I have one month old twins...a boy and a girl. I'm trying to work on their nursery and couldn't decide between a traditional crib or a convertible one. We plan on having them share a crib for a couple months. My husband would like to get bunk beds in the future but at what age would that be appropriate? Any advice for co-ed nursery?
school-age if you plan on putting one of them on the top. Safety 1st, before spatial needs.
I believe it's just easier to use 2 twin beds & butt-join them in a corner, creating a "L" shaped design. This allows the beds to hug the walls, leaving the entire center of the floor for playtime.
If you've only got one crib for now, it's helpful to also have a pack'n'play handy so that if you need to separate them, you've got something available. If you have room for two cribs, I've heard some families set both up even if their babies are sharing a crib because if you have late night spitup or diaper leaks, you can just move the babies to the other crib while you deal with clean up.
My 9YO twins have regular twin beds (DH's & my old ones from our single days) - we considered bunk beds but decided against it b/c one of them didn't want bunk beds, and also we were concerned that the one with the top bunk would be too warm in the summer time.
We have 1yr old boy/girl twins. We bought the convertiable cribs that go from crib to toddler bed,day bed &,full sized bed and all we have to buy in the future is a full sized mattress. Dont know if you have a theme ( or want one) We painted the walls brown & green and put up wall clings for jungle animals. My twins share one dresser for now. Im sure in the future that will change
My husband wanted to get bunks for our twins. We looked at them when the girls were 3 or 4 and were told to hold off on until they are six. We went with twin beds and have decided against the bunk beds. I wasn't gung-ho about getting them anyway because I didn't want to deal with changing the sheets on the top bunk.
Congratulations on having twins! Double the work but double the fun! :)
I have 3 year old twins. Bunk beds are safe around age 6, from what I found online when I was looking. Hard to know how fast your kids will grow, but I recommend the IKEA Gulliver cribs which are convertible to toddler beds so might even last until your kids are 5 if they aren't super tall. And, they use the crib mattress and don't take up any additional floor space! Only one side comes off, but then you could make a cool tent or canopy to personalize it when they are older so it feels more like a day bed than a crib. I had one IKEA crib and loved it (works to put both kids in at first too) but when we were ready for big kid beds we decided to get matching toddler beds since the other crib was a hand me down non-convertible one and the room didn't have space for twin beds. Some twin beds, though, actually can be made into part of a bunk bed set later. There is a great kid's furniture store in Chicago on Cermak west of Canal that custom makes them called Rooms 4 Kids. So you may want to consider that too, but I still recommend the $100 IKEA cribs to start.
Convertible cribs are tough because they convert into double beds. If you have room for two double beds, then go the convertible route. If not, you can stick with two regular cribs (your twins can certainly share for the first couple of months but it's really really really hard once they can roll over). Bunk beds are also great for twins, but not really safe before they're four, five or six. So you'll need cribs, then something else, before you can make it to bunk beds.
There was another question about bunk beds on here a couple months ago and (as I also have twins) I was looking toward the future and have decided I will be going with two twins beds with drawers underneath. My intention will be to avoid two dressers and keep everything still closer to the ground.
I am currently in the market for a second crib, but will only be converting it to toddler bed before the girls transition to their twin beds (some age down the road.)
Just remember a convertible crib is only a double sized bed--too small for two adult people in a guest room, and pretty big for a shared bedroom. You can get bunks and set them up as twin beds for years until they are old enough. The age for bunks depends greatly on their sleeping and potty habits. The last thing you want is a little one getting up in the middle of the night to go potty or because of a nightmare and boom!
Congratulations on the twins!
