Big Boy/ Big Girl Room Furniture

[BeachBum]

We plan to buy DS a bed and transition him out of his crib soon. I'm unsure what to buy for furniture. I just wanted to get a feel for what the other mamas here did.
Please vote and feel free to expand on your choices.

[Neatfreak]

We ended up picking out a nice mattress and box spring for my daughter, and we're in the process of sourcing a nice bed frame (I'm scouting out ones with built in shelving). We already had a nice chest of drawers from my daughter's infancy, and the only other piece of furniture in her room is a BILLY bookcase. So, we really only changed what she actually sleeps on!

[KBecks]

I bought a twin bed for Alek on Craigslist, and we got the mattress at Sams. If I had to do it again, I would have gotten a nicer looking headboard AND a COMFIER mattress. Alek's mattress is hard, and it was cheap, and to be honest it's not that comfortable. We got him a nightstand at a naked furniture place. We store all the clothes inside the closet so no need for a dresser or desk.

For John, I have a Craigslist headboard that's really cute in the basement. I'll get a mattress set and nightstand.

We may add desks later. I didn't want to spend a ton on furniture knowing it would likely get abused, and I didn't want to have to be over protective about it.

I'll add that we decided on twin size beds vs. full to give the most floor space for playing. It was a tough choice and I only expect the beds to be for childhood. If they want bigger beds for the teen years we'll do it. I never intend for these beds to move out with the kids -- they can have them if they want but I think they'll enjoy something newer/better down the road.

[egoldber]

I wasn't sure how to answer. Sarah moved to a toddler bed. One reason we did that was because it was cheap and used the same mattress. Also at the time I was NOT ready to make a decision about her bedroom furniture and the toddler bed allowed us to postpone that decision.

When she was 5 (yes she used the toddler bed until she was 5 :) ) we bought her a nice bed frame and a nice mattress. In retrospect I was happy to postpone the mattress buying decision until after she was well and truly nighttime trained and accident free. We bought her a nice mattress and a double bed and we use it as an occasional guest bedroom. We also bought at that time a coordinating dresser and nightstand.

Amy is now using that toddler bed and it was well worth the $80 we spent on it.

[Gena]

We bought DS a twin mattress/springbox with a standard metal frame and attached a headboard we got at a furniture clearance center. Hubby wanted DS to have a bookcase headboard (because he had one as a child), and it took us a while to find one we liked in our price range. So for several months DS did not have a headboard.

The other furniture in his room is the dresser that matched his crib, a small bookcase we already had, and a toy storage unit we bought at Target.

[klwa]

DS moved into his Grandma's bed, which we inherited from DH's grandparents. His dresser & chest of drawers came from my Great-aunt Sally, which both of my brothers and I used as we were growing up. The only new "furniture" he got was a toy box.

[WatchingThemGrow]

We actually got the last-for-years set for the nursery, then just added the full-size bed w/trundle recently. I loved having the storage in the bookcase, wardrobe, dresser, etc. We did the same thing for DS, because it was all gifted from the g'parents.

We got it at a great discount, but it was still very expensive, to me. The reasons we chose to do this were 1)the gift factor 2)more time to look/pick/set up, etc w/o DC to worry about 3)full bed doubles as our bed when we give the master suite to guests 4) everything matches and is high quality 5)decision is done and no "trading up" has to take place. It takes me forever to pick stuff out and decide to buy it. If I did it piecemeal, I would put waaaay too much time into the hunt.

We invested in several sets of TCS sheets that will work in either room, good waterproof mattress pads (multiples of them) that will cover all beds. Bring on the accidents!

We also got fun Capel rugs as we have hardwoods throughout the house. I love our kids' rooms!

[hillview]

We got most of DS's furniture at IKEA (bed, dresser, wardrobe, shelves, rug). We splurged on the quilt (Land of Nod) to tie it together. It has held up great. I don't expect to change much for 5-7 or so years.
/hillary

[ThreeofUs]

I voted "other" because we bought for the long term. We bought a very nice teak dresser set with mirror (EUC) and a set of twin-over-full bunks that are quite good. The only real "child" furniture he has is a PB everywhere chair.

I figure all can go with DS when he reaches the age of settling down - including the everywhere chair!

[Wife_and_mommy]

We found a Stanley YA bedroom set on craigslist. It was a twin bed, dresser, and desk w/ hutch in great condition. It will last until dd leaves home.

[jenmcadams]

For my DD, we bought her a PBK knock-off twin daybed w/ trundle and dresser from a seller on eBay and then bought a bookcase at JCP. We got her mattresses from a local mattress store and they're not great, but OK. Overall, we spent ~$1000 on all of the furniture, mattress, etc. It's held up fine and we like the way it looks.

For my DS, we just sold his cribset (crib, dresser/changing table and toy chest) as a set on Craigslist and bought him a brand new Flexa Low Loft Bed w/ a Flexa mattress. He has a very small room, so we have completely gotten rid of the dresser (we're using some built-ins in the closet and we removed the closet doors). We put rain gutter bookshelves on the wall and have one of those toy bin shelfs from Target. His Flexa bed and Mattress were about $650 shipped (got a great deal), the bookshelves cost less than $20 and the toy bin system was about $30. The built-ins had already been installed by previous owners.

In retrospect, we kind of wish that we had gotten DD a more "fun" bed. Her room is nice and the furniture is nice, but she's a teensy bit jealous of her little brother's cool bed. If we ever end up selling her set on craigslist and getting her a new one, I'll probably look into a mid or high loft from maxtrix or flexa for her too.

[thomma]

Both kids have mattress/boxspring on a metal frame. We're going to get them a nice set when they're a little older. We're not sure if we're going to put an addition onto our house so didn't want to buy furniture that might not end up working for us.

Kim
ds&dd 5/03

[kijip]

We bought an inexpensive set of furniture and expect it to last until he is of an age where he no longer wants bright navy blue furniture. The nightstand, dresser and armoire have all lasted fine and look great. The bed has to be tightened up now and again and we had to add more slats the day we bought it. All of these were from KMart. We later added bookshelves from a Land o Nod sale (about the same color blue) and a small desk as well. We are planning on replacing the bed within 1-2 years with a bunk bed in the same blue color so the room can fit two. We will spend a little more on the new bed because I want a bunk bed to be super dooper sturdy. His matress is from a high quality set I got on sale because it was a floor sample at Sears.

[fivi2]

Looks like I am the only mattress on the floor person! My girls are still toddlers, started climbing out of cribs so their mattresses are on the floor. MIL keeps trying to give us dh's old bunk beds - we will eventually have to take them and buy new mattresses (keeping them as two twin beds until old enough for bunks). My choice would be the IKEA or Flexa style loft beds, but can't really turn down the beds she is offereing. Their dresser is another hand me down from my grandparents that we painted. Bookshelves and desks we will buy as needed, probably IKEA or similar. I like the flexibility of changing things as they grow and want to change the room. Also, they share a tiny room now, but our needs will change if we move/add on.

[AngelaS]

One of mine has my daybed from when I was a teenager. She also has my dresser that I had growing up. It was repainted a few years ago and needs a new coat. Eventually I'd like to get rid of it all together--it's kinda plain.

The other two each have a bunk bed half in their own rooms. They each have antique dressers that I bought at garage sales and refinished. They are beautiful.

They all currently have furniture that could easily see them thru their growing up years. I bought classic stuff and bedding that doesn't scream 'preschooler' or such so that it will last a long time.

My oldest has PB bedding that she's had since she was 3 (she's now 10.5). My 6yo's bedding is only a couple of years old, also from PB and it will easily survive many more years (until she asks for something else).

The little one's room is the only room decorated 'young' and it's only the Sandra Boynton wallpaper border that gives it that feel. In a few years, we'll take that down and repaint. But she's the baby, so it's good for a while yet too. ;)

[KrisM]

We just bought a mattress and box spring and put them on the floor. That was age 2. This spring, we bought 2 matching headboards from Craigslist, figuring we'll have 2 kids sharing a room at some point.

DH had his old hand-me-down dressers that are now in DS's closet. Right after moving into this house, we inherited my grandparent's nice cherry furniture. Before that, we were using DH's hand-me-downs! Eventually, we will upgrade DS's stuff, but I don't know when.

DD has my old furniture from growing up - an all white set of dresser, hutch, canopy bed, desk and mirror.

The new baby has nothing. I'm thinking I'll buy a set of those plastic drawers for now :).

[Moneypenny]

When we bought the crib, we also got two good quality but reasonably priced dressers. (Right now one dresser stores next season's clothes, but when she gets older we'll move one dresser into the guest room and get her a desk instead.) We just bought her a twin bed and we went with a decent metal headboard and good quality mattress (that we got a steal on at a mismatch sale). We went with neutral items and I change up the decor through her bedding and wall decorations.