We’ve been slowly wrapping our heads around the idea of fitting three kids into a three-bedroom townhouse. It seems to make sense for us to move Simon into Tristan’s room, and leave his room with the crib intact for the player to be named later. We’ve talked to the boys, and to my surprise, they are both quite enthusiastic about room-sharing, so now we just have to work out the logistics.
Even though he’s two-and-a-half and nearly 40 lbs, Simon is currently still in his crib. I remember a little too clearly the agony of moving Tristan into a big-boy bed at the tender age of 20 months, and the ensuing weeks of sleep-deprived, eight-months-pregnant hell as he wandered around the upper floor of the house from midnight to three am every day, so I haven’t been in too much of a hurry to transition Simon out of his crib any earlier than absolutely necessary. I think, though, that with Beloved’s semester break in December, coupled with the fact that I’ll have a bit of holiday time and Tristan will be out of school, makes that seem like a reasonable time to give it a try.
We already have a second-hand twin pine bedframe that loosely matches Tristan’s, and so on the weekend we went out to Ikea to scope mattress and dresser options. That’s when we stumbled across this little gem of a bed. (The original version of this post had a picture imbedded – pardon the pun – into the post, but blogger.beta ate that post, and now refuses to let me post a picture. Grrrrrr!)
In the catalogue, it’s sold as a low loft bed (it’s only about 4 feet off the floor), but in the store they had it set up with a second mattress on the floor, setting it up as a particularly child-friendly bunk bed.
The boys LOVED it. We couldn’t pry them out of there. Now, we’ve discussed the idea of bunk beds in passing before, but usually the conversation ends with a snort of derision and the image of one or both boys launching themselves off the top bunk and onto, say, the dog. Clumsy + rowdy boys + bunk beds = TROUBLE. But this particular set-up seems fairly innocuous, and I have to admit that I love the idea of saving the space. And besides, wouldn’t you have absolutely loved a bed like this when you were a kid?
There are a few impracticalities, aside from the prospect of abrasions and contusions. Crawling onto the top bunk to read bedtime stories might become a bit of a trick, especially in the third trimester when I’m likely to not even fit under the canopy. And while Simon was content in theory to sleep in the bottom bunk – Tristan put together a surprisingly reasonable plea for the bed on the spot in Ikea – I’m sure the time would come when they would battle for the top bunk.
What do you think, bloggy friends? I don’t have any room-sharing experience of my own, let alone any bunk bed experience. (Heck, even now I don’t like the idea of sharing a room and would gladly have a room of my own!) Any thoughts or tips on room sharing in general, or bunk beds in particular?
And be assured, I wouldn’t even be considering this if we didn’t live in a country with socialized medicine and free trips to the ER.
I slept on the top bunk with my sister on the bottom – I regularly fell out of bed onto a concrete floor. Other than seizures, the inability to walk, think, or talk, I turned out OK- kind of!
Somehow, kids seem to survive bunk beds, and now they have rails to prevent the falling out.
The idea seems very practical – and you could read the stories on the bottom bed.
I truly despise blogger.beta today. The link that ALSO disappeared from my original post to the bunk beds is here. And now blogger.beta won’t let me back in to edit the damn thing. Sigh.
Oops! Hi Ingrid – you must have been posting when I was. Now you know what we were doing when we ran into you in Ikea on the weekend!
A great place to hang out – just way too crowded on a Saturday!
I give up. The link doesn’t work in the comments, either. Gah!!! And blogger.beta crashes every time I try to open it. If you’re really curious, it’s the KURA bed at ikea.ca. Sigh.
Aha! I managed to at least get blogger.beta to cough up the link, if not the image – and it works!
(This now concludes the ranting-to-and-at-myself-with-interjections-by-Ingrid portion of today’s programming.)
My boys have always shared a room. When it was time for the baby to move out of the crib (15 months–both of mine were climbers) we got bunks. 3 year old on the top, 15 month old on the bottom. They’re 3 and 5 now, and have never argued over where they sleep. There’s never been anyone fall off the top bed–sleeping or otherwise. It’s worked surprisingly well.
We had bunk beds when we were growing up and look at me now…almost normal! I used to love playing on the lower bunk, making forts, etc.
We have bunkbeds now for the kids too. It really saves on space and they don’t seem to mind sharing a room. Nobody has fallen or jumped off the top bunk yet. They’re girls though and maybe they’re more mature than boys. At any rate, they would each love to have their own rooms but the house isn’t big enough. A new house is on the agenda for next year.
My sister and I had bunkbeds as kids too and not a cranial injury between us. We liked to make forts and things in the bottom bunk too. I don’t think it’s a bad idea at all.
We had bunk beds for a while. There was no room sharing though – it was more of a thing used for sleep overs. He’s outgrown the bed and we’ve moved on (he’s almost 13). My only beef was the sheet changing. It was a royal pain in the A$$ to change the sheets on both the bottom AND the top. However, given the fact that number three is on the way and you are in need of space and that this particular bunk bed is WAY cool, I say go for it.
When I was expecting my fourth, I was living in a two-bedroom Cape Cod. We bought the kind of bunk bed that has a double bed on the bottom and a single bed on the top. (It made me feel better thinking that if a kid fell out, he would land on the bottom mattress rather than the floor.)
I used to read to the three kids in the bottom, and they would all fall asleep there. A double bed is plenty big enough for three small kids.
No one ever actually slept up top. But it came in handy, because we ended up storing stuffed animals and stuff up there, since we didn’t have a whole lot of space.
Eventually, we moved to another house, and my oldest (a girl) got her own room, while the three boys (the baby now older) slept on the bottom of the bunk bed. We took it down eventually when they decided they were too old for it.
I have three sisters and always shared a room (and often a bed) while I was growing up, so the thought of trying to give each of my kids their own room never really occured to me. In fact, I always felt sorry for my daughter that she didn’t have a sister to share her room with, although I have a niece who is here most weekends so she does share with a cousin.
The one difficult thing about kids sharing rooms, of course, is that they play when they are supposed to be sleeping. But you can also look at that as valuable sibling bonding time ….
My sisters and I always shared a room and a bed (double, not bunk). Sarah has been asking for a long time why Mommy & Daddy get to sleep together while she has to sleep alone, so I see why your boys would be happy sharing. Sarah also was eyeing that particular bed – I think it was mostly the canopy that enticed her.
That’s where we’re at. Four kids in a three bedroom home. Bunkbeds are a fabulous think I tell you. Thanks for the ideas.
We have bunkbeds with a trundle bed. So we stack em three high at our house. Forget storytime in the top bunk, do it on Mommy and Daddy’s bed. The biggest problem you will find come 3rd tri or anytime for that matter, is changing the sheets in the top bunk. Four words…Pain In The Ass.
But the space saving is worth it.
Btw~ I purposely put the girl up top. Check your clearance if you have a ceiling fan. B/c yes, they will try to swing from the fan. or you could get a blade to the back of the head while changing sheets.
Go for the bunks. Just make it clear that the top is Tristan’s and the Bottom is Simons and they’ll be fine.
Hugs
We used bunks for the first time this summer during out travels – at two different places. They are a huge hit! I would LOVE to have bunks for the boys, with a drawer under the bottom bed – even more space efficiency! DH is a little more hesitant about it all, not sure why, but I am working on him.
My biggest concern? Get how lame this is….when top bunk sleeper is sick, will he puke on bottom bunk sleeper?? That’s my only concern. Lame, I know, I warned you.
Oh, wanted to add, my guys have always shared a room (even a crib for 4 months!) and they love it. It would be a transition for you, but they will love it. Go for it!
How does someone fall out of the top bunk? Don’t they have railings?
p.s. I like the idea of the double on the bottom. That’s way cool.
Two of my boys share a room, and they get along fine. They don’t argue at all about the bunkbeds. I’ll chime in with those who said changing the sheets is a huge pain in the ass, especially when you’re pregnant. I think that makes it a perfect husband job.
Ditto to what everyone had said. My boys are quite happy with their bunk bed. The rule is that N (who just turned 3) is only allowed in the top bunk with adult supervision.