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just me
August 6th 03, 11:53 PM
"Karen G" > wrote in message
...
> Has anybody looked at these? We have two girls sharing a 10x10 room.
> We don't plan to add on to our house, so we are looking at our options
> to minimize the space that the beds take up. Something like this:
> http://thebeanbagstore.com/bhbirchmidl.htm looks like a good option that
> is lower than a standard bunkbed, particularly as we have a ceiling fan
> in this room. We would like to be able to fit at least one desk in the
> room with as large a dresser as we can fit.
>
> Who has put two kids in a small room? How is it going?
>


Some good friends have their boys, age 8 and 5.75, in a room of that size.
They have a traditional bunk bed, dresser, bookshelf and toy chest. The
boys both have collections of things, one of which is planes about 3 - 4
inches in length displayed on a shelf that goes three quarters of the way
around the room about 10 inches below ceiling height. This appears to work
well for them at this time. They have spoken of buying a larger house [they
rent now] but they have been talking of that for at least two years and not
moved on the idea yet. Most of the boys' toys are stored in a part of the
living room, which also helps with space issues.

Another friend had her two sons sharing a room of similar size up through
the oldest son's high school graduation. They used one of those tubal metal
frame bunk beds with the lower bed being a 3/4 bed while the upper was a
single. Once again, person storage space was limited but the boys never
seemed to find it to be a problem, it was just the way things were.

Good luck with your girls!

-Aula


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Rosalie B.
August 7th 03, 06:36 AM
x-no-archive:yes
Karen G > wrote:

>Has anybody looked at these? We have two girls sharing a 10x10 room.
>We don't plan to add on to our house, so we are looking at our options
>to minimize the space that the beds take up. Something like this:
>http://thebeanbagstore.com/bhbirchmidl.htm looks like a good option that
>is lower than a standard bunkbed, particularly as we have a ceiling fan
>in this room. We would like to be able to fit at least one desk in the
>room with as large a dresser as we can fit.
>
>Who has put two kids in a small room? How is it going?

My sister and I shared a room from the time I was about 10 until I was
in the 8th grade at which time we moved and we each got a room of our
own. We were 2.5 years apart.

I don't know the dimensions of the room but it was really small
because the bathroom had been made (it was an old farmhouse) by
partitioning the back bedroom in half. Originally, there were three
rooms upstairs - front bedroom, middle bedroom and back bedroom but no
indoor plumbing. There were three rooms downstairs my dad's study
(which had been the front parlor), the middle room which we used as a
living room/dining room, and the kitchen which was an eat in kitchen
with a pantry and a woodshed. .

We had a standard bunk bed on the door wall, a mission oak desk took
up all the room on the short wall under the window, steam radiator
under the back window and a dresser with a mirror on the wall
opposite the bed (the back wall of the house), and a metal cabinet,
which was behind a curtain on the other short wall. The curtain also
hid the first steps and door of the stairs to the attic. The room was
narrow enough that without stretching too much I could step out of the
top bunk onto the dresser top which was across the room. I actually
rarely used the ladder (don't even know where it is now) because there
wasn't room for it and customarily got out of bed either be stepping
across onto the dresser, or by stepping onto the desk and then down
onto the chair. I had a bookcase on the wall at the head of my bed,
and my sister used the side cubbyhole of the desk for a night stand.
My sister's clothes were in the metal cabinet and mine were in the
dresser.

We did not play in this room - the front room was our playroom. We
did our homework etc downstairs in the living/dining/family room or in
the big farm kitchen.

My own two oldest girls were in bunk beds from the time they were
about 2 and 4. The room in that house wasn't as small - it was a 3
bedroom house, but my dh was in post graduate school and needed the
3rd bedroom for a study. They stayed together when we moved to Key
West when their sister was born (again not as small as 10 x 10, but
fairly small, and they did have their toys in there and played in
there. When we moved to Philadelphia they stayed together. I think
the first time they had rooms of their own was when we moved to Rhode
Island and they were 2nd and 4th grade. We bought a house with 3
bedrooms and an unfinished basement, and we built two more bedrooms
making it a 5 bedroom house, and they then had their own bedrooms.
They never had their own desks until they were in hs. While I had a
desk I didn't use it for homework, which, while in hs, I mostly did
lying on the floor in front of the large console radio.

When we needed beds, we bought an unfinished set from Sears - it would
do a trundle bed or bunk beds or twin beds. I looked at the URL page
you gave and I would have to see how well the beds were built. I'm
not sure that they look very well made and I think the tent thing
would be way more of a problem than a help. IOW, it seems a bit like
a gimmick to me. I still have both the bunk beds that my parents
bought back in about 1948 and the ones we bought in circa 1964.

I think my dd#3's son has a loft bed. DD#2's son has bunk beds. All
of my grandchildren have their own rooms IIRC.

grandma Rosalie

Mary Gordon
August 7th 03, 11:49 PM
I'm the mom of three and the owner of four sets of bunks, and my
comment about the one you've shown as an example is that it looks like
there is a claustrophic lack of headroom on the bottom due to the
short height of the loft component.

At our house, we have two variations - a bed that is a single bunk on
the top and a couch that is a double futon on the bottom (in a preteen
room - this thing is great!!!) and a set similar to what you want to
buy, only with MUCH more headroom than shown in your sample (i.e. the
top bunk is taller, the bottom bed fits in as a T rather than an L,
and the loft base also holds a desk with drawers, a dresser and
bookshelves.

At the cottage, we have a metal bunk with single on the top and a
double on the bottom, and a wooden set with a single on the top and
double on the bottom with drawers underneath. The wooden set is nice
to look at but has the fatal flaw of NO HEADROOM on the bottom bed,
which means you can't climb in there with a kid who needs a story read
or a cuddle, everyone whacks their heads, no adult in their right mind
will sleep in the bottom if you need the bed for a guest, its hard to
make the bed, its claustrophic, its difficult when a kid is unwell
etc. Do not underestimate the issue with no headroom. It seriously
reduces flexibility and enjoyment of the silly bed. The metal one we
have was much cheaper but it has much more room between the bunks,
even though the overall height is the same, just because the lower
bunk is lower to the floor - and I have to tell you, it is MUCH better
all around. Not as pretty, but more practical.

Get rid of the ceiling fan if you have to, or place the bed away from
it, but make sure there is adequate headroom for the sleeper on the
bottom.

Mary G.

Mary Gordon
August 7th 03, 11:50 PM
Further to my previous posting, here is a picture of a configuration
that is similar to one of the bunks we have at home that works very
well (our two sons shared a room for a long time prior to the oldest
getting his own room at age 11).

http://www.readysethome.com/item.cfm/1533

One thing to look for is a ladder with FLAT slats. The ones with round
rungs absolutely KILL your feet climbing up.

Mary G.
Mom of three

Karen G
August 8th 03, 12:49 AM
On Thu, 7 Aug 2003 18:49:54 EDT, (Mary Gordon)
wrote:

>I'm the mom of three and the owner of four sets of bunks, and my
>comment about the one you've shown as an example is that it looks like
>there is a claustrophic lack of headroom on the bottom due to the
>short height of the loft component.
>

According to the way that I have seen the L shape used, the bottom bunk
(the one that T's/L's out from under the junior loft) has the pillow on
the outer end (the one away from the loft). That should take care of
the headroom problem.

Karen

Robyn Kozierok
August 8th 03, 07:43 PM
In article >,
Mary Gordon > wrote:
>One thing to look for is a ladder with FLAT slats. The ones with round
>rungs absolutely KILL your feet climbing up.

We took our ladder down to prevent toddler access. We have a full lower
and twin upper, so it's easy to stand on the lower and scootch up onto
the upper bunk.


--Robyn (mommy to Ryan 9/93 and Matthew 6/96 and Evan 3/01)

Mary Gordon
August 9th 03, 05:10 PM
I dunno about you, but I would find it very unpleasant and
uncomfortable to have my head located on what would normally be the
foot of the bed. My kids like to read in bed (12, 9 and 5), and that
requires a wall mounted reading light or a nightstand next to the bed.
My kids also like having treasures up near their head, so shelves or a
nightstand are important near the head of the bed.

When you are buying these beds, you have to think big picture/ long
term, and not as the kids are at the moment. You'd hate to invest big
bucks in beds and discover that in two or three years, they really
aren't fitting the bill for your kids.
G.
Mary

Penny Gaines
August 12th 03, 07:08 PM
Karen G wrote in >:

> On Thu, 7 Aug 2003 18:49:54 EDT, (Mary Gordon)
> wrote:
>
>>I'm the mom of three and the owner of four sets of bunks, and my
>>comment about the one you've shown as an example is that it looks like
>>there is a claustrophic lack of headroom on the bottom due to the
>>short height of the loft component.
>>
>
> According to the way that I have seen the L shape used, the bottom bunk
> (the one that T's/L's out from under the junior loft) has the pillow on
> the outer end (the one away from the loft). That should take care of
> the headroom problem.

We had a junior loft bed and our existing toddler bed in the arrangement
shown, and it was a pain. The younger one would want to sleep with her
head under big sis's bed, even though there was little headroom. Making
it up was really awkward - especially if it was in the middle of the night.

--
Penny Gaines
UK mum to three

Robyn Kozierok
August 12th 03, 07:20 PM
In article >,
Mary Gordon > wrote:
>My kids also like having treasures up near their head, so shelves or a
>nightstand are important near the head of the bed.

For the kid on the top bunk, we mounted a clear shoe holder (with multiple
pockets) near the head of his bed for treasures etc. We found we were
able to clip reading lights onto the headboards.

--Robyn

Mary Gordon
August 14th 03, 04:12 PM
Unless the bed ends up right smack directly under the ceiling fan - is
there an issue? We have two sets of bunks at our cottage, both in
rooms with ceiling fans, and never had had a problem. You can't really
reach the fan from the top bunk (I mean, I guess you could if you
leaned way out with a stick, but then, they could do that from the
floor or standing on a chair).

Mary G.