Baby-proofing the Bunk Beds

A few years ago, when we were just starting to entertain the idea of maybe possibly having a second kid someday maybe, I decided we should get Lorelei a set of twin over full bunk beds. Our house isn’t huge and I knew eventually she would have to share a room with her future sibling, so I was planning ahead.

She was maybe three years old, so I wanted a set with stairs, instead of a ladder. For a while, we just put a piece of thin MDF board up there with her dollhouse, rather than a mattress. She’s generally been good at not standing up when on the top bunk.

I did not, however, fully think out what would happen when a second baby arrived. My forethought somehow skipped from infant to preschooler without giving dues to… dun dun dun… toddlerhood. 

Fucking toddlers. They’re the worst. And the best. But when you have bunk beds they are probably the worst. And this particular toddler loves to climb but is not particularly skilled at it. Then he likes to get on the top bunk and STAND UP.

Big bucket of NOPE.

It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do.

Anything I chose needed to meet some basic criteria:

Easy and use only basic tools — I don’t have fancy power tools that cut things

Cheap

Lorelei needs to be able to get in and out safely

Effective – duh

Eventually, I came up with the idea of using MDF board (I love that stuff) and hinges to create a door. I bought a 2 x 4 piece of thin MDF and had the lovely gentleman at Home Depot cut it to the right width for me (20 inches, in my case). 

We attached the door to the bunk bed frame – replacing the screwed for nuts and bolts on the door side, so there wouldn’t be sharp screws sticking out.

We used a hook and eye latch to lock it – the screw was a little long so I cut a tiny 1 inch square piece of MDF from the scrap and added that to the back.

And here we go! Lorelei and I painted it according to her specifications tonight. The window is grey chalkboard paint!

I spent about $35 in total, $23 on the door and $12 on paint and brushes. If you already have paints and a decent selection of hardware then you could spend considerably less. The board itself was $7.

 

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