Need to Buy a Bunk Bed

We were thinking about Ikea bunk beds last year, until a friend pointed out to me that we adults would have to climb up on the bed and make the top bunk. They might be just fine, but I didn't feel like they would be sturdy enough to stand up to my very active and large kids or the weight of my husband or me (he's a big, tall guy.)

We ended up buying a very nice bunk bed set on Craigslist, used, from a private seller. I can't remember the brand offhand, but it's one of the ones you can find in a furniture store for $2000 or more. We paid $350, mattresses included, and the set was in perfect, like-new condition with the instruction book.

Friends of mine bought a very nice, sturdy set online and they were happy with it, but it was not especially cheap (I think about $1500.)

Our children are pretty small and I know that this is a far stretch from Pottery Barn but we have had good luck with KMART. We bought our bunk bed for the kids there and liked it better than what we saw at IKEA.

We bought beautiful well made loft bunk beds from Room for Kidz and Teenz in Rolling Meadows, it is worth a trip. They have great quality and great customer service.

D.,

We did purchase a steel (silver frame) bunk from IKEA almost 2 years ago. We spent about $150 for the frame and another $60 or so for the mattresses and we couldn't be more thrilled! It's sturdy enough for us adults to sleep on the bottom with our 3 year old and looks great! I wasn't thrilled with the mattresses at first 'cause they seemed too thin, but they've lasted and survived quite a bit of rambunctious activity. No regrets here!