Without a doubt, bunkbeds are the best friends of space-challenged parents. Maybe you are counting the days until you can purchase bunkbeds for your kids. But the little one is still in a crib, so you're out of luck, right? Maybe not.
Look closely at this bunkbed set up. The lower bunk isn't a bed at all. The bed was removed and the baby's crib was slid into its place. The height of the top bunk allows for good clearance and easy access to baby. If you're not handy, think about purchasing a loft bed and place your baby's crib underneath. It's a creative solution for those with babies not old enough to sleep in a regular bed. If you're curious about the rest of this house, take a tour over at House To Home.
(Image: Jake Curtis/House To Home)
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I have a friend whose sister lives with them. She's a single mom and took over one of their bedrooms, and lofted HER bed and put the crib underneath. Not sure if she sleeps in a twin or not, but it works great and she has enough space in there.
I don't know... doesn't look like much clearance... I'd worry about hitting babies head all the time... but a smart idea.
Neat idea, but not loving the drop side crib.
Ditto Gwendolyn, but given the pillow/blanket set up below, maybe this is for an older child and not a baby? Does that make the drop side crib less/not dangerous? I don't have one, so I didn't follow the warnings too closely. Seems like this set-up might be hard to pull off without a drop side crib, unfortunately, because otherwise I think head bonking really would be an issue (for the baby, mostly, but possibly also parents).
Just a note that House to Home is a UK publication and drop side cribs are still sold and in use in the UK to my knowledge.
I get the impetus for this, but my back hurts just looking at it. The crib + loft bed combo that a previous poster mentioned might work better though...aren't loft beds generally a bit higher than bunkbeds?
It does look like this might be for a toddler and not a baby baby. Maybe a toddler bed set up the same way would work?
I was actually considering doing this for my boys once my baby moves into the same room as his brother, we're planning on getting the IKEA KURA bed for my son and stashing a mini crib on wheels underneath, that way we could slide it out to get the baby out. (Then later when the baby is out of a crib we could put him on a mattress on the floor. IDEAL!
Drop side cribs can be safely rigged to be stationary, perhaps this parent rigged it down rather than up.
With the side down there appears to be loads of space to remove the baby without hitting their head, you know, like how we manage to put kids into car seats just fine without decapitating them with the roof of the car?
I was curious about this-- but my problem is that I don't think my older one is ready for the top bunk--- 2 kids in cribs!
Angus, lol, my kids' heads have gotten bonked more than a few times on the way into the car seat. That's one way I know this set up would be a problem for us.
ugh, Angus....my poor kid's head has been bonked way too many times. I would be a total klutz with a set-up like this! It's pretty awesome though..
This looks like a good solution, unless you have a kid that eventually climbs out of the crib (like my youngest) and climbs up the bunk bed (like my youngest) and falls out of the bunk bed (yep, my kid) three times in one day (we're a family of slow learners, apparently).
We ended up having to turn our IKEA bunk bed over, to turn it into a canopy bed, and put the toddler on a crib mattress on the floor.
Now, that doesn't mean that the arrangement pictured here isn't a great solution for some families. Not everybody has an adventurous, knuckle-head of a child like I do. But it is something to consider when you are figuring out to do with your kids. If you raise a baby in a room with a bunk bed, there may come a time when they cannot be left alone in that room. The bunk bed we thought would be a nice space-saver turned out to be a big pain in the butt. We've spent the last eighteen months wishing we had just gone with two twin mattresses on the floor.
I think it looks fab & is a clever Soultion.
I guess it depends on the age of kids though, my nearly 3 year old would be a nightmare sleeping above my 8 month old, but He also wouldn't be ready for bunks so it must be for older kids or a bigger gap.
Drop sides are still sold in lots of countries outside the US, in Australia they are very different to the type the US used to have, our mechanisms have to be all enclosed and there are no hinges which is safer than the rail type.
the top bunk is the concern. the ladder can be dangerous. i got bunks at age 5, at my request, but was not allowed to use the top bunk for several months. once i finally was, one morning i was climbing down groggily and fell off. i didn't cry b/c i didn't want my mom to cut me off again.
but she was right.
We did this with a 1 and 4 year old except in an 'L' shape. With the crib sticking out just a little you're left with a handy space to retrieve baby and the rest of the lower bunk space as a 'playhouse.'