Loft beds with bookshelf ladders

My daughter has always had her own room, but envies her brothers' bunk bed. So I built her a loft bed that look likes a floating cloud, which made her happy and created a little more space in her room. It uses some of the design principles of the one-legged bunk bed I posted previously - namely using the walls as part of the frame. However, this one has a heavy duty combination ladder/bookshelf for support, rather than a single leg. It's built using simple joinery out of construction lumber (2x4 and 2x6) and plywood, it's incredibly solid, and it only cost about $150 to build.

And pretty much as soon as I'd built that one, my eldest son moved into a room of his own... and wanted a loft bed, too. His incorporates a second bookshelf, a desk, and a secret compartment, and is designed for someone with longer legs, more books, and who isn't fussed about sleeping on a cloud...

Step 1 Design: loft bed #1

One end of the cloud loft bed (from here on in, #1) is a combination ladder/bookshelf. It's angled at a 4:1 ratio, which equals 14º away from vertical. It has six steps and six shelves, and can hold nearly three linear meters (10') of books. The bed is about as high off the ground as it can be and still retain head room above, with 8' ceilings (important so the occupant can sit up in bed).

The side of one of the beds is a stylized cloud. It's pretty cute for an eight-year old, but I have no illusions that a teenager will necessarily think it's just as cool, so I anticipate removing it and replacing it at some stage with some other design. The ladder and bookcase are pretty future-proof, I hope - it's quite comfortable for an adult to climb, and we all need storage for books.

_{Click on the icon below to download the Google SketchUp 3D design file for this loft bed, and use it as a starting point to design your own.}

Comments

[HollyMann]

Wow this looks incredible!!! I Love the design!!! Thank you!

[lambsb]

Very nice. I'm thinking about something like this or your one legged bunk bed for my 7 year old daughters room. BTW, is that Lego's I see on the table? Double points, looks like your raising a future instructables author to me!

[makendo]

Thanks. I recommend this one over the 1-legged one - it's probably easier to build (ladders are slightly tricky), adds storage, and is much nicer to climb in bare feet (more like stairs than rungs). That is Lego... and there's an instructable for that, too... http://www.instructables.com/id/Lego-construction-table/

[OverThinkingIt]

How tall is the bed?

[makendo]

The top of the mattress is about 1.7 m off the ground.

[cdheatherly]

love it...great job...really like the ladder/ bookshelve on the end. I am building my son a loft bed in the dorm in his room. The down fall to his bed is the only way under the bed and for the ladder is at the same end. so Im trying to figure out the best way to make his ladder... thinking about one the slides up into the bed when not in use...again great job

[makendo]

Thanks. He must have a *really* narrow dorm room...

[Alpvax]

I would love to build this for my tiny room in order to save floorspace. Only problem is I have windows on 2 sides and the door is in the opposite corner :(

[ginger20037]

I wish that would work for my waterbed, that'd be awesome!

[makendo]

Airbed yes, waterbed no :)

[ginger20037]

The one time I hate having a waterbed lol

[momentsrewound]

This is AMAZING. Ive been looking for ways to save floorspace in my smaller room. Would my loveseat 36" tall fit comfortably under this? I know it would be a tad tight getting under to the couch but as long as i could sit with some room id be fine.


Also, i have a full bed. What exactly would you need to change to accommodate that?

Thanks!

[makendo]

Thanks. The loveseat would fit, sure, though you'd have to crouch to get in there to sit on it. If you're using a wider mattress, make the 2x4 frame out of 2x6 instead, keep the ladder the same width and just make the bookshelves wider. It's probably easiest to design if you download Sketchup and the .skp file I posted, and just play around with it until you have something you like the look of and that has the right dimensions.

[actimm]

I like it, I wish I'd seen this design a few years ago when I was coming up with ideas for my son's room. I'll probably do it for the redesign we have planned for next year. It occurs to me that with a loft ceilings I have, I could make it taller as the space above the head is higher than in a regular house.

[wiccanbear]

totally faved this. my kids are to old now but when i get gran kids this is so what we are doing. ..... might even make one big enough for the hubby and me lol.

[hungyhipo 2]

Sorry but i have to ask another question. What sized bed did you use for #2?

[makendo]

They're both singles.

[hungyhipo 2]

Approximately how much standing head room is there underneath that bed. I'm 13 and about 5'6. I was planning on making this with my dads approval but I'm not sure if I'll have to modify the frame to accommodate for my height. Thanks.

[makendo]

Nowhere near enough to walk under - less than 5'. But the maximum height you can go to depends on the height of the ceiling - we have regular 8', and can't go any higher without risking sitting up in bed and cracking your head. If you have higher ceilings, you can go higher easily - just add another shelf or two.

[hungyhipo 2]

thanks i might put my computer under there with a desk and just not have to walk under. So i guess i have to modify my dimensions.

[arte.sano]

Great stuff!!

[NatureGeek24]

Very nice! Isn't it great having nerd kids with too many books?

[hollymaren]

You should get together with the Tiny House Blog guy. He would love this! http://tinyhouseblog.com/
It sounds as if you could contribute many creative ideas. I have one suggestion and that would be to add a bulletin board for the head board so that area could also be used. Or a panel covered in fabric and padded to change out color on occasion. You could also extend the clothes rod from the back to the ladder/bookshelves to create more room to hang clothes along the wall.
Thanks for sharing this-it is great!

[SantaB]

Hey, I can't open the sketchup file... just downloaded the software, but the file only downloads as a tmp file...

[makendo]

This is a bug at the instructables end. Rename the extension skp instead of tmp and you should be good to go.

[tim_n]

Excellent work,

I had a bunk bed as a kid and I remember quite how wobbily it was - the stairs were made of a sort of dowel and it was painful on bare feet. I thought your floating design might be dangerous, didn't realise you'd fixed it into the wall so it must be pretty sturdy!

I shall book mark this for the future... :)

[makendo]

thanks. Yes, I've made one with rungs, these shelves are much easier on the feet. Lag screwing it to the wall gives it zero wobble.

[duggerpato]

You flippin' stud! Nice work and greatly written instructable, man!

[knordin2000]

Great Design. My son is interested. The Sketch-Up file for the second bed seems to actually be the first bed. Id rather not reinvent the wheel, if you could post a copy of that or tell me how I might can get one Id really appreciate it. Thanks for the design idea though!

[makendo]

@#$%^! I've uploaded it again. Let me know if it works for you, & good luck with the build.

[aaron81006]

I was already digging your bed until I saw that you covered up an unused fireplace. Brilliant! Most people would never think to cover it like that. It's cool how you made it hide the fireplace but still easy enough to remove later. Great job!

[makendo]

Many thanks Aaron - yes, we didn't want to damage the fireplace, well spotted. The right hand bookshelf is attached through the top into the joist above, and there is some beading that pins the plywood headboard against the stone. I didn't go into any detail since I figured the chances of someone needing a loft bed AND needing to cover a fireplace were pretty much nil.

[kyle.marsh]

Beautiful work. When I was about 5 years old my dad made a similar loft bed for me. His was a "no leg" design because it was able to span the entire length of the room and used the walls on three sides for support. It had room for my mattress, a small bookshelf as a headboard, and a bit of room by the foot where the ladder came up the side.

I remember that bed incredibly fondly...it was the coolest of the many cool things our dad built for us and I'm glad to see other people doing similar things.

[makendo]

Thanks Kyle, sounds like a neat space - and yr story illustrates why it's so rewarding to make stuff for our kids.

[2tnt]

Congatulation, it very nice
I thing easy to made, so i will do it.
Thanks for share

[bfk]

This is beautifully designed. I don't see any reason to alter it except to make it fit unique area requirements. It totally keeps the floor accessible and usable. The bookshelf is the perfect use for the awkward area beside the ladder. Excellent, excellent work. Enter this in a contest.

[makendo]

Thanks! I entered it in the ShopBot contest when I published it on Thursday, but it hasn't made it through moderation (yet?).

[rderose1]

Any idea how to calculate the weight limit of something like this. Would this work for an adult? I mean I know it would, but the weight issue is the concern.

[makendo]

It is *really* strong, and for a single bed, I figure it would take just about anyone able to climb the steps. If I was making a double or bigger, I'd replace the 2x4s in the frame with 2x6s, and use 2 lag screws into the wall at the head end. It would only cost a few extra $.
If you look at most commercial loft beds, they're pretty lightweight. I regard this one as massively overengineered!

[aardvark]

Is the desk/shelf unit "ible" available somewhere? Homeschoolers will be big fans of these plans! Thanks for sharing.