Mamas who asked and pm'd, I haven't been ignoring you, we just had sick children, then out of state guests! This is how we put four girls and the older girls' clothing, plus craft-things, into a 10 X 10 bedroom (with one toddler to be added in 6 months or so).

Disclaimers here - as you can see, I started painting this, but :o never finished . . . if you use your imagination, though, you can see that there are a number of cute paint jobs or themes that could be done on this unit.

The plan came from the out of print magazine, Gentle Spirit, Vol. 3, No. 7. I can't get the website to load and haven't been there for quite some time, but last time I looked, this back issue was still available at www.gentlespirit.com

We ran out of lumber at the end. When you look at the shelves, you'll notice that they can still be extended out to the front of the unit, adding yet more shelf space. At this point, though, probably baskets or something should be used to more easily access the "back stuff".

As you enter the room, you see a seating area the girls made out of fabric and boxes. This is where we'll put the new twin, extending with feet toward door, when we move Tarquin into the toddler spot:
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f175/8themnus/IMG_seat0001.jpg

Looking a little over to the right, you see a twin bed down and the left upper bunk. The legs to the twin bed are supposed to be shorter, just high enough off the ground to allow airflow from the heatvent and short storage baskets. It was an oops, then Sophia whose bed that is asked that they stay tall, as she likes the little cubby for hiding out in.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f175/8themnus/IMG_enter0001.jpg

Straight on view of this area:
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f175/8themnus/IMG_sophbed0001.jpg

Panning to the right a little:
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f175/8themnus/IMG_leftview0001.jpg

And further yet to the right, you can see how we took out the rod and doors of the closet. There's a bunk up and a crib mattress down. We could build a raised platform in the toddler spot and still may . . . our almost-6-year-old Lucinda still is in there very comfortably, but she'll move up when Tarquin moves into that spot.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f175/8themnus/IMG_rightview0001.jpg

Sophia shows us how the IKEA rope-ladder is easily rolled up during the day to thwart climbing toddlers:
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f175/8themnus/IMG_foldladder0001.jpg

Here it's rolled up and you see the white cart that both holds all of the girls' 18-inch-doll clothing and keeps the ladder climbable:
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f175/8themnus/IMG_ladderup0001.jpg

Rolled out, this is an area where craft items and treasures are stored that little hands shouldn't access. Dunno if you can see this, but this area is still quite empty, as is under Sophia's bed. We have plenty of storage grow-area here. This shot is also good for seeing what I'm talking about when I say the shelves were supposed to be extended out to the front of the unit, we just ran out of wood:
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f175/8themnus/IMG_craftshelf0001.jpg

Last one! A little closer into Lucinda's toddler-cubby-zone (Tarquin is showing you :-) ). It kind of makes me sad that we've had this thing for years and I've never painted it up cute - I also really want to add individual clip lamps or wall lights:
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f175/8themnus/IMG_lubed0001.jpg

Again, we really aren't handy people, we just up-sized the plans to fit twin bed mattresses and the dimensions of our room (10ft by 10 ft) and followed it step by step!

Wow that is very creative, I love it.

wow that is so cool, i would love to do that in our bedrooms, i have 2 younger kids who love to sleep in their older sisters room so i sometimes wonder why we have all these bedrooms because most arent being used but to hold clothes.

That looks really great! I sleep in the room with 4 girls (one is an infant). We share 2 sets of traditional bunk beds, and the baby sleeps on a mat on the floor (safest place for her, especially considering recent crib recalls). Thank God for rolling chests of drawers!

That is so neat! Thanks for sharing! :)

What a great use of space!

That's really cool. I was wondering if there was anyone here who had more than two children per room. I have been seriously considering putting all three of my girls in one room, but nobody seems to think it's a good idea.

We do :)

We have three, currently, and are moving up to 4 in the room when we can buy another bed. :D

They sell twin over full bunks that also have a twin trundle! But, we're very lucky to have a huge room for the girls that we call the dormitory. I could easily fit two more twin beds in there - maybe three (for six total)

all four of mine are in one room (well, baby is still with me obviously :) ) two sets of traditional bunks in one room. I prefer it because that way they have the other room just for playing and keeping their toys in. We keep their clothes in IKEA wire drawer units in the upstairs hallway.

I LOVE the system you have Kim, it looks cozy and I love that the toddlers are easily kept from the 'danger' spots without a lot of NO's

~jo

That is very cool! We have the two boys together, dd in her own room, and baby with me. When baby is old enough though he'll be moving in with his brothers I think. The boys don't want to move downstairs (it's a daylight basement and not all dark). I respect that - but that means their room will be a bit crowded :)