Add Fun (and Valuable Floor Space) to Your Child’s Bedroom With This Loft Bed

Photo: Tony Carrick

One of the realizations we came to when our kids began attending school from home was that my son didn’t have enough space in his room for a desk.

Even with just a twin bed, my son’s bedroom lacked the floor space to accommodate a desk for his computer. The temporary fix, working at a computer station set up at the kitchen table, wasn’t going to cut it in the long run.

While expanding the square footage of his room wasn’t an option, I knew there had to be a way to use the existing space more efficiently. The solution we landed on was a loft bed that would allow us to regain the floor space taken up by the bed while providing the desk my son needed for school.

Finding the Perfect Desk

My son was excited at the prospect of sleeping in a bed that was elevated 5 feet off the ground, so we decided to let him be part of the decision-making process. After conducting an online search, we decided on this metal loft bed from DHP Studio, which comes in gray, black, and white. In addition to earning plenty of rave reviews, it also offered the functionality we were looking for, incorporating both a desk and shelves.

Building the Bed

Because the delivery box weighed in at 125 pounds, I had to unpack the bed and carry it to my son’s second-floor bedroom in pieces. While this added time to the assembly process, having to fully unpack the bed gave me a chance to arrange the parts for easier assembly. Installation required only a 4mm hex wrench and 3/8-inch wrench, which were included with the bed. I used my own 4mm socket wrench and cordless impact driver drill with a 3/8-inch hex wrench bit to speed up installation. The instructions were easy to follow, and I had the bed up and ready for action in about 2 hours.

Adding Back Valuable Floor Space

A single bed with a frame takes up about 20 square feet. While that may not sound like a lot, it’s a pretty good chunk of real estate in a 10-by-10-foot room, which gives just 100 square feet of space to work with.

Photo: Tony Carrick

What We Love About the Bed

The space under the bed includes a 40-by-15-inch desk that has more than sufficient surface area to capably handle my son’s computer, with enough room on either side for note-taking or textbooks.

Three shelves on the side opposite the desk provide space for books and a great display area for my son’s growing collection of LEGO Architecture cities.

Sturdy Construction

Given that my son would be climbing in and out of the bed, one of my biggest concerns was stability. I didn’t want the structure swaying and shifting dangerously as he climbed up.

The stout frame consists of multiple steel bars that run both the width and length of the bed, giving it a solid feel. The desk and shelves, which are made of pressboard with laminate veneer, not only create durable work surfaces but also help to provide stability for the entire bed.

This solid construction adds up to a bed frame that doesn’t shift or sway when my son climbs the ladder. Tested with my considerably heavier weight, the bed sways slightly but not enough to disturb London, San Francisco, New York, or any of the other miniature LEGO cities resting on the bed’s shelves.

Photo: Tony Carrick

A Necessary Modification

While we’re satisfied with the bed, it does have one significant design flaw: the ladder. The narrow, 1-inch-diameter bars that make up its steel rungs are flat-out painful to climb in bare or even stocking feet. Having my son wear shoes to climb into bed wasn’t an option. To fix the problem, I spent a few dollars on an 8-foot length of foam pipe insulation. I cut the insulation into 1-foot lengths that I then fit around the rungs. The thick foam provides sufficient padding to make the ladder comfortable to climb.

Photo: Tony Carrick

Considerations

If you’re thinking about buying a loft bed, it’s important to take the bed’s height and design into consideration. The bed we chose doesn’t have an opening in the surrounding safety bar, so to enter and exit the bed, my son has to climb over the bar. Because our second-floor ceilings are 8 ½ feet tall, there is enough space above the bed for him to clear the bar, which is 74 inches off the ground. If our ceilings were 8 feet tall, I don’t think there would be enough room.

Overall, the bed is a hit. My son loves sleeping 5 feet off the ground, likes having a desk for his computer, and loves being able to display his latest LEGO creations. And now that his days of virtual school are coming to an end, he can put all this space to good use as he sits at his desk and does his homework in his room.