If you read this blog regularly, you will know that we have 3 boys. They have always wanted to and enjoy sharing a room – they were most upset when Francis was first born that he wasn’t in their room from day one!
When we found out I was expecting Francis, Ashley, our eldest had just turned three was just about ready to move out of his toddler bed. We started looking for bunks and stumbled upon a 3 tiered bunk. Not to be confused with other triples you can find when you Google i.e. a single bed overhead and a double underneath; this is a ‘true’ triple comprising of 3 proper single-sized beds.
Triple Bunk for our 3 boys in their bedroom – fits perfectly!
They are made by a company that we found on ebay who make them to order from their workshop in Bournemouth. The beds are delivered ‘flat-packed’ and all you have to do is assemble them, oh and buy mattresses too! The bottom two beds are made in one piece, the top 3rd bed is separate and could be used as a single bed at a later date. The ladder (which is completely attached to the beds) can be fitted anywhere so will fit in with your room dimensions if you are really short of space.
They are unquestionably solid and well made. The two upper beds have safety rails so there is no chance of falling children. You can attach it to the wall, which the company recommends, but it feels so solid, you may feel, like we do that this safety feature is just not needed. The bottom bunk doesn’t need a safety rail as it’s pretty much at floor level. The beds come ready for you to apply wax or stain, or other paint; we left our triple bunk ‘au-naturale’ and it still looks great 4 years later. I expect we’ll get around to waxing it one day…
They are designed to fit in a regular sized room of 244cm high and they are strong enough to fit 3 adults, let alone 3 children, as I believe this company supplies Youth Hostels. We bought 2 pocket-sprung mattresses for the top and bottom bunk. For the middle bunk, we purchased a slightly thinner ‘memory foam’ mattress as the aforementioned guard rail would be ineffective with a regular sized pocket-sprung mattresses.
Triple Bunk Bed – shows the 3 shelves I have added for the boys’ night time water bottles and the ladder. The Ladder can be placed anywhere.
The beds are not suitable for children under 6, so as our children have aged, they have moved ‘up’ the tiers. Ashley started on the bottom, while Dominic was still in a cot and when Dominic moved into the bottom, Ashley progressed to the middle. Now Francis occupies the bottom and Ashley has been promoted to the top bunk (which he loves!) and obviously Dominic sleeps in the middle.
On occasion, Steve and I have slept in the bunks: think poorly children, we consider them comfortable and are surprisingly roomy. As far as changing the beds is concerned, I must admit that I was a bit worried about changing the top bunk when we first got it as it seemed so high. Actually, it’s surprisingly easy to change. As the bed is so solid and well-constructed I stand on the middle safety bar quite easily and change the bed that way. You obviously have to be reasonably mobile to change that top bunk!
Bunk Bed Spot lights – each of the boys have one of these so they can read before going to sleep.
We have purchased some special CFL spot lights (this link takes you to the LED version) that attach to the wall. They are flexible and adjustable and there is a small switch at the bottom of the fitting so each one can be switched on and off independently. This is ideal for them to be able to read in bed.
Also, just recently, I made them some shelves out of some off-cut wood to put their water bottles on at night.
Home-made shelves for Triple bunk and the night-time water bottles.
I’m sure as the boys get older they will want their own rooms and their own separate space, but for the time being and as they love to share we are saving ourselves a lot of space. It means that the boys have a small bedroom where they sleep and their clothes are kept, and another room as a ‘play room’ where they have a sofa, desk, telly, wii and their toys.
It works really well for us and it is definitely a bed I would recommend.