Daybeds for kids--awesome or not? archived

I'm considering a daybed for our 2.5 year old too, due to window and door positioning in his room. The biggest problem with daybeds is the hassle involved to make the bed. Otherwise, I think they're great. We already have one for guests in the attic.

Thanks--I guess that's an issue I hadn't thought about. We are nothing if not experts at putting together Ikea stuff.

What kind of mattress do you use on your guest bed? I know different companies use different types of mattresses, but the Ikea one seems to require a foam mattress if you open it up, which I'm a little "ech" about though I'm not really sure why.

By "make the bed" I took Lynnb to mean putting on the sheets etc.--not as easy to do when one long side is against the wall. Even harder when three sides are enclosed. In that case you might want a lightweight mattress that you can pull out to work on.

I think lynnb means actually making the bed (like straightening the sheets), but I don't think I've ever made my bed on the regular, so this isn't even something I'd consider as a potential issue. Interesting point.

my daughter had a daybed growing up. it was so convenient for all of the sleepovers she had throughout middle school and high school. when someone slept over...we just pulled out the trundle. it was annoying changing the sheets, but pretty easy to make the bed each day. wasn't the most comfortable bed in the world since there is no box spring. it was also convenient when she was "under the weather" and needed to have me sleep nearby.

I JUST got one of these for my daughter! I ended up buying it on Craig's list because I wanted a specific one (from ikea actually) that they don't make anymore--it went with the "look" for her room. She is 2.5 and wanted pink (blech) so I wanted to make it kind of cool at least.

So far, biggest pita is the bed making. But I have it down to a science--you can lift a twin bed the way you do a crib mattress to change sheets. It is the bedspread that is annoying. I think they make bed quilts specifically for daybeds that I may look into...

Here's a pic of hers if this works.

Ps--the hemmes is one I looked at and it looked great. We have a foam mattress on our bed (us as in mom and dad) and I LOVE it. I had a mattress for my daughter or I would've bought her one.

Blergh, maybe this

Doh. I had just read a bunch of reviews about the Hemnes daybed before I posted here, and people kept talking about how it took 2 people 6 hours to LITERALLY "make the bed," so I think my brain was there. And, YES, I'm sure it's much more a PITA than a regular bed, that is definitely something I hadn't thought of...! It's a pain to make her little crib/toddler bed thing right now and at least I can pick that mattress up fairly easily. A twin size, maybe not so fun.

HMMMMM.

The sheets thing and the possibility that it's not quite as comfy as a regular bed are making me pause. But. But. DAYBED. I will have to think more.

omg!!! That is the best toddler/teenage girl's room!!! If my kid gets squidgy about getting a "big girl bed," I am DEFINITELY taking her over to your house to see how amazing it can be. I love that!

Hah, i was laughing at myself doing this 2 going on 15 room!!

I really like the bed. They come up on Craig's list fairly often-it's an ikea meldal. It is all over Pinterest.

I painted an old flea market dresser hot pink, got a cool mirror from ikea, cool frames, black chandelier shades, done and done! Cheap and easy. The meldal daybed goes for maybe $80-100 on ikea so it's not a huge commitment.

Here's the dresser etc but there's black/white big striped

Yup, I totally meant the sheets etc for Sayers. Also really hard to find blankets/quilts that aren't ugly prints. It works for a guest room because I'm not making the bed everyday (or expecting a child to someday do that on his own). But the additional trundle would be great for sleepovers! And they're great for reading in bed!

afa said:

I'm hoping this will be the one-and-only bed we ever buy for her, so I want it to be good for kids through teens.

My one comment on this is that tweens/teens LOVE to "redo" their rooms. So, rather than spend a LOT of money on something that YOU think will last through all those years, you might consider going lower cost on something appropriate for a younger kid and then plan on letting her choose something she likes when she reaches that stage. Both of our daughters wanted new bedroom furniture at some point in their early teens and, in both cases, their tastes weren't at all out of reach. (They found things they liked at IKEA.) I think it was more a matter of them being able to exercise the choice that was so important to them.

Hold the phone, regular quilts won't work on a daybed??

Sac, that's a great point and something I am a bit worried about. Both my mother and I are serial redecorators, so the gene runs strong. Wouldn't be surprised if my daughter is the same (though right now, she wants everything exactly the same as it's always been!).

Maybe get a regular bed and make it into a daybed kind of look by putting one end against the wall and a bookcase at the other end, then adding bolster- type pillows or something like that. Will make it much easier and changeable.

The

afa said:

Hold the phone, regular quilts won't work on a daybed??

Sac, that's a great point and something I am a bit worried about. Both my mother and I are serial redecorators, so the gene runs strong. Wouldn't be surprised if my daughter is the same (though right now, she wants everything exactly the same as it's always been!).

They will work but it's difficult. I have a special quilt/coverlet for our daybed and it's short in the backside, long on the other 3 sides. You might be okay with regular bedding for the bed pictured from ikea though. I needed to cover the pull out trundle.

This is waaaay down the road for you, so not too pertinent, but I'll throw it out there anyway. I just bought a daybed for my son who is 6'2". Didn't occur to me that he would be longer than the bed and since the sides are solid rather than slats I had to put extra mattresses on it so he would fit. So it can't really be used as a couch. Now it's a towering bed. But it looks nice.

Its a great kids bed - my daughter used it fron 2 to 4 and now my son is on it now. The three side walls keep them pretty well contained and its really not hard to change the sheets.

When we saw the house, the previous owners had a twin bed shoehorned in there and it was so awkward. The only other spot for a bed in that room has the head of the bed on the same wall as the door which just feels weird to me. Somehow I feel like a daybed would fix that weirdness, but the whole sheets thing is throwing me for a major loop.

I'm kind of liking the idea of a DIY daybed with some bookshelves on either side, though....hmmm...! Like we need one more project in this house. Hah!

Can someone explain to me why it would take 6 hours to change sheets? Its a twin bed -and the hardest part is moving all toys off the bed without damaging something. Other than that, its a normal sheet.

bog, it was to put the bed together with all the pieces from Ikea. Like, actually MAKE the bed. I had misunderstood what lynn originally said. I would hope it wouldn't take 6 hours to change sheets, oh my. Those would be some dirty sheets in my house.

Ok....putting together the bed is a pain since the directions suck. Fortunately, I have now done it three times so have it down to a science. If you go for the bed and want help assembling, just PM me since I can help. It should just take 30 minutes.

afa, we have that exact same bed. We inheirited it from the previous owners of our house, where it was used by a little girl in the smallest bedroom. It was perfect for the room because the generously-sized storage drawers eliminated the need for a separate dresser.

We now use it as a guest bed in another room and I really like it because of the trundle. It's great as a twin bed for a single guest, since it doesn't take up the whole room, and we can open it up into a king-size when we have a couple visiting. We keep off-season clothes in the drawers, which are huge.

If you plan to use it as a trundle, IKEA recommends using two of their thinner foam mattresses so you can stack them on top of each other and then separate them when you pull out the trundle. We have the Sultan Favang, which I find very comfortable and our guests have agreed.

I agree that making the bed is a bit more challenging than a bed with open sides, but it's not a big deal for me. I like being able to dress it up with pillows to sit on during the day. It would be very fun for a little girl, I think!

I'll be the dissenting voice here. Before you decide on the rather design-specific day bed think five and ten years down the road. If the day bed is going to be big enough for her as she grows, it must be at least as large as the twin bed that was presumably used by the child who used to live in the house with the "previous owners," who probably raised their family in the house. A day bed will possibly have a larger visual footprint than a twin bed because of the raised back and sides, and while it will provide storage it will to some extent limit what else can be done with the room. Consider too that once children are old enough to have and host sleepovers you may want to have those sleepovers in a place where sounds of giggling are more contained. You mention a third floor: a carpeted third floor with board games and Tv can be a wonderful place for sleepovers. When my children were of sleepover age, incidentally, the norm was sleeping bags and pillows for most gatherings. And with girls it was often two or three guests.

Thank you, everyone! The extra storage in the daybed is definitely a plus. The only thing about not being able to rearrange the room down the road is that there really aren't many other places to put a bed without it just floating in the middle of the room. I've attached a rough, completely not-to-sale sketch of her room with the only two viable bed spots. A daybed would fit so well on the closet wall!

I also love love love the idea that it's so good to read in. And the possibility of a trundle, not so much for sleepovers (I'm totally in the sleepover in the attic camp), but for sibling sleepovers or if she's sick, so I don't have to sleep on the floor (like I do on occasion now!). I know there are downsides but I'm still leaning towards it... Maybe. Hah! Thanks for the input, all!!