Introduction: Ikea Kura Bed Converted to Bunkbed
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About: Artist, craftswoman, reenactor, costumer, mom, geek, nerd, gamer, designer. Love building props and costumes and lots of other things for fun, have gotten to do it for money in the past. Grew up restoring hous…
I have 2 kids, and some time ago, they each had their own room. The little one got this for his former toddler bed and the big guy got a KURA platform/loft bed from Ikea. All was great for about 2 years.
However, a couple of years ago, the little one and the big one both asked me if they could share a room because they didn't want to sleep alone, being little kids. The little guy was still small enough that we just tossed a big kid twin sized mattress and a set of slats under the loft-configured KURA and said "done!" He couldn't fall out and moving (we were still a military family at that point) was going to be easy - just disassemble and reassemble the bed.
Then, we moved back home, into a house we won't be moving from for some time, and the "baby" was about to go from five to six. I thought, "Hey! Now is a great time to make this a real bunk bed!" That, and having more storage space in our small, 100 year old house is always a plus. So I built a base frame and secured the KURA frame to it. When I get a chance to make diagrams, I plan to do a full Instructable, but it's been over a year and I haven't had time yet, so you get a photo set. Also, a year on, with my regular moving to clean and kids bouncing and climbing, and I can say this base frame is quite sturdy and safe.
Materials; This was very cheap to do, as I had all the lumber and hardware and tools on hand, due to our moving back into our existing, half-restored bungalow.
However, a couple of years ago, the little one and the big one both asked me if they could share a room because they didn't want to sleep alone, being little kids. The little guy was still small enough that we just tossed a big kid twin sized mattress and a set of slats under the loft-configured KURA and said "done!" He couldn't fall out and moving (we were still a military family at that point) was going to be easy - just disassemble and reassemble the bed.
Then, we moved back home, into a house we won't be moving from for some time, and the "baby" was about to go from five to six. I thought, "Hey! Now is a great time to make this a real bunk bed!" That, and having more storage space in our small, 100 year old house is always a plus. So I built a base frame and secured the KURA frame to it. When I get a chance to make diagrams, I plan to do a full Instructable, but it's been over a year and I haven't had time yet, so you get a photo set. Also, a year on, with my regular moving to clean and kids bouncing and climbing, and I can say this base frame is quite sturdy and safe.
Materials; This was very cheap to do, as I had all the lumber and hardware and tools on hand, due to our moving back into our existing, half-restored bungalow.
- two 10' 2x4s
- two 8' closet poles (these would look better/be more stable as 2x2 stock)
- 3.25 deck screws for assembly and securing the two frames together
- 1.25 wood screws for securing the lower slats.
- drill and driver bits
- circular saw
- hand sander
- sawhorses