Cabin Beds - any recommendations?

[Rhiannon]

I'm thinking about getting my 6 year old a cabin type bed. Can anyone recommend a good solid one?
Preferably where the company that sells it will also erect it for you!

[Kia]

Don't do it!! Sorry but I bought one each for my two with drawers and cupboards underneath and they were a complete pain to get put up and then to take down when we moved!! I didn't learn my lesson and bought a second one when we moved to a smaller house later on and this time went for the wardrobe underneath and a desk. Cost alot of money, to buy and to have set up and then when we came to move again it had to be dismantled again to get it out of the box room!! In the end I traded it in for £50 and the desk at which I'm typing! The people who took it had problems because of a sloping ceiling in the daughter's room and had to have it cut down so she didn't bang her head! Sorry to be negative, but I wish I'd bought bunk beds instead. I also had problems with my son who had the heebee geebees afterwards about sleeping in a normal bed close to the ground where the 'greeblees' could get him!

[Mooma]

Also they are hell to make because they're so high, and they dominate a room, due to their sheer size.

[Rhiannon]

Oh Dear! I was thinking of the half height type as I don't relish the idea of changing the sheets on a really tall one!

We are definitely not moving and my son has a big bedroom so shouldn't be too much of a problem as long as the retailers put it up due to dh's lack of DIY skills.

[Alibubbles]

Well, my son (14) is now on his second high sleeper bed. His first, very sturdy from John Lewis (called Paula unfortunately!) complete with desk, drawers and wardrobe was brilliant. They will assemble if required, I did it myself with four 8-10 year olds! I have managed to sell it second hand for a good price.
He is 14 now and wanted something a bit more grown up than pine, so he has the one that looks like scaffolding, with a blue futon type mattress, though I might get a different mattress, it is silver grey and really cool. It has a desk underneath and is actually better designed than the previous one, space wise. We got it from Costco for about £350 I think. It's great because it has a pull out single bed underneath as well, great for friends who stay over. It is a bit of a pain to change the sheets etc, lucky for me, the housekeeper does it, or I pay DS to do it himself! Well it's time he earned his pocket money. He loves his bed and image is very important to him at the moment, everything has to be just right or Phat! and his bed is Phat!!

[Lizs]

Don't know if you're still looking but we've got our toddler a Flexa bed (Danish) which you can use either as a normal full size pine bed or add various levels of legs/ladders/slides etc to. There is also a range of matching furniture some of which fits under the different heights of bed ie. desks extra bunks, drawers and cupboards, or they can be freestanding. It was however a complete pain to put together but is now very solid and has moved house intact!! Furniture Village stock it (and often reduce it in the sale)although we got ours from an independent pine shop who would probably be more helpful in erecting it if asked.

[Rhiannon]

Lizs, we ended up with one from Argos. The one that's a 3ft on top and a 4ft on the bottom. DH will have to put it together so that should be a miserable weekend!

Does anyone know where I can get a 4ft mattress protector?

[Rhiannon]

Hooray, the bed came this morning, it's great, it's up and DS is asleep on the top as I type. It came as promised from Argos on time. It is Danish, made by a company called Thuka. There were no bits missing at all!!!!

It went together beautifully DH managed to put it up between getting home at 3.30pm and the football starting at 8pm! (not bad for him and he's made a great job).

[Noisy]

At what age can you put your toddler into a bed then? And can you get beds the the same size as cots? Mine is 18 months and in the small box room, so we were hoping to replace the cot with a bed the same size....I was hoping to get one with a wardrobe/drawers underneath.

[Copper]

We have a bedroom so small (6x7) that we couldn't assemble a cabin bed in it! In the end we had a bed built across the room by a local builder, at just under window height. It gave us all the floor space, and prevented that feeling of a bed and a bit of corridor. We had to have a mattress made up for it as it turned out to be 5' 10", but it wasn't expensive.

What I would like to know is why don't more makeover shows/magazines tackle the problem of have a tiny third bedroom? So many people have them and yet every time I've watched or read anything on small rooms they are always about three times as big as our box room! There must be a market out there

[Bee]

Copper - I agree with you - but the reason is that they simply can't get the camera into a small room, so can't make a TV show there! Daft but true!!

[Rhiannon]

Hi Noisy, IMHO 18 months is a bit early for a bit. Bearing in mind he could wander around the house at night, maybe open a window or door? Mine went in beds at 2.5 years. R

[Noisy]

Rhiannon,

Thanks for the advice. I think you are right.

Cheers
Noisy

[LIZS]

I agree with Rhiannon that 1.5 is a bit too young especially for a raised bed ( I think manufacturers say from approx 4 years). Ikea do beds which start off the same length as a cot and then can be elongated and extra mattress added as child grows, and is quite low. Otherwise Argos did a divan which was about 5'9" long.

[wendym]

Rhiannon can I ask for your help? I'm thinking of getting one of the Argos cabin beds as my smallest bedroom has 198 cm along one wall. All the cabin beds I have seen locally are 200cm but the Argos one is said to be 197cm. Is it truly that length? Either Argos or index have a cabin bed which is even smaller but I'd prefer one that takes a proper mattress.

If I could trade on your patience a bit longer - what do you think of the mattress? Would I be better replacing it?

[jodee]

Wendym, in case you were wondering where Rhiannon had disappeared to, she posted on Friday on another thread that she was going on hols for 2 weeks - lucky thing!

[wendym]

Thanks Jodee - just my luck. Don't think my "baby" is going to let me wait that long before ordering.

[wendym]

Rhiannon if you see this can I ask you to run a tape over the bed and measure it for me? Decided to replace the (15 year old) carpet in that room. Then it seemed like we ought to first paint the walls to hide the marks from the artwork so we haven't ordered a bed yet.

[Rhiannon]

wendym, will locate tape measure when DH comes home and will report back. We have been really pleased with it so far. R

[Rhiannon]

Hi Wendy, just measured it. Can you believe it is 1.98cm plus a tiny bit, less than half centimetre. I'm sure it would go in with a wiggle and perhaps taking off the skirting board.

It's so nice to have the 4ft bottom as you can actually sit on it to read stories.

P.S Delivery took a few weeks, so order it soon. R

[sis]

wendym, argos do a junior divan bed which is only 175cm long - ideal for a toddlers first bed I hope as we have just ordered one - it costs about £80 with a storage bit under the mattress. If you order a couple of duvet cover sets, it brings the order up to over £100 and you get a free delivery.HTH

[jessi]

My ds is 2.5, I've seen a cabin type bed with a small ladder (its not a very high bed at all) and with a tented play area underneath. It also has a guard all the way around the bed area. I was wondering if he is too young for it still? He is mad on ladders and as its quite short, I thought he'd love it.Anyone know? Thanks

[wendym]

Thank you everyone. I wasn't allowing for removing the skirting board so we should be able to get it in if we do that. If anyone else is interested we saw a bed in Focus that was only £99 and had a wardrobe underneath as well as a desk. We didn't buy one (Dh didn't think it was very sturdy and the ladder rungs didn't look too easy to climb. Might be worth a look for anyone considering this type of bed as in a few years they'll probably want a different one anyway.

[wendym]

Rhiannon Had to come back and say thanks again. Inspired by your reassurance about the sizing we ordered one from Argos. It was a slightly different model to yours and arrived within a week. The instructions were good. All the bits were there although there was one metal bit where the indentation for the screw head was on the wrong side and we had a dowel left over - always makes me nervous we've missed something. We fitted it in without taking the skirting board off too.

[Twink]

How are you all getting on with your cabin beds ? We're just at the stage of getting a first bed for DD and I love the idea of a mid-height one for her (she's 2.5 and tall). So far I've looked at one in John Lewis and one in the Argos catalogue. The Argos one has a slide option which the child bit of me thinks 'yes !' but the mummy bit says 'absolutely not'.
Any feedback would be appreciated !

[Crunchie]

Just a note of caution, Thye are really not suitable as a first bed. They are too high and dangerous. My daughter has been in her bed for a year now and has only fallen out twice, but if it was from 3 or 4 feet she could have been hurt.

I think they recommend a minimum age of around 6 but do check