# experiences with loft beds?



## Tofu the Geek (Dec 2, 2003)

I had no idea where to put this post, so since the bed is for my tween, I figured I'd stick it here!

Her room is on the smaller side (10' x 11.5') and I was thinking it might be nice for her to have some more space in her room since she's getting older. She has also mentioned that she would love a larger bed (she has a twin size now). I was considering one of the loft beds in a double size. She'd get a bigger bed, but wouldn't lose space in her room. She'd actually gain space because of the space under the bed. I thought about having a craft/art desk and a comfy reading chair under the bed for her. I talked to her about it, and she LOVES the idea. Her twin size bed could be passed onto our toddler; the bed/mattress are in awesome condition as they are less than 5 years old.

Anyone else have experiences with loft beds? I guess my concerns are:

what age does a loft bed become "not cool"? I don't really want to be buying her another bed when she hits high school.
can adult sized people lay on these beds without hitting their heads on the ceiling when they sit up in bed? Our ceilings are standard 8' in the bedrooms.
do kids tend to get annoyed with the ladder up to the bed which will lead her to ask for a new bed at that point?
she loves to be tucked in at night, how do you handle this? stand on the ladder to tuck her?
And if anyone has pics of a loft bed in action at their house, I would LOVE to see them!


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## enkmom (Aug 30, 2004)

My kids are at college, and they sleep in loft beds. No, they can't sit up in bed. They each took about a week before they quit bonking their heads on the ceilings. The beds are also very hard to make. My kids hate them, but it is the compromise they have to make in order to have any room in their dorm rooms.

Sorry if this isn't quite what you are looking for, but that's our experience with loft beds.


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## Tofu the Geek (Dec 2, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *enkmom* 
My kids are at college, and they sleep in loft beds. No, they can't sit up in bed. They each took about a week before they quit bonking their heads on the ceilings. The beds are also very hard to make. My kids hate them, but it is the compromise they have to make in order to have any room in their dorm rooms.

Sorry if this isn't quite what you are looking for, but that's our experience with loft beds.

It's exactly what I'm looking for! I hadn't actually considered the difficulty in making the bed! Absolutely something to consider. I will get her to try and make her bed while on the bed and no feet touching the floor, to see if she is able to deal with it. At least the new bed would be a double size, which would be easier to make than a twin, but still a pain I am sure.

DD is small enough right now that head bonking won't be an issue, but when she gets to her full height (sometime in high school likely?) it could become an issue at that point. I guess maybe then I could get her a new bed and pass the loft bed onto the younger one.


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## frog (Jun 1, 2005)

I had a loft in college and I LOVED it.







:


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## bigeyes (Apr 5, 2007)

We have loft beds and our kids can't sit up all the way in them because the ceilings are too low. They don't mind but it would drive me nuts. We're going to replace them with futons in about a year so they can have them convert to couches in the afternoon for sitting. The kids climb the ladder and then crawl into place.







I think our ceilings are 8'

I was not prepared for how _dark_ the area under the bed would be. There just doesn't seem to be a lamp that gives off enough light to make the desk underneath usable. We got them to give us extra space, and it's annoying how difficult it is to get enough light under there to use the desk. If you put a desk underneath, you might want to install track lighting.

I think by about age 12 the loft beds will have lost their appeal, not so much because of the style, but because they'll be too tall to get under them to use the desk and/or chest of drawers without hitting their heads.

Making the bed is a royal pain in the rear.


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## nd_deadhead (Sep 22, 2005)

Both my sons have loft beds. One is a bunk bed with the lower bunk removed, so it isn't as high as the other. The son in the taller bed has never complained about hitting his head.

They are a pain in the neck to make, and I would think a double would be harder than a queen (at least when you change the sheets). Our boys sleep European style - a fitted sheet on the bottom, and a comforter on top - no top sheet. That does make it easier to make the bed.

The space underneath is fabulous. My son with the taller bed also has a smaller room, and he has a papasan chair and small bookcase under his bed.

I don't know if I would build a double bed loft, however, especially in a smaller room. It would make the space underneath less useable, because more space will be at head-bumping height, and reduce the available space in the rest of the room. My sons are 5'11", weigh 165 pounds, and still fit quite nicely in their twin beds. They are in 9th grade. We've talked about getting rid of the lofts, but they don't even want to think about it!


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## frog (Jun 1, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *bigeyes* 
I was not prepared for how _dark_ the area under the bed would be. There just doesn't seem to be a lamp that gives off enough light to make the desk underneath usable. We got them to give us extra space, and it's annoying how difficult it is to get enough light under there to use the desk. If you put a desk underneath, you might want to install track lighting.

Clip lights work beautifully for lighting that particular space.


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## anitaj71 (Mar 1, 2006)

My son is 6'4" and has a loft bed. He changed his own sheets and made his bed so if it was a pain I didn't hear about it as long as he changed his sheets on a reasonably regular basis.

He just got an extra long twin bed because his loft bed was getting too small however it's still up. His friends sleep in it when they sleep over.

My ds has a desk with his computer on it under the loft bed. That's where he sits when he does his homework too.

He love(d) his loft bed. It was his space. There was some storage and a sliding board table thing to cover his stuff by his bed and to use as a table for his stuff.

Btw, it was an Ikea twin loft bed.

No complaints here !


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## Tofu the Geek (Dec 2, 2003)

Everyone is giving me too much to think about!









Here's the one I am initially considering http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/50019950 The reason it's in the running is because it comes in double size, it's cheap in case she hates in a couple of years and easy for me to order. I haven't looked real hard yet though, so I might be able to find something better.


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## bigeyes (Apr 5, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *TechnoGranola* 
Everyone is giving me too much to think about!









Here's the one I am initially considering http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/50019950 The reason it's in the running is because it comes in double size, it's cheap in case she hates in a couple of years and easy for me to order. I haven't looked real hard yet though, so I might be able to find something better.

Those are the ones we have. If I had to do it over again I think we might get the wooden ones instead because these ones are noisy. I hear them make a metallic squeaky noise every time one of my kids rolls over at night.









They're OK, but in a small house I hear every single move they make. The shelf that is just under the bed is not very stable, either. It's ok for lightweight paperback books, but it isn't strong enough to fill all the way across with hardbacks, and fragile items could fall off when it sways from the motion of your dc turning over in bed or climbing the ladder.

Someone posted a link to this place in another thread once, I think they might be the way to go if I had it to do over again.

http://www.collegebedlofts.com/


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## bigeyes (Apr 5, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *frog* 
Clip lights work beautifully for lighting that particular space.

I thought that would work too. Shopping is so lousy here I haven't been able to find any, which has surprised me a little.







:


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## BedHead (Mar 8, 2007)

I got a loft bed for my now 16 yo ds when he was in grade 2. He LOVED that bed and used it up until about 2 years ago when we had money to get all 3 kids new beds and mattresses. It was (is) a wooden Ikea one. He utilized the space under it for his desk.

He did get too old for it at about 13 though. I think it was a case of the novelty having worn off by then, combined with him just being too tall to be that close to the ceiling. His friends all still thought it was cool.

We have the loft bed carefully stored in our basement awaiting the day we do up a bedroom for grandchildren who are sleeping over


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## Baby Makes 4 (Feb 18, 2005)

That Ikea one is exactly what my DS had. He hated how close the ceiling was so we sawed a foot off the legs. The area underneath was good for toy storage, a bean bag chair and a bookshelf.

We wound up getting rid of it after about a year because it was hard to make, he didn't like climbing up and down the ladder to go to the bathroom and night and the area underneath wasn't as useful as we had hoped.


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## Tofu the Geek (Dec 2, 2003)

Thanks for all the comments so far! Looks like the IKEA one would be out then. I don't want squeaky metal noises, I know that noise, and I don't want it! I will look into the wooden ones that were posted. She's 11 already, so maybe I am looking into this too late for her. I don't want her to hate it at 13.







She got her first bed at 6.5 and I wanted it to be a loft bed at that time, but we had slanted ceilings, so it wouldn't work. The good thing is, she hasn't gone pee in the middle of the night since she was about a year old (seriously!) so at least she wouldn't have to climb up and down in the middle of the night.

She does have another area in her room that would work for an art desk, so I could use it there instead of under the bed (since it seems desks under the bed don't work too well according to the comments). I could get her a nice, cushy reading chair and then her hamster could move under there too. Moving him, would make space for the wall unit I want for her so she has storage for books and art supplies. Now that I think about it, we are developing our basement this winter, so maybe I should just make sure there is an art desk for her down there instead of in her room?


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## gwen's mom (Aug 1, 2003)

I work in student housing at a state university and for the past 10 years my family and I actually lived in a residence hall. The lofts we used for the students and that we actually ended up using for our own girls when we "lived-in" were from University Loft company which are sold in the retail market through Furnature Row/Bedroom Expression. The beds/lofts our university uses are "Upperclassman" which have lots of home options/configurations. After working with these beds for over 2000 freshmen over the course of 5 years at this university I would not waste my money on anything else.


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## bigeyes (Apr 5, 2007)

http://www.universityloft.com/produc...incategoryid=1

I like this idea, with seating underneath, but the desk outside. I think they had a similar set-up at the college beds site also, except it wasn't L shaped.


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## Tofu the Geek (Dec 2, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *gwen's mom* 
The beds/lofts our university uses are "Upperclassman" which have lots of home options/configurations. After working with these beds for over 2000 freshmen over the course of 5 years at this university I would not waste my money on anything else.

Their web site is hard to navigate, so maybe I missed it, but I didn't see an double size loft beds? It didn't appear they have any Canadian dealers anyway, so it might not matter!


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## Lolagirl (Jan 7, 2008)

We recently got a low loft bed and a second bed to put under it (in an "L" configuration) from Flexa for the boys. So far, we've been extremely happy with them, the quality is excellent and they are amazingly sturdy so I highly recommend them. It's also a modular system that can be made into bunk beds or to which you can add fun accessories like a clubhouse or a castle. Changing sheets can be a little difficult, but so far I haven't had too much hassle with it.

I had a high loft bed all through college and also loved mine, which is part of the reason I thought of it for the boys (we are seriously space challenged in our current place, so we really needed to maximize our space.) It's nice that you can put furniture below the loft bed and use it as livable space, my college dorm rooms were always so small that the bed usually took up most of the floorspace otherwise.

Hope that helps.


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## californiajenn (Mar 7, 2007)

My 9 yo dd has has the metal Ikea double for 2 years and she loves it. It is a pain to make the bed so we don't make it unless we change the sheets. ;-)

It was slightly noisy but we secured it to the wall and it's no longer a problem.

We found it on craiglist so we got it for 1/2 price. Not a problem is she gets tired of it quickly.

She utilizes her room so much more now! She used to drag everything out into the living room but stays mostly contained in her room now.


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## Starflower (Sep 25, 2004)

I'm glad I found this thread! We've been thinking about getting DD a loft bed or a set of bunk beds. We don't want a desk under it but she'd love playing underneath in a "tent" for now and later when she's older maybe we'd put in some bean bags or a comfy reading area for her. She's 5 now, so from what I've been reading we'd probably get our money's worth.

Thanks for all the info!


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## CarrieMF (Mar 7, 2004)

We have these http://www.canwood.com/products/whistler/index.html. They're a Junior Loft bed so not as high. I'm 5ft 4 & when I stretch my arms straight out that's the height of the bed which makes it EASY to change the sheets. We don't have any of the accessories for them, just the bed.

My kids are 6, 7 & almost 10 & they love them. They have reading nooks under them, my oldest has an extra sleeping area under her bed.

They hold up to 600lbs I believe

Friends of ours have the same junior loft and a regular loft bed. She wishes the regular loft bed was a junior one becuase of the changing the sheets issues and in the summer her dd is really hot.


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## Tofu the Geek (Dec 2, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *CarrieMF* 
We have these http://www.canwood.com/products/whistler/index.html. They're a Junior Loft bed so not as high. I'm 5ft 4 & when I stretch my arms straight out that's the height of the bed which makes it EASY to change the sheets. We don't have any of the accessories for them, just the bed.

Unfortunately Canwood went out of business.







Their last day is tomorrow I believe. I called them yesterday to see if they still had any loft bed and they have 2, but they aren't willing to ship them. And I am nowhere near Vancouver.


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## mom2ponygirl (Jun 6, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *bigeyes* 
http://www.universityloft.com/produc...incategoryid=1

I like this idea, with seating underneath, but the desk outside. I think they had a similar set-up at the college beds site also, except it wasn't L shaped.

I love the look of some of these but minimum orders of 5, 10, or 50 make it a little difficult to do! Anyone know where to get these by single units?


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## bigeyes (Apr 5, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mom2ponygirl* 
I love the look of some of these but minimum orders of 5, 10, or 50 make it a little difficult to do! Anyone know where to get these by single units?

I would do their idea using plans from here and build it if I had it to do again.

http://www.collegebedlofts.com/


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## Kabes (May 17, 2004)

I love Flexa also. They have a double bed and 3 heights to choose from plus the option of setting it up on the ground like a 'regular' bed. They are more $ but the options you have if you can swing the price makes it worth it IMO. We have four beds!

I had a loft from university lofts(?) when I was in college. It was very sturdy but basically unfinished wood. If you live near a college you can often pic up a loft cheap at the end of the school year ($50). If she changed her mind you could probably cut the legs off if it was wood.


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## Tofu the Geek (Dec 2, 2003)

After looking at most of the loft beds, I am REALLY disappointed in the style of them (and so is DD). They seem to be either the cheap, metal look or the bland, wood look or geared toward younger kids (princess, pirate ship, etc.). We really would like one with a stylish footboard and headboard but can't seem to find one. Even the Flexa ones, looks like your kid is sleeping in a corral (due to it just being straight wood board walls surrounding the sleeping area).









Anyone know of any that have some more pizazz to them?


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## CarrieMF (Mar 7, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *TechnoGranola* 
Unfortunately Canwood went out of business.







Their last day is tomorrow I believe. I called them yesterday to see if they still had any loft bed and they have 2, but they aren't willing to ship them. And I am nowhere near Vancouver.









yes I know, but you could find something similar & honestly they wouldn't be hard to get someone to make.


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## Tofu the Geek (Dec 2, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *CarrieMF* 
yes I know, but you could find something similar & honestly they wouldn't be hard to get someone to make.

I guess my point was that I had actually been looking at Canwood because of their quality (our bed is a Canwood and we love it). As for getting someone to make one, DH or my dad could easily do it, they have the skills, just not the time right now. They are building our 2 walkways, 2 sets of stairs so we can out of our house, putting a roof over our back deck and developing our basement. So, ya, we're going to buy and not make this bed.







I'd think of hiring someone to do it, but becuase of our housing boom, contractors and handymen are seriously booked up. We can't find anyone to do a $15,000 roof job let alone a small, bed job.


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## CarrieMF (Mar 7, 2004)

Where do you live? Thankfully here things have slowed down. We had to call the 1 guy a couple of times but he came out & did ours in 3 hours(I recommend NOT being home,lol) We've had him come out twice since then, the first he replaced the valves that they thought would be okay & didn't replace when they did the roof. The 2nd time he just caulked 2 things which DH could have done if he had gone up. Neither cost us anything. He's gone as far as 1 1/2 hours away to do jobs.

Evestrough is another story, dh needs to get on them again. They were supposed to come out & do a quote but never showed up.

If you have any small towns around you they're often easier to get guys.

a year ago the problem was they only wanted the big jobs & wouldn't take time out to do small jobs(our roof was only $3000). Dh could have done the roof but I wanted it done in a day so I was willing to pay & this way I didn't have to clean anything up after either.lol


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## LionessMom (Mar 12, 2008)

i had a loft bed until i graduated HS and moved out. DS has a loft bd as well. both were built by hand. mine by my dad and DS by his SD.
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/inde...albumId=866246
i dont know if this link will work. if not you can go to my myspace in my saiggy and look at my open pics. i have 4 pics of the loft bed DH built for DS.


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## AbundantLife (Jun 4, 2005)

I bought two of those metal Ikea loft beds for my boys but got rid of them after a year. They are too high (head on the ceiling problem), they seem rickety when they moved around on them, and the space underneath wasn't as useful as I thought it would be. Not only that, but they were extremely difficult to assemble.


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## mom2ponygirl (Jun 6, 2006)

Hmm...just heard another concern about loft beds from a friend. She mentioned increase in fire danger, since smoke and heat rise. Anyone explored this issue? I'm still exploring our options though. Increased space versus miniscule amount of risk I think.


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## bestjob (Mar 19, 2002)

DD's room is teeny tiny, so the only bed that would fit is an IKEA bed with a desk underneath. She hasm't been scarred for life, and I've heard a few metallic clunks and bangs as she's shifted around. Even her loudest clunks and clangs haven't lead anyone to wake up, just notice.

In our case, the choice of the loft bed was the only choice possible. So, maybe what I'm wondering is this.. are you maybe trying to make things perfect in an imperfect world? If your kids have to live in your house, what can you get that fits their room?


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## LionessMom (Mar 12, 2008)

the loft bed my DH made (which is in the open pics of my myspace in my sig) is screwed to the studs in the wall. it doesnt move. very sturdy.


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## bigeyes (Apr 5, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *bestjob* 
DD's room is teeny tiny, so the only bed that would fit is an IKEA bed with a desk underneath. She hasm't been scarred for life, and I've heard a few metallic clunks and bangs as she's shifted around. Even her loudest clunks and clangs haven't lead anyone to wake up, just notice.

In our case, the choice of the loft bed was the only choice possible. So, maybe what I'm wondering is this.. are you maybe trying to make things perfect in an imperfect world? If your kids have to live in your house, what can you get that fits their room?

???

What does that mean?

I think whether or not the clanging bothers a person depends on how light of a sleeper they are and how much their child moves around. My dsd barely moves at all, where ds clangs around so much his wall has marks and both dh and I are distracted and annoyed by the noise he makes banging his bed around as he settles in to sleep and _even as he moves around in his sleep._ He's an extremely active and noisy sleeper and the metal Ikea loft bed is very loud. He gets it honest, I've been known to wake up with my head at the foot of the bed, too, in my younger years.









I have fibromyalgia and difficulty sleeping. If my sleep is disrupted I get killer migraines, so anything that disturbs my sleep is a _big_ deal.

Trying to make things perfect in an imperfect world? Hardly. Just trying to get a decent night of sleep, and giving an honest answer to the OP's question about my experience with loft beds, _as asked._ Why the snark? _








_
If rattles and squeaks don't bug you, great, but for other people who could regret the decision to buy the same noisy bed, maybe it's helpful to know this information.


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