Friday, June 5, 2009

Triple Bunk Beds, that's right, I said TRIPLE!

First off, if you're interested in making this awesome triple bunk bed, here's a link to the plans that we used.  Triple Bunk Bed Plans.  My husband is a fairly handy guy but had never built any furniture before.  These plans were easy to follow and use standard wood sizes that can be found at your typical home improvement store.

  I wish I would have taken a picture when this bed was just a pile of lumber but I didn't. So, Micah used to sleep in a twin bed up in the loft and Jacob had the top bunk and Ben had the bottom bunk in the downstairs area. In the summer the loft got pretty hot and Micah also started complaining of bad dreams and wanted to be with his brothers. We moved him down to the floor on his mattress. There was hardly any walking room, it was pretty bad. Tyler started looking for triple bunk beds on the internet, yep, they have them, and they are about 1-2 thousand dollars. Well, we definately could not afford that. Tyler found a sit that you could buy plans to build your own triple bunk bed. He went ahead and did this. Now, I'll be honest. Tyler had never built anything before this, so I was kind of thinking that it would be months or years before we actually had a finished product and that it would look pretty "homemade". I know that's terrible. I have a wonderful husband who is quite smart and talented and I'm now ashamed that I thought this. Anyway. We had the plans for awhile before we were able to buy the wood, and once we bought the wood (Douglas Fir, the cheapest) it was pretty green and we had to let it dry for several weeks. Once it was dry Tyler took it to his good friend Rob McCune's house to joint and plane it (Rob changed our front brakes on our van in less than 10 minutes that night too, thanks Rob!). While Tyler was sick I went to my grandparents house and picked up Grandpa's router and router table, he was impressed that I could carry it to the van and lift it into the van all by myself! So, the next step, Ty sanded and routered the pieces, I skipped a step, he first cut the wood into the right size pieces before he did anything else. So, once all that was done I didn't realize the boys would be sleeping in their new bed 3 days later! Tyler built it on Saturday and on Monday, Memorial Day he and I put a sealer on the wood and Tuesday night they were sleeping in it!
Tyler, I am so proud of you for all of the projects you take on, for your dedication in finishing them and for learning so many new things. You are amazing and I love you and I love the new bed and how wonderful the boys room looks and feels now. I have been in there cleaning up after them more than I used to and I don't mind it because it feels so nice to be in their room now.

She got reprimanded for drawing on the wood and Tyler had to go around and erase all of her artwork.

These big side pieces were the hardest part of the whole project for Ty. The lags were hard to get in, once he got them in a ways they kept stripping, he spent the most time getting those pieces on.
This is our front room where the boys slept while Ty put the bed together. It is such a huge piece of furniture that it had to be assembled right in the room. That thing is really heavy too. If there is ever an earthquake we're all getting under that thing!
He hates these pictures but I had to get one of him with his first building project. Doesn't it look good too? I love it. I think it looks so much cooler than I was expecting it to. The wood really didn't look very nice when it first came home from Lowes.
These are all the kids, and the dog on M's bed. He got to pick first since he's the oldest, then J picked the bottom and B was left with the top. They have all been happy with their location, but when they play on the bed they all seem to like the middle bunk.
I love this picture because Miss P was just innocently loving on D not even seeming to notice that he wasn't into it. I'm sure he was growling too. Click on the picture so you can get a good look at his snarl.
This one is cute too, I love her little gap tooth smile and her wispy curls above her ears.

I'm sure these kids will make lots of wonderful memories in their triple bunk, and probably even the grandkids too cause this bed isn't going anywhere!

31 comments:

Anonymous said...

very nice tyler! I am impressed! it reminds me of my brothers room. Darren, Jayson and Adam had a triple bunkbed! But Im sure my dad didnt build it himself!

Jared and Brianne said...

Wow! That looks amazing! Good job Tyler! How fun for all the boys...I bet they love it! =)

Scrapally said...

that turned out beautiful!! Great job Tyler! Dave made our boys a triple bunk once...we have since passed it on to other little boys...but it was fun to have!

~H said...

wow!! That looks way way way too fun!! YOu better put a tough kid up top! One who doesn't sleep walk or sleep jump bed rails like my sister... although it's awefully funny to watch it looks painful from way up there! :)
We miss you guys like crazy too!! We need to get together soon or we just may have some major withdrawl health issues!! I want you to meet Makyla soo bad!! (so does Bryan!)
Thanks for saying she looks like me... we usually get that she looks like Bryan, beside having my nose I'm waiting to see some more Mommy traits. :) xoxoxo love you guys!

The Smith Family said...

I'm totally impressed! I'd never heard of such a thing, wow, a triple bunk bed! Wonder if my mother in law knew such a thing existed--she had 6 boys!:) Very cool handiwork Tyler. I'll bet the boys are having a blast being all together!

Janelle Ehat said...

I looked at them online too! I LOVED the corner/loft ones where there is a regular set of bunkbeds that make an L shaped top bunk (two twin mattresses meeting in the corner) with a "loft" underneath, or you can have them be QUAD bunk beds! Where the top and bottom bunks meet in the corner! SO so cool! These look totally awesome! I was worried that they would be too squishy on each bunk, but they look TOTALLY fine! What a great idea! And Tyler did an AWESOME job! Wow!! Very impressive!

April said...

wow! Tyler you are awesome. We start projects and never finish them. That is crazy. Never heard of a triple bunk. I am excited to set up the twins bunk beds when they get a little older. Right now they are two twin beds and they take up sooo much room!

Seamons Family said...

Wow!! Thanks very impressive. I'm sure the boys love it! I've never seen a triple bunk bed before.

Caleen said...

Tyler did a great job.. I can't believe there is a 3 bunk bed.. Wow.. Those boys are gonna have a great time.. Little Miss Peyton will too.. That is just too incredible.. Great job..

Pollock Palooza said...

Dang! There's NO WAY that top bunk would ever be made at my house, ha. I love it!

Becca said...

Good job Tyler!!!! That is soooo awesome you guys! The Bed looks great and your kids look soooo cute!! We love you guys and are excited for you to come!!

Grandmotherfairy said...

Those beds remind me of David doing the same thing for our boys...we called them the "three degrees of glory beds". They look great Tyler.

Miranda said...

Hi Kelli!
I have been terrible at replying to people, sorry! We just moved to Puerto Rico for Mark's job. He is in the FBI and we decided after a lot of prayer and discussions that this was where we were supposed to come. The option was always available but we never would have even discussed it until about 6 months ago. Basically if we came here after 5 years we could go wherever we wanted to go, permanently. We LOVE Clovis and miss it terribly, however we are not from there and our goal is to get to live by family as quickly as possible. This was the shortest "route". Also, the idea of something new and the adventure of living in a place like this sounded really exciting to us! Our kids are all still really little and we thought this would be a great experience for them. Soooo, that is why we came here. We are really loving it so far but it is definitely different, for sure! We miss Clovis and the great community of Latter Day Saints that we were surrounded by. I am soooo thankful for blogs and that even though I am far away I can still feel in touch with all of the people I care about! I do look at your blog and I get a kick out of your cute kids. Your little girl is sooo adorable!! I think when I saw her over at Krista's she was just a newborn baby! I am terrible at leaving little notes but one of my goals now that I am here is to stay on top of my blogging! Thanks for the sweet messages you leave me from time to time!

Whittaker Woman said...

Hey girl, will you email me at whittakerwoman@gmail.com
I wanted to email you something. H

Brooke said...

I can't believe those bunkbeds!! I am so unbelievably jealous!! BTW that picture of Peyton hugging Diego...PRICELESS!! I want that as my computer screen background. lol.

Unknown said...

OMGosh! My dad made us triple deckers when we were kids! I thought we where the only ones in the world! Thats Awesome!

Luna said...

Nice job Tyler! If I ever need one, i know who to call!

Meladara said...

Alright, I don't know you but by odd chance I was searching for triple bunk beds and came to your blog post. I'm from Fresno. :D

I love the bunk beds! I have been wanting my husband to build our daughters a set as well. We have a tiny house and with our older girls in a bunkbed and our 2 yr old getting close to moving out of her crib we just don't know what to do! I think I'm going to show him this page and see if it will inspire him! Great job!

Middle Aged Mumblings said...

Thank you for sharing this. I am looking for a triple bunk for my little girls, the 3 beds in a tiny room thing just doesn't fly! I found a site with the plans and it seemed like a good idea, but I was wary about how it might really turn out. My husband is a build it yourself type guy, so if your hubby wasn't and got that great a result I think I will get the plans and put my hubby to work on it this weekend!

Unknown said...

I should have known that a family posting the praises of a triple bunk would be fellow LDS members!! :) I have been looking at every possible configuration and I think we'll need to go with this very type of bunk - and probably need to build it ourselves. I was wondering if you could tell me which set of plans your husband went with. I've come across a few - and your bunk turned out really nice! Thanks! Kim (klynnlee@sbcglobal.net)

Yoghurt said...

Ideally, your child’s bedroom offers an environment which stimulates his or her creativity and imagination, and has the ability to change over time. In achieving the latter, triple bunks beds are often helpful as they certainly reduce
the square footage needed for three children to sleep.

Triple bunk beds are available with three twin-sized beds. Any other sized beds would need to be custom-made. When shopping for triple bunk beds, consider who the beds are for, your options and your budget.

Parents should be aware of the safety issues that accompany triple bunk beds. A
child sleeping on the top bunk may be at least six feet in the air. Clearly, if your kids
are terribly rambunctious, these beds may not be your best bet as monkey-play and bunk beds do not go together.


http://123bedroom.ws43.com/the-thrill-of-triple-bunk-beds--.html

Mike and Elsy said...

Hi kelly...We have 7 kids...with 6 of them girls in a single room. We were searching for making 2 tripple bunk beds, and came across your blog post. Could you possibly tell us where you got your beds, or possibly what the plans were for making them? We would be so greatful. You can email them to smokiibear at gmail.com

Thank you so much. Great look family, BTW.

Red Gate said...

We have been considering triple bunks for a while now, but I am curious....how difficult is it to change the sheets and make the beds every morning? Eventually, each boy will be responsible for his own, but for now, at least, it's mostly up to me. Have you found the convenience of the space worth the hassle of sheet changes?

Amy said...

Hi! I've been googling triple bunk beds and was wondering if you could share either your plan that you used, OR maybe where you got your plan from. Please e-mail me at Amy4ever72@hotmail.com Thanks so much!!

Unknown said...

Great bed! In our experience, most of the children want the middle bunk - I guess it's their own special "space":)

These plans and other bunk bed plans are sold at:

www.BunkBedsUnlimited.com

Unknown said...

Love these and would like our youth group to make these for an old chapel in Alabama for mission teams. About how much does it cost to build a set of Triple Bunks?

kelly said...

I tried to reply and I'm not sure if it posted, this might be a double reply! The cost of the bed depends a lot on how much you get your wood for. We got the cheapest wood they had at Lowes. It has been several years now since my husband built the bed, but I think we spent close to $300 including the plans and hardware. My oldest son who is now 14 can no longer get into the middle bunk very easily as he is nearly 6ft tall! He is now on the top bunk.

Yevett said...

Hi kelly supper bunkbed!I love it. I followed the link from bunkbedsunlimited. I cant seem to find out how high the ceilings have to be for these plans. How high were your ceilings?

Unknown said...

These beds work in a room with standard 8ft ceilings.

kelly said...

Yes, but the top bunk won’t have as much room.

kelly said...

My ceiling was 8 ft. Where the bed was against it and then rose higher.