Bunk Beds – Who Gets To Be On Top?

“Who gets to be on top?” the eternal question for anyone sharing a bunk bed.

When you were a child you may have had to share a room and a bed with a sibling or friend. Two-person bunk beds are a common find in family households for the primary reason that they conserve on interior design space by vertically integrating into the room.

A bunk bed is basically two beds stacked on top of each other, separated by the frame’s support structure. The frames can come in wood or metal variations. The lower bunk can have storage space beneath it or beside it from sliding drawers to cupboard doors. The upper bunk is reached by ladder, usually attached to the bunk itself. Both bunks are usually equipped with headboards attached.

Their most practical application is for children sharing rooms. As long as safety precautions are followed, children often have a lot of fun with bunk beds.

However, there is a demand for bunk beds in the leisure industry from hostels to holiday accommodations. Even universities, colleges and language schools utilise the two-person bunk for their dormitories. Bunk beds can be found aboard cruise ships and this could just be where the concept first originated.

They come in a range of styles from the functionally Spartan, to traditionally rustic, or even the more contemporary and modern designs where the headboards are detachable from the bunk bed structure. It all depends on how best you want to match your bedroom decor and the design of the room.

Safety is always a priority with bunk beds, specifically the top bunk, whether it is a child or an adult. Annual statistics actually suggest that more adults suffer from accidents with bunk beds than children do. Guard rails and raised borders should be a standard with all bunk beds and must be at least five inches above the mattress that includes the headboards too. Always read the manufacturer’s instructions to understand what the features of the bunk are, how to use them and the safety precautions to take.

There are, as with most beds, alternative options. Bunk beds do not only come as one piece. They can also come as stackable bunks. These are designed to be detachable from one another so you can vertically integrate them into the space if you want to save on room, or you can turn them into two individual twin sized beds. Instead of a solid frame base, this stackable version has two headboards and footboards that join together to form the bunk and detach just as easily. You can get stackable bunk beds with a “twin over full” feature, which basically means that the lower bunk is really a full-sized bed on its own, while the top half bunk is acts as a twin bed.

The other type of bunk bed is called a loft bed. This allows for a lot more space in a room and on the bunk. A loft has its top bed elevated while the bottom space is open for other uses such as extra storage space. You can purchase loft beds with twin sized, full sized and queen sized mattresses. Always account for safety and ensure that the bunk bed, whether it be traditional, stackable or loft, is secure and adheres to safety standards.

Sometimes, if you’re looking to save on space, or if you have two people sharing a room, bunk beds can be the ideal choice, for children and for adults.