Talk to me about bunk beds

[Marzipants]

Does anyone have any advice / recommendations about bunk beds? It's for DSs age 3.5 and 5.

It needs to be fairly small as their sister is moving into their room - - as soon as possible - - so the cot beds they're currently in will have to go. Also a recent bouncing incident took out a fair few slats, so they're held together with wishes and dust.

Ideally not the exciting ones that look like castles / forts or have slides. They'll never go to sleep in a fort!

The ones that I've looked at online either have great reviews for the bed, but terrible for the mattresses or are ££££.

Are Ikea any good? We are not great at putting together furniture (three assistants under 6 don't help!), so wouldn't mind paying a little extra for something that needs minimal construction. That said, I'm not afraid of getting my hands dirty, and my drill has a screwdriver attachment. (Which I love so much.)

Shall we brave the relationship test that is Ikea this weekend or can anyone suggest anything else?

Look on Amazon, some have very good reviews, get the mattresses separately.

I'm a little wary of Amazon. We've had furniture from there in the past that had arrived damaged and it was a right pain to sort it out.

Anyone got experience of Next bunk beds? They look good and sturdy but the mattresses have shocking reviews.

We have these and they work very well http://furniture123.co.uk/julian-bowen-domino-bunk-in-white-dom002?refsource=FUadwords&gclid=CjwKEAjwj92BRDQ-NuC98SZkWYSJACWmjhlKY1hihqAvZIIWNhmRU1S2WrhVInysMjmNxMJTrZ2mBoCEGnwwcB

I thought bunk beds weren't recommended under the age of 6.

The top bed is a pain to make up.

We've been looking at the triple bunk beds for our 3. They're a bit pricey (~£300) but are good space savers. There's loads of bunk beds on eBay new and used, I reckon Ikea bunk beds will be easiest to put together. The ones we've been looking at look like this:
goo.gl/images/SCQFfI
If I were you I'd get mattresses separately, Ikea do good quality mattresses for not much.

Wow, triple bunks!

I love the little shelves on the Julian Bowen ones. Though I was planning to do something creative with spice racks... (Yes, I have been googling Ikea hacks, can you tell? )

The boys have Next bunk beds. We've had them about 6 years and they're scratched to hell and covered in sticky tape scuffs (all DS1) but have been pretty sturdy. They're no easier to assemble than IKEA, though, but do seem a lot stronger.

And I've had experience of next customer service for falatpack furniture, when a drawer front came which had split and they sent me a whole package of various spare parts fairly promptly - so that bit's easier than IKEA, at least!

They still have the same 6 year old mattresses. A little on the firm side, as they've got bigger, but nothing that couldn't be fixed with some mattress toppers. Can't vouch for the ones they sell now, but these particular ones haven't sagged at all, even though they're now a big 10 and almost adult size 12.

And yes, DH has to make up the top bunk. I can't even reach (and can't get up the ladder!) and DS1 ends up with more sheet around himself than the mattress! (It was so much easier when I was his age and bunk beds came without the guards on the top bunks!)

I have this one, i wanted it to be solid with good stairs as i knew i wouldn't keep the 3 year old off the steps.
www.rainbow-wood.co.uk/product/parisot-tam-tam-bunkbed-whiteandgrey/
And both kids love all the storage

I have the Julian Bowen bunk too. I like that the bottom bunk is low (DD2 has been in it from 18 months) and the steps are proper stairs.
I will say though that it is a big piece of furniture. The shelves add a fair bit to the width and it is ok height wise in our 1930s semi but if the ceilings were any lower it would cause an issue.

We bought bunks for about £200 from a local bed shop - it was an extra £20 or £30 to have three men build the bloody things for us when they delivered them - worth every penny!

Make sure the barrier bit goes on both sides of the top bunk, not just one.

Thanks everyone for your advice! After thinking about it overnight I think the Julian Bowen ones look a bit too easy to climb. The baby thinks she is a mountain boat and I don't want to have to keep rescuing her from the top bunk. With the ladder style I think if she did try and call it would only be from the first rung.

After initially dismissing Amazon (sorry bummyknocker), DH had reminded me that the problem we had was with the terrible quality wardrobe I bought (don't buy furniture at 3am while heavily pregnant), rather than the company. So we're thinking about this one :
Bunk Bed Wooden Single White Pine Can be split into 2 singles www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0095KHKPY/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_awdo_x_eln-xbD53BMF5