A Shared Kids Bedroom with DIY Montessori Floor Beds

We always wanted to have two kids. So after I became pregnant with Elliot, we needed to figure out how to fit a 4-year old and a baby into one bedroom. I love the look of two twin beds, but seeing as our oldest son is a wiggly sleeper and often falls off during the night if not barricaded by bodies or pillows, I knew it was an impossible dream. So then I started looking at floor-bed options. I pinned a lot of inspiration and did a ton of research (including considering the IKEA Kura bed). But nothing was good enough. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on something that would only work for a few years or was made from shoddy materials. I wanted to invest in good mattresses (we went with the Room&Board encased-coil bunk mattresses) and loved the look of the Kinderzimmerei bed (expensive and German, not gonna happen). So then I figured, how hard would it be do simply build these bed frames ourselves?

I will admit that past drawing up the plans, pricing out all the new purchases, and relentlessly prodding my husband, I took on a more supervisory role since I was about 8 months pregnant. We purchased all the wood and hardware from Ring's End and used the thick balister lumber pieces for the main bed frame. The foot and head boards (which were very important to me) were made from 5" pine boards and joined together with wood dowels and glue ("It's like we're making our own IKEA furniture!"). The mattresses were then raised off the floor on some IKEA slats to provide a softer bounce and prevent any mold growth. All in all, it was a pretty professional job, if I do say so myself.

The total cost was around $600 for both bed frames - not bad considering that it's solid good-quality wood. Eventually we will fill in all the screw holes and possibly finish the wood, but for now, these beds are an ideal solution to our situation. Best of all, the 4 year old loves his big-boy bed and gets way too excited whenever we hang something on the top railing - adding canopies to the beds to make them more like 'forts' might also be in the future. I love the way this room evolved from a guest bedroom to Graham's baby room and now to a shared bedroom for two brothers.