I had a trundle when I was growing up, but it was for sleepovers. I wouldn't do it for a child's permanent bed. It would be a huge pain to pull out and push in every night. I'm a huge fan of the IKEA Kura bed. It's not super high, so you can reach in and tuck in your child easily. It's less of a fall risk as well since it's lower and if you get the tent, it helps to contain kids. We haven't had a hard time making up the top bunk because we can reach in and the mattress isn't super heavy. We made curtains for the lower bunk and put holiday lights in it, so both bunks are special.

I loved my trundle bed growing up, but it was mostly for overnight guests. (My younger sister had her own room but would spend 6 weeks every summer on the trundle when grandma came to visit.) One thing worth noting for planned regular use: With the typical setup it is pretty tricky to get out of the "regular" bed without stepping on the trundle, below, especially for short legs.

Just as ninaax and christen a said, my only exposure to them was sleepovers as a child. My best friend had one and I remember thinking how cool it was she had a hidden secret other bed. For 2 kids though? Doesn't seem like a great permanent option.

My two sisters and I shared a bunk bed with a trundle until I was about 10. If you envision pushing the trundle back in every morning, then get rid of that thought right now. The trundle pretty much was a second bed that was closer to the floor. My mom went through cycles of trying to get us to push it in, but it never really happened.

So, as a space saving measure, I would have to say they don't really work. But we didn't have any problems with who slept in which bed...that was dictated from the beginning, and it wasn't really a big deal.

I don't know how it would work out every day, it would depend on how much effort you want to put into it. Here's another option I love, although I have no idea where you get them, how much they cost, or what their quality is like. I've been fascinated for a while since I also live in a house that has pretty small rooms. http://www.flyingbeds.com/14.SmartBeds/SmartBeds.FlyingBeds.htm

Well, I must disagree completely! My almost-four and five-and-a-half year olds both have trundle beds in their own rooms. I wanted them to have the freedom to sleep over with each other, or have their own space. I think it's ideal for what you want. My boys sleep over every night and it's no hassle at all to simply roll the bed back under in the morning (how lazy are you guys, anyway?) To make things easier though, you need to make sure the space next to the bed is clear of furniture (so you don't have to be shifting things to make way for it) and that you have a tidy little area to pop the extra bedding in after use. The trundle will only fit underneath with the base sheet, so we have extra blankets popped into one of the baskets in a nearby Ikea Expedit bookcase. Simple! Good luck. :-)

Are you a bed maker? If you're the kind of person who religiously helps your child make his/her bed every single morning, without fail, go for it! If not, you'll find that the bed doesn't get put away, and it ends up taking up just as much space as a second bed.

Having said that, if you have a small space, it's definitely worth considering. My kids' rooms are tiny and have low ceilings. Bunk beds aren't safe due to the ceiling fans (no a/c), so a trundle was a good compromise. I just really have to make myself help with the bed making aspect.

We have a trundler bed. It's been ok to transition our kid from co-sleeping, but the bottom-trundler mattresses are nit designed for regular use and ours needs replacing after just 9 months, and as that mattress is smaller than average we havent been able to find a new mattress to fit. Also trundler beds tend to be taller than a normal single so bed heads and feet are too short to fit them.

My sister and I shared a trundle until I was 13 and she was 7. After I got my own room my sister moved to the top bed and used the trundle for sleepovers or when younger siblings wanted to sleep in her room. We loved it! Some of our best sibling memories are of the trundle; it was especially fun to pop the lower bed up to make one big bed for all the siblings to sleepover together. We also liked that it was the type of bed the Ingalls family used in the Laura Ingalls Wilder books :)

Kids didn't get breakfast until our beds were made, so pushing the lower bed back under every morning was no big deal.

I have 7 year-old twin girls and we use my grandfather's vintage daybed. We had two beds in their room until recently when we put a desk in there for them... but every morning my girls push in the trundle and I help on school mornings. It is working out famously for now! As they get older, though, we are planning to move towards a bunk bed/loft bed type of solution.