Our teenage daughters share our 600 sq foot basement. I know...in our culture this is highly unusual that kids don't have their own rooms. We are lucky in that they are very good friends, close in age (18 months apart - only 1 year in school), and pretty adaptable and practical. We told them that when they head to college in a few short years, they will be sharing a room with a stranger that is 1/2 the size of their current bedroom. Good practice for them!
Their basement 'crib' includes a big screen TV, a huge, comfy sectional, a bathroom, large closet, plenty of room for friends to sleepover (Paige had a birthday party and 12 girls successfully slept over), hardwood floors and all their high school memorabilia.
However, once in awhile, they need to escape each other. Our 'guest' room can now serve as an extra bedroom when one has friends over, a quiet, study room when one is on the phone and a 'time out' when they are sick of each other. This was our main motivation for buying the Murphy bed. A secondary motivation is that my wonderful in-laws visit in the summer and we prefer them staying with us over a hotel. Friends visiting from out of town - totally welcome!
We bought our Murphy bed 'kit/guts' from The Bedder Way - what a great name and company!
www.bedderway.com
It arrived in boxes and is quality, custom, construction - we are very pleased. It went together easily and as directed. We choose IKEA for the cabinet surrounds and mattress - much cheaper this way and matches perfectly!
We've found that every room has to be multi-functional, every precious square foot has to be maximized when living in a small space. We have no room for clutter - no tolerance for stuff we don't value and use regularly! Less stuff = more joy!
