Cabin beds/midi sleepers

kingfisherblue

Hi, I'm hoping that someone can recommend a cabin bed or midi sleeper type bed for my sons. I've checked the internet, but I'm not used to shopping online and I don't know which sites to trust.

A few details - I have two sons. The older of the two (age 11) has Down's syndrome and I wouldn't feel happy if he had to sleep on a top bunk. He can't sleep on a lower bunk as he has breathing problems including asthma, and sleeping below a top bunk isn't recommended. My younger son is very tall for his age - he's 9, but is the size of a 12 or 13 year old.

The two lads share a room, but although it has enough room for two beds and some bedroom furniture, it doesn't leave much space. I thought that if I bought cabin beds, there would be some integral storage, meaning that I can get rid of one of the chest of drawers (they have a chest each). There would also (hopefully!) be a bookcase to keep their many books under control. A desk would be handy for when my younger son does his homework. I realise that I might not get everything included in something that I can afford though, so I'm open minded about the type os storage included.

I'm also not great at building flat pack furniture. I can manage, but I find it difficult at times (especially drawers - I excel in getting them wrong!)

Any recommendations, help or advice welcome.

Thanks for reading x

littlemissmoney

What's your budget?

kingfisherblue

Probaly a maximum of £500 for both kids. I don't work as I am the only carer for my son with DS, and he has numerous medical problems. I've saved some money and I'm due about £300 from the CSA early next month (arrears from their dad)

littlemissmoney

If DS1 can't sleep on the top or bottom bunk I can't think of anyway around having to use two single beds to be honest. What are you doing at the moment? Could you buy underbed storage for single beds?

Do you have any links to the kind of things you are looking at? Then people might be able to suggest cheaper/better alternatives.

littlemissmoney

Could DS2 sleep on a high bed with loads of storage space underneath and DS1 sleep on a single bed with a bit of storage underneath? Maybe that's what you had in mind actually and I was just being dim

OnceUponADream

My eldest has a cabin bed which has 3 drawers and a 2 door cupboard. It only has two steps on the ladder so it's not really that high. My three year old can get up and down with ease.

It did come flat pack though.

Is it something like this you are looking for?

kingfisherblue

The boys are in single beds at the moment, but as they need replacing, I didn't think it was worth getting underbed storage. I realise that they will still take up the space of two singles, but I'm hoping to save a bit of space by not needing some of the furniture already in the room.

I have thought about one high and one low storage bed and that mighht be a solution, but I'm not sure which to choose from the vast range available, or which websites to trust. A bed like the one OnceUponADream has sounds like the sort of thing that I am looking for, at least for my older son. It may yet be suitable for both...


I can't post links as I'm a new poster. I did find two beds in Dreams today, but they were a bit above my price range. One was the Hampshire mid-sleeper at £299 and the other was the Alaska high sleeper at £399. The Hampshire had a swing out desk that might take up a bit too much room, but maybe we would keep it out all the time and not need to swing it in and out. The Alaska has plenty of storage, but can only be built one way, which, due to the position of the window, door and radiator in the room, wouldn't be suitable as a large proportion of the storage would be against a wall! Also, the salesman said that they are quite hard to assemble.

OnceUponADream

Hi

I can't for the life of me remember where we got ours - it was a good few years ago.

Have a look here http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?storeId=10001&catalogId=1500001801&langId=-1&searchTerms=CABIN+BED&Submit=GO+%3E

They are a lot cheaper than the likes of Dreams etc. Try Homebase as well.

They aren't assembled but maybe you could pay a tradesman to do it for you if you get them cheap enough. And you may be able to use the mattresses that you already have so that would cut the price abit.

HTH

kingfisherblue

Thanks OnceUponADream. And the idea of using a local tradesman is a good one - I hadn't thought of that.

debtfreein4years

I had something simialr to this from ikea a couple of years ago. mine had two cabinets with sliding doors and shelves in the middle which was plenty of storage for me.

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/10160837

also what about a bunk bed, but with the beds running at 90 degree angle to each other, so the top bunk is along one wall, and the under bed is along another wall with only a bit of the bottom bed underneath the top bed. I know my aunt had that set up when i was younger but i cant seem to find anything like it. Although if you know someone who is good with woodwork then it could easily be made I think.

something like this http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/00160866 with a single bed underneath it sticking out along a wall.

also with the youngest sleeping in the top and being tall, dont worry about it. I slept in one for a good few years when i was at home and I stopped growwing at 5ft 8 and my brother slept in one (although his was a double) and he was over the 6ft mark before he wanted a lower bed. (kept bashing his head on the ceiling when he woke up)

also just to let you know argos and homebase are owned by the same company and have pretty much the same products.

Wonder_Girl

My friend has this one for her daughter, it won't let me put a direct link to the bed, but if you go to beds & furniture across the top and then choose cabin beds, it's the Verona bed, 8th down on the left hand side, it's on sale too!

http://www.thekidswindow.co.uk/furniture/cabin-beds.htm