1. More space for small rooms. Getting the bed off of the floor opens up all that space underneath that you can use for a study space, relax in with a futon or even just use as a storage space for things you don’t want sitting out. Regardless of what you use it for you’ll appreciate having more room, especially when you’re trying to cram more into a small space.
2. It can clear out the clutter. Because you now have more space in your room it allows you more space to put all the other things in the room. Shelves under a lofted bed offer a range of storage options, from keeping books in order to managing an expanding collection.
3. Lofting offers more versatility. There are certainly more ways that you can arrange a room when you have a lofted bed as opposed to a traditional one. The extra space offers room for everything from additional seating to a hobby corner, thing there may not have been room to add before.
4. They are ideal for shared space. Whether you’re sharing space in a dorm room or just with a sibling, lofted beds are a practical way to make the most of a shared room. The additional space can be used for personal things, private space or simply to fit more in a small room.
5. It’s just like regular bed—only better. Loft beds can be just as comfortable and practical as any traditional bed. You, or whoever is using the bed, can still get a good night’s sleep with loads of added benefits of having additional space in the room.

No matter how you decide to use a loft bed, you’ll undoubtedly enjoy the flexibility that a lofted bed can provide in dorms, homes and more.

This post was contributed by Meredith Walker, who writes about the online college directory. She welcomes your feedback at MeredithWalker1983 at gmail.com

The winner of the Fall 2009 OP Loftbed $500 Scholarship Award is T. Evans. Our winner is completing his Masters degree in Music at Washington State University. His answers to the questions were as follows:

Which celebrity would you most like to see as President of the United States and why? Dr. Stephen Hawking. Choose a genuine genius for a leader. I’d vote for a candidate who likely has a better grasp of the universe than anyone. As a symbol of perseverance, Dr. Hawking is unparalleled. His disability has proven no match for his creative productivity. He exemplifies the power of the mind. In his writings, he never forgets the human message – and conveys it with love, honesty and a sense of humor, qualities necessary for a President. Hawking reminds us that we are small, nearly insignificant, and that this is what makes us so special. He’s a scientist that believes in God, believes our existence has a definite noble purpose, and celebrates curiosity as a drive that betters mankind.

If you could teach the world one thing–based on your knowledge, talents, and skills that you have right now–what would it be and why? The ability to suspend judgment. I would stress that change must begin with the individual, that a government-sponsored program to promote non-judgment would be unnecessary and ineffectual. I learned to suspend judgment in college, though it was never in a syllabus. As a music major I was introduced to challenging, unfamiliar modern music. Fascinating changes happen in the mind and heart, when a piece inspires distaste and confusion upon first hearing - only to evolve into love, joy, and declarations of beauty after merely listening more. I try daily to apply this idea to interactions with people. At most jobs I’ve had to leave, the hardest people to tell goodbye were the ones I didn’t like in the beginning.

What is your best personal productivity or time management tip? It’s best not to think about the entirety of work to be done at any one time. An important project will likely have several stages, all of equal importance. One can easily be intimidated by the size of a project, and the intimidation can lead to complacency or hopelessness. However, upon closer examination each stage may reveal itself to be simpler than previously perceived. If one focuses on the impossibility of accomplishing seven stages at once, the project becomes impossible. If one can relax and focus on a single stage at a time, gradually the project moves forward, one sees undeniable progress, and finally laughs at the panic felt before.

We want to thank all of our participants who made our eighth scholarship such a success, and wish each and every one of them a most prosperous future. The decision of the judges is final.

1. If you could send a postcard back to yourself 3 years ago, what would you say? Only write what you would write on the post card, without any other explanation for your answer.
2. Create a vanity license plate for your own car. (8 characters or less consisting of letters, numbers, symbols, or spaces). Tell us why would you like to have this license plate.
3. If you were a fashion doll or action figure, what would be in the accessories package and why?
4. If you were going to get a tattoo of any company or product logo, what would it be?

Visit our scholarship area to submit your application now!

Update on the Fall 2008 scholarship:

Finalists were supposed to be notified by November 14, 2008. However, we goofed! We decided to begin offering quarterly scholarships in the summer of 2008 and this was the first of those quarterly scholarships. Although we had successfully held seven annual scholarship contests previous to this, it turns out that quarterly is just too often for us to handle properly. As of mid-January, we hadn’t yet chosen and notified the finalists the Fall 2008 Scholarship and had not yet started accepting applications for the next scholarship. We are very sorry for this! Although we meant well, we executed it poorly by biting off more than we could chew.

We have things back on track now and we do want to offer more scholarship opportunities. We’ve decided that instead of offering quarterly scholarships, we will offer two scholarships each year with deadlines of January 31st and July 31st. If we can improve the way we handle these we may still switch to quarterly scholarships at a later date. We want to offer quarterly scholarship but we just have to improve how we handle everything.

First-round finalists for the Fall 2008 scholarship will be notified by January 23, 2009. Finalists will be given 10 business days from date of notification to prove that they are a United States citizen. If proof is not received in the allotted time frame then new finalists will be chosen. Because of this no date can be given for when the winner will be announced. (Finalists may be notified by either email, snail mail, telephone, or carrier pigeon if we can find one that knows the way.)

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Roberts suggestion will is an excellent idea, especially if you won’t be frequently setting up your OP Loftbed bed and taking it back apart again every few months (as many college students do). Even if you do set-up and tear-down frequently this can still be a good idea, you’ll just need to have a proper wrench on hand to facilitate tightening or loosening the bolts.

Thanks for sharing, Robert!

If you have build an OP Loftbed loft bed or bunk bed and have assembly or fabrication tips you would like us to share on our web site, send them in an email to info@oploftbed.com.

We’ve been talking around headquarters about how to have even more fun with our scholarship. We’ve decide to offer our scholarship quarterly! This means that instead of having a new winner each August, we’ll now have winners in November, February, and May as well. It also means that we’ll be giving away $2,000 a year instead of just $500. And if you don’t win one quarter, you’ll still have an opportunity to win the next quarter.

We plan to continue asking different questions for each contest. The questions for this year’s scholarship are:

• Which celebrity would you most like to see as President of the United States and why?
• If you could teach the world one thing–based on your knowledge, talents, and skills that you have right now–what would it be and why?
• What is your best personal productivity or time management tip?
• If you could spray paint something on the side of a bridge, and wouldn’t get in trouble for it, what would you write or draw?

The Fall 2008 Scholarship Application will only be available until October 31, 2008, submit your answers soon!

The winner of the 2008-2009 OP Loftbed $500 Scholarship Award is A. Keller. Our winner is a sophomore at Virginia Commonwealth University where she is majoring in Music Education. Her answers to the questions were as follows:

What personal characteristics are most important to you in a Presidential candidate and why? I think that a Presidential candidate should be trustworthy, caring, intelligent, and humble. All of these qualities are things that I would look for in a best friend. My best friend fits all of the above qualities. And although sometimes we don’t agree on things, we never lose faith in each other because there is always a bond between us, just as there should be a bond between a president and his or her nation. I know that presidents don’t get personal with every single person in the United States. But I still feel more comfortable knowing that I can look at our president as a best friend if need be.

Some psychologists say all families are dysfunctional to a degree. What makes your family dysfunctional? Last summer my grandma had a stroke that left her unable to move the right side of her body and also gave her aphasia. She’s lived with us for the past six years and that’s always been a struggle, but now it’s worse because of her condition. She’s constantly screaming at my mom over nothing because she barely understands anything she says. This stresses my mom out and makes her depressed, so she’s constantly yelling at my dad, my sister, and I. So basically, it’s like one big chain reaction. We’re constantly fighting which isn’t healthy for any family. I mean, we make up and stuff, but we shouldn’t have to live like this every day.

Nike has, “Just Do It.” Larry the Cable Guy has, “Git-R-Done!” What is your life motto? There’s an album by Vanessa Carlton called “Be not Nobody” which is what I like to use as my life motto. To me, it means to be your own special person, to be somebody different in this world of people who are forever trying to match the latest style. But it also means that you should be humble about who you are and the things you do. There’s no need to brag about everything you do. The motto isn’t “be somebody,” it’s “be not nobody,” which to me, means don’t see yourself as no one, but don’t see yourself as the best something that ever walked the earth either.

We want to greatly thank all of our participants who made our seventh scholarship such a success, and wish each and every one of them a most prosperous future. The decision of the judges is final.

This twin high loft took about a month for me to build from start to finish. The plans were easy to follow. My 5 year old had trouble with the side supports so, I built a custom ladder. As you can see from the pic I used the guardrail modification for a side guard and added an extra side rail for aesthetics. My Hubby and I were a bit concerned about the wing-nuts being a safety issue but after we put it together we only replaced the wing nuts with regular nuts for the sleeping area of the bed and turned the bolts so that the bolt head faced in and the nut faced out. As you can see the lower wing-nuts provide nice ‘hooks’ for robes and toys :-). After my husband creatively painted the hardware it looked good. I added a foot guard from leftover plywood for added safety at the ladder end. The paint is zero VOC and low VOC in semi-gloss. I hand-painted the name and coordinating flower design. Now the bottom is a reading nook, but will evolve to a study as she gets older.

The pine wood only cost about $120, hardware kit was from OP Loft (under $50-way cheaper than local hardware store), the majority of the cost was from the bedding ($50), mattress ($100) and paint and brushes, sandpaper, wood filler, caulk, extra hardware and wood ($150).

My husband thought that the work involved might have been worth the extra cost to have someone else build it. I, on the other hand, have minimal skills and found the experience enjoyable and empowering (I also did about 90% of the work). This bed is STURDY! It does NOT MOVE! I had fun making it, I can take pride in my work and my daughter LOVES IT!

- Danielle - Fort Worth, TX

- Thanks, Jerry, Joseph (age 12) and Jeffrey (age 6) of Pennsylvania.

We opted to use regular nuts instead of wing nuts. Some of the tolerances were a bit tighter, so I used a locknut instead of a nut and a lockwasher. We found using the nuts with a wrench and socket was easier than turning a bunch of wingnuts by hand or using a pair of pliers on them.

FYI - we saw a lot of other loft kits, including one sold by Lowes, and they were very flimsy comparatively. I don’t know that I would have felt secure with them. I pulled and yanked on the OP loft once my son and I had it finished, and it just won’t budge.

- Craig

Lumber

A twin extra long size loft bed requires ten 2″x6″x8′ pine boards, 13 2″x4″x8′ pine boards, and one piece of 3/4″x8′ plywood. We use pine here in North Carolina because it’s abundant in our area. In other areas you may use different types of wood. Generally speaking, whatever type of wood is used to build homes in your neck of the woods should be fine for building your OP Loftbed. If you are unsure, just ask the professionals at your local lumber yard or home improvement center.

Anyway, the two-by-fours were $2.47 each; the two-by-sixes were $4.26 each,; and the plywood was $22.38. This comes to a grand total of $102.46.

Fasteners

All of our tall and medium height loft beds require the same hardware:  sixty 3/8-16 x 3-3/4″ hex head cap screws (bolts), two 3/8-16 x 2″ hex head cap screws (bolts); sixty-two 3/8-16 wing nuts; one-hundred-twenty-four 3/8″ flat washers; sixty-two 3/8″ lock washers; fourty-two #10 x 3-1/2″ flat head phillips wood screws; and twenty-four #10 x 2″ flat head phillips wood screws. They didn’t have the 3-3/34″ bolts, so I priced 3-1/2″ bolts which are a little shorter, but can still work OK. They didn’t have the wing nuts in stock, so I priced regular hex-head nuts. Some of the items are sold in bags or boxes of specific quantities.

The total amount on needed fasteners came to $81.11. But this included some items that were less than desirable like shorter bolts, different nuts, and box quantities that contained more than I would need.

If you purchased a complete hardware kit directly from us, the cost of the hardware kit would be only $34.99 plus $10.00 for shipping, for a total of $44.99. That’s a savings of $36.12! Hardware kits are shipped US Postal Service Priority Mail (2-3 day deliver) the day after payment is received–so by the time you have all your wood cut, drilled, and sanded, your hardward kit has usually arrived and you’re ready to assemble your bed.

Total

If I bought everything today at Lowe’s, I would have spent a grand total of $183.57. If I bought the lumber today at Lowes and ordered a hardware kit from OP Loftbed, the total would have been only $147.45. That’s not bad at all for a loft bed that is as sturdy and solid as an OP Loftbed. So, the grand total for a twin extra long size OP Loftbed loft bed comes to less than $150! What a deal!

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When most people think of bunk beds, they think of those shaky, wobbly twin-size beds they had as a child. But grownups sometimes need bunk beds too and often a twin size just won’t fit the need. That’s OK here at OP Loftbed because we offer bunk bed plans that can accomodate full size, or double, mattresses.

 Jeanne sent us these pictures and says, ”We purchased your plans and hardware, and my husband built this full-sized bunk bed for my daughter and her roommate at college. Her room was designed for one occupant, so the bunk beds really came in handy. The beds are extremely sturdy. My husband told my daughter if there is a tornado or hurricane, that she wouldn’t be going anywhere if she hung onto the bed!!”

One of the things we especially liked was the customized headboard shelf he made. Here is a picture of it. 

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You can see this bunkbed and dozens of other loft beds and bunk beds built by satisfied customers in our photo gallery. If you’ve built an OP Loftbed loft bed or bunk bed and would like us to share your craftsmanship with the world, just send a picture and any comments you may have to gallery@oploftbed.com. If you haven’t yet built your own bed, you can purchase plans for only $10!