm near the ceiling, and it was a pain to make the bed! We've replaced it with a mid-height cabin-style bed, bought second-hand off eBay but available from Super A-Mart for just under $700 I think... includes shelving underneath and a pull-out desk. Also has empty space behind shelves which is great for storage of seldom-used items. Is a very convenient height and has a guard rail as well.

lol shades - we still havent replaced her bed :redface:, i never thought of looking on ebay...... might go have a squizz

Apparently I also massively over-quoted the Super A-Mart price - my mum says it was between $400 and $500 brand new, and she thinks that was including the mattress (as well as the shelving/desk/etc) so having a mattress already it would be even cheaper. Best of luck bed-hunting - what state are you in?