Ikea's Kura loft bed lends itself to creative hacking (see previously featured transformations here, here and here). This wonderful project sent in by Ohdeedoh reader Anna is no exception.
Anna, who keeps a craft blog called My Rolodex, wrote us the nicest note when she sent in a photo of her daughter's bed:
Hello! Since I have so often been the one being inspired, I hope to help someone else out there looking for ideas. I created a felt playhouse for my daughter's Ikea Kura bed as it is currently being used for toy storage. She shares a room with our baby, so it was great to have a bed that let us keep her toys in her room, and still have room for the baby's crib. I measured out the felt to fit the bed, and attached it with strips of velcro.
We love this idea, especially its open-endedness. We can picture a Kura bed transformed into a castle, a firehouse, a space station – any kind of structure, really. Thanks so much for the inspiration, Anna!
(Images: Anna Haltern)
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I love this idea! I've been trying to get motivated to do something more interesting under my son's low loft bed. I was just going to put some felt curtains up, but now this has inspired me. How did you attach it to the frame of the bed? I was thinking of velcro strips.
Also, just clicked on her blog link -- we did the same crayon valentine idea!
Oops, just read the paragraph where it's stated that velcro strips were used. Guess I should read more carefully!
Great idea! Thanks!
Love it! I have yet to assemble my Kura bed for lack of inspiration about the bottom space. This is just the idea I needed. My daughter, 3, shares a room with her baby sister too. The bed warns not to let a child under age 6 use the top bunk, but do any parents out there let younger ones sleep up there? It seems pretty safe to me. How old is your daughter, Anna?
josiego - My daughters, 4 and 2 share this Ikea bunk bed. It's truly great and there is nothing else out there for young kids. I was apprehensive because my eldest always moved so much in her sleep but there haven't been any problems so far. I know of 3 families who also own these beds, some with children as young as 2 using the top bunk. I highly recommend them for apartment dwellers with limited space.
so darling!! for my boys i'd have to switch out the flowers for wheels and the front door for a swinging school bus door. great inspiration!
i also want to get this bunk for my 4.5 and 2.5 year old boys. I'm worried about the younger one climbing up in the middle of the night. any suggestions on how to prevent that?
I did the same sort of thing for my son, my husband added a rail to the top of the bed which is used as a play area at the moment and we have a mattress on the floor on so he sleeps in his 'den'. My son gets a lot of nose bleeds in the night so we don't want him on the top until they have cleared up. We also used Ikea storage shelves to make a hidden bookcase inside the den and they double as big stairs to the top of the bunk and then at the other end we used Ikea stripa (?) shelves to make little shelves to keep special treasures on. There are some photos on my blog, here
http://jojoebi.blogspot.com/2007/10/unveiling-of-babyebis-room.html
i've been eyeing these ikea beds for awhile now, and plan on getting them when my children are a little bit older.
does anyone else want to steal all these great hacks and combine them into one awesome bed?!
chalkboard, check.
awesome storage below, check.
cute playhouse, check.
suuuuweet. :)
Just a word or warning: this bed is NOT designed as a bunk bed. The mattress on the floor under the bed does not have proper ventilation and may mold or mildew. So check those lower mattresses!!
We hacked our Kura too. We added the side rails as doors on the bottom so our toddler couldn't climb up to the top bed unsupervised. Dosn't look quite as sweet as the playhouse :) But they do run in and out like its one. We also used the Trofast storage shelf as steps to get up to the top.. much easier for them than the ladder. (I feel it's safer too...as before they just wanted to jump off.
You can see mine here.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25090861@N03/sets/72157623504561320/
Re: Lizliterarius comment about the mattress on the floor, I should have said that we are in Japan and so the mattress is actually a Japanese style futon and gets hung out to air on a regular basis, I can imagine if you live somewhere humid a mattress on the floor and a play curtain would make for a breeding ground of horrible things!
Thanks for the comments everyone, my daughter is 3 1/2, but started using the bed just before she turned three. She does great with it and hasn't fallen a single time (and she does get out in the middle of the night every now and then). She really likes to climb, but I think you just have to know your child, some kids might be ready and some might not.