Gearhead Mom

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Lofty Ideas

Posted by Jenny M. @ 1:31 PM

If I had it to do all over again, I wouldn’t have bought a crib which promised to turn into the headboard of a full-sized bed. That seemed like a great feature at the time, and oh-so-thrifty! Maybe that kind of crib is a good idea if you are having an only child; you can transition your child out of the crib as you transition the crib into a bed. Otherwise, just about the time you’re moving one child out of crib, you’re probably thinking about or having another.  And then you need your crib again. After the second kid (or more)? You’re more likely to give the crib away as part of your acknowledgment that THERE WILL BE NO MORE.  I don’t think our crib will ever be a bed.

When our now-four-year-old was ready to move out of her crib, a friend lent us a sweet toddler bed. And pretty soon the crib was occupied by our second daughter. Now our youngest is two, and just like other transitions (e.g., potty training), we’re just not as excited to move her out of the crib as we were with the first (Ha! Back then we had NO IDEA how many sleepless nights of toddler wandering we were in for!). But it has to happen, alas, and we knew we had to prepare.  And despite the fact that we’re pretty sure our little petite four-year-old could stay in the toddler bed till she moved off to college and extra-long-sized sheets, we feel we owed it to her to offer a bigger, more exciting bed. 

We have a small house with two small bedrooms. It made sense for us to look at bunk beds. But it didn’t make sense to add two MORE beds to our menagerie when we already have ONE toddler bed for ONE child (and one giveaway crib--wait!  Will there be NO MORE?  Stay tuned...).  Enter the Ikea KURA reversible bed.

This is a relatively low (and also in price at $185.00!) loft bed under which can be a quaint play space or, in our case, a toddler bed. Ikea, of course, offers accessories to make this bed more fun: a tent for on top, curtains to enclose the bottom, etc. This bed was the perfect space-saving solution for our house.  And the height of a normal bunk bed would have freaked me out, I’ll admit. I’m comfortable with this one, and I can look my daughter in the eye when she’s lying in bed. 

Here’s the coolest part, though: the panels which fill in the side spaces and ends of the bed can be assembled with blue or white sides showing. I asked my husband to make sure the white sides were facing out, with the thought that I would let my daughter paint, and personalize, her bed. I could always paint over it, right? After a few weeks of questioning that brilliant idea, and being nagged by my daughter, I finally dug the acrylic paints out of the garage. Look at the results! 

I also thought of gluing wooden letters on the panels, painting them colors to complement the room’s decor, painting them with chalkboard paint, or using decals or stickers...you could go crazy. 

In a nutshell:

1.  A great, inexpensive bed for a youngster ready to move beyond the crib or toddler-bed stage.
2.  If you already have another bed, this is a good second (in lieu of bunk beds), especially as it provides play or storage space below, without being as high as a normal bunk bed.
3.  Be creative with Ikea’s bed “accessories” and the bed’s panels--lots of possibilities!
4.  It’s from Ikea. It took my husband an afternoon to assemble it. 

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