3YO - ikea hemnes daybed or lower bed?

[LoobyLou33]

I am going round in circles about the IKEA hemnes bed, and more generally what to get for my just-turned 3 year old DS.

We are about to move him into a medium-sized bedroom with his 1 year old sister (about 3m square). She is currently in a cot and he in a low cotbed without sides. I've promised a friend the cot, so by summer I plan to move 1yo into the cotbed (with bars back on) and buy DS a larger bed.

We have a small 3 bed house. The 3rd bedroom will become a study as DH often works from home, so no space for guests in there. Currently guests sleep in the lounge on our sofa bed which isn't fab. Both sets of parents live 3 hours away so do stay fairly often. Our plan was to buy DS a trundle type bed so when visitors come, they can use that and the children sleep in with us or study on a readybed/travel cot.

Then I found the IKEA hemnes daybed which looks amazing because it also has storage! Wow - drawers, trundle AND a lovely looking bed! We're always short of storage...
But DS has seen it and says he prefers his current bed, which is a lot lower to the ground and much more of a child's bed. I would need to use a step for him to get into the Hemnes, which of course my 1YO would also probably use and be in danger of falling onto the floor (wooden floorboards - not ideal!)

So - do I get the hemnes anyway and try selling it to DS, or am I better off just buying him a low single bed (perhaps with some space for shallow drawers underneath)? We do own an IKEA single chairbed which is very comfy so we could stick that next to the single bed albeit they may be different heights, but hopefully still a comfy sleep.

Any thoughts on the safety of the Hemnes and also how good it is as a double for adult guests would be most welcome! Or ideas of any other good child-friendly lower beds out there which would match one or other criteria (trundle or storage)?

Thanks!

We have one which we got when DC1 was 3. I used just one mattress initially to make it a bit lower to climb in, and stored the other down the side. Now she's older she has two mattresses piled up.

DC2 has been able to climb on since about 18 months old, no need of a step, surely your DS would manage it without one? DC1 has never fallen out; DC2 is 3 now and I would be perfectly happy about the safety aspect were my kids to swap beds, but they don't have form for falling out.

Can you visit IKEA with your DC and have a play on it and try it out?

It is nice and wide for visiting adults, although one side there is no headboard, so the pillow is in danger of just falling straight off the end. And our floor is a bit wonky (we have floorboards too) and it means that when you pull it out into a double it isn't held in place completely securely - it is a bit flimsy - so there is a danger of the two sides seperating and collapsing - we have to prop it up underneath to prevent this, which isn't ideal.

Thanks Frieda that is really helpful. Actually we did visit IKEA to check it out, I should have said that, but you know how IKEA is...by the time we'd got to the beds section we'd been there for what felt like hours, DD was teething and lunch was approaching so we didn't get a very long time to check it out properly. I forgot to look to see if there were one or two mattresses set up on the bed. I should have been paying more attention!
My friend has the same bed for her 2.5 year old and has a step for him to get up, which is what made me think we'd need one. I think DS would probably manage it but I seem to remember giving him a boost to get up in IKEA. One more growth spurt and he'll be leggy enough though!