Tonya Munn

September, 2022

 

With the present cost of building, a solution comprising economy of scale is being used more and more in our mountain homes.

The bunk bed is no longer the summer-camp twin you knew in your youth. It has greatly evolved from the Brady Bunch’s Bobby-on-the-bottom-bunk.

Now bunk beds are created for all. Grown-ups, teenagers, siblings, and cousins can comfortably find space in today’s style of bunk room.

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We see them in nearly every home we design, and in one recent home we completed, there is not one, but two downstairs bunk rooms. The rooms allow for youngsters or families to share space without sharing mattresses.

Rarely is the bunk bed a single anymore. Full to Queen size is the new built-in. And each becomes its own cocoon with individual lighting in a cozying nook to hide away.

Why custom-built bunks?

They are much sturdier than their ready-made versions, which from personal experience usually need shoring up or they creek and wiggle when one steps up the ladder to crawl in. And rarely can the perfect dimensions if bunks be found for a custom-built room.

Besides being practical space-savers, bunk rooms can be fun and creative too, says my husband J. Scott Munn, Principal Architect and Owner of MA Studios, Granby, Colo.

“They are becoming really popular, and for interior spaces and functional-wise, they can also be very beautiful, which is the essence of good architecture,” he says.

In MA homes, clients play with color in bed linens and pillows ,art on the walls, and other creative accents to create a unified look among the separate beds.

And often a bunk room becomes a suite with its own bathroom attached.

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Now let’s be honest, deep down, we miss the fun and innocence of slumber parties from our childhood. Why not when visiting our mountain destinations, that connectedness be recreated for us. We all want that, right?