When [Eric Strong’s] son outgrew his convertible crib, he didn’t want to give it up. Needing the bed for their next youngest, [Eric] made his son a deal. He was going to build him the ultimate big boy bed. And boy did he ever!
Using Ikea Hackers for inspiration, [Eric] came up with a bed that features not only a slide, a ball game, a secret room hidden behind a bookcase, a hidden window, and a back door escape hatch — but even a bed. Kind of sounds like one of those too-good-to-be-true infomercials!
And he built it using only three products from IKEA. Two Kura beds (one for building materials), a Trofast tiered shelf storage unit, and a Besta — a small bookshelf. Pretty resourceful! And because he had limited space to build it, the whole thing is still modular. Stick around after the break to see it in action!
The video is a bit long though so if you want to skip to the demo, head over to the time stamp 5:20.
[via reddit]
Damn, now I want a cool big boy bed!
Someone’s up for Father of the Year award…(local edition)
I agree
Cool, and you’ll have to tear it in a few years because kid grows up and considers it seriously uncool.
The article says that [eric] has another child, so I’m sure this bed will get used for several years to come.
I can’t help but think that $400 for the beds is way too expensive given all the modifications planned for them. Even factoring in your free time you should be able to source a better deal on materials.
Over here in the Netherlands a Kura bed is €150 (including VAT) He used two of them and some other Ikea stuff, So i think it is 400 in total. While that is not cheap it is not extremely expensive. My heart rate frequently jumps at the checkout of my local DIY store when all i buy is some wood and fasteners. Anyways I think 70% of the project is just dad having some fun.
In the US one Kura bed is $209, so it would be $400 (~€350) for just the beds if someone wanted to replicate his design. Even at €150 that’s still €300 (~$330USD) for some finished lumber that’s going to be modified heavily.
Near me a 12ft (3.6m) piece of 2×4 fir/spruce lumber is less than $4. It should be possible to get all the lumber for less than $50-60, probably less than that for hardware depending on what you use. So for ~$100 you get all the lumber and fasteners for the bed frame. The only tools you need are a drill, saw and some sand paper.
I guess my point was, given all the modifications going into the beds, you stand to save substantial money by starting from scratch on the frame.
The trofast and besta save quite a bit of construction time and aren’t really modified so it makes sense to buy them. They’re also not very expensive.
Using the prefabricated pieces from the Kura saves a lot of time on measuring, sawing, drilling, sanding, and staining. I had a miniscule workspace in which even measuring large pieces of lumber is annoying. Also, I enjoy the creative process and assembly more than the actual working with the wood. So for me, it was definitely worth the extra money, but I completely appreciate that not everyone would agree.
I get to be on top!
If he doesn’t get rid of those posts at the bottom of the slide he can forget about having grandchildren. The top right part of the slide edge is a finger trap too. Other than that it is a great design.
Did you notice the comment at 5:40 saying the posts had since been shortened/rounded? Very sensible.
Very cool!!!
The electrical outlet in the secret room concerns me…
If he’s good at teaching as he’s at building things, then his kid is 100% safe for being raised like a thinking person rather as an idiot like most parents do today with their kids. I played with mains electricity and disassembled radios when I was 6, built bows and arrows at 9, and always knew about the dangers. Many modern parents today forget how we as kids played with chemicals, knives etc. Kids are not idiots unless they’re grown to be.
So says one of the survivors. While I appreciate what you are trying to communicate it isn’t actually rational to say I survived therefore all kids will. I had friends who didn’t survive and saw some nasty accidents that caused permanent damage to others during my mostly free range childhood. Ever seen what a clock spring will do to the hand of a four year old who is smart enough to work out how to pull an old clock apart but not educated/supervised enough to know how much energy may be stored in it?
Some have to learn the hard way, but they are still learning.
We grow up taking lessons from our parents and our peers.
Perhaps their parents should have prepared them a little better before letting them run with the pack unsupervised.
My folks really didn’t have a clue what I was up to. But they gave me enough sense of risk that I didn’t come to harm with the various dangerous activities I did as a child.
Now I’m the parent and that experience teaches me that I need to be involved in my childs development to give them experiences that will ensure they understand risk too.
Wonder if it’s long enough for me!