A few years ago we found ourselves with four kids and two bedrooms. We hacked Kura beds to give each kids a cool bed, with lots of space of their own. Buzzfeed and other sites have picked up the original hack and that blog post has had hundreds of thousands of visitors.
IKEA lovers from all over the world have asked us about our hack so I thought I would be helpful to collect our answers in one place.
1. Let’s talk ages. How old should a kid be to have a Kura Bed?
Kura Beds work for any age, from toddler to tween. We’ve hacked Kura beds for our two-year-old and for our ten-year-old and the kids love them. We have four kids, and this is the most versatile piece of furniture we own. The design is brilliant.
2. You spent a lot of time setting up the area underneath your kids’ beds. Do they really use that space?
Yes. Our kids have to share rooms, so they need a little space to themselves. They use the space under their beds to keep stuff like journals and special art projects they don’t want their siblings touching. They also use these areas as personal reading nooks.
3. LED lights! Chalkboards! Chairs and tables! Is there any part of your Kura hack you wish you hadn’t done?
The chalkboard panels. Even though the chalkboard paint was a cinch to spray on and it hasn’t chipped or peeled, I wouldn’t use it if we hacked the beds again. Our kids never write on the chalkboards. Ever. They go underneath their Kura beds when they want time alone. Maybe chalkboard writing is a social activity? Because they never hang out down there and draw on those chalkboards. Plus the chalkboards always look dusty.
4. Any advantages to flipping the bed over and using it as a low bed?
Our youngest son, Nate, must be part squirrel because he loves to hide little treasures for himself in the crawl space under his Kura bed. Bits of rope, really good snacks, Star Wars action figures, and cool rocks he finds all end up in that little area under his bed. He asked to have his Kura bed flipped over for this exact purpose. Like you can see, his older brother likes his bed higher and Nate likes it low so he can hide his stuff.
5. And the very best parts of the hack? What are you glad you did?
I’m so glad we put curtains on the beds. This was really easy and it’s proven so helpful. Our rule is the kids have to clean their rooms, but they don’t have to keep the area under their bed clean. That’s their space. If they don’t want to pick it up, they can shut the curtain when company comes over.
6. The mattress IKEA recommends is so thin. Is this comfortable for kids?
The Kura bed mattress has to be thin to be low enough to fit between the “walls” of the bed. In other words, if you put a thick mattress in a Kura bed, the mattress would be taller than the sides. But the good news is, yes! The mattress IKEA recommends is super comfortable. More nights than I can count, I’ve fallen asleep in these beds while reading with the kids.
Any other questions? Leave them in the comments, and I’ll try to help you out with your own IKEA hack.
Please help me make a curtain for my daughter for the bottom part..I mean how much I need and how to do it basically. .I’m clueless
We just purchased an KURA bed and we followed the instructions exactly in making the loft bed. The only problem is that we would like the solid panel to be on the opposite side of the way it is configured in the instructions. We have tried to figure out how to change it but it seems that it can only be positioned one way as a loft bed. Is there a way to make the bed the solid back panels can go at one end or the other? Im not sure if I am explaining myself clearly…
Did you ever find a way to do this as I’m really struggling with this too! 🙁
Did the spray paint chip at all after some time?