Designing for Kids, Getting Organised, The Tidy Books Story

Adventures in Bunk Bed Land

Last week I was talking about bunk beds – as you do – with one of my friends. She grew up sharing a bunk bed with her sister and had such sweet memories of her experience. They used to pretend their bed was a ship and loved taking it in turns to climb up the wooden steps to be the lookout. And of course their ship needed lots of sailors – ably played by their teddies!

It made me smile to hear her stories. Instead of being cross that they had to share a bunk bed, her and her sister loved being together and really embraced their bunk bed as an adventure. It was a comforting experience, too. At night, they often played ‘Tickly Two’ – my friend would stretch her arm down from the top bunk to meet her sister’s outstretched arm and they would gently tickle each other until they felt sleepy.

I couldn’t imagine my daughter and son having quite such a lovely time together. When Adele and Emile were young they had separate rooms, each with their own bunk bed so they could have a friend staying with them for a sleepover. We were lucky that our house was big enough for the kids to have their own bedrooms, but I don’t know how they would have got along if they’d had to share.

bunk bed, tidy books, kids room, shelf

The Tidy Books Bunk Bed Buddy

My friend reckons they might have got on better than I imagined. She heard about one woman and her brother who’d shared a bunk bed when they were young, and the brother had helped his sister to read. Apparently he got fed up with her pestering him to read her a bedtime story so he helped teach her to read by herself.

I love that that little girl learnt how to read independently. It’s exactly why I make all the products I do, so that kids can create their own personal environment and become independent as they learn. I made the Bunk Bed Buddy so kids who sleep on the top bunk can still be close to their books. It also gives them a safe place to put their bedtime drink and allows them to have their own personal area for storing bits and bobs that they want close to them when they’re sleeping.

My friend wishes she’d had a Bunk Bed Buddy when she was a kid. Much as she enjoyed sharing a bunk bed, she says she would have loved to have had her books and personal things next to her. And she really wishes she’d had somewhere to keep her teddies safe so she didn’t wake up to find her special sailors had fallen overboard in the night!

* Do your kids have bunk beds? I’d love to hear how they get on – drop me a line.

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About Géraldine Grandidier

Géraldine is Tidy Books’ founder, designer and CEO, as well as mum to Adele and Emile. She started Tidy Books in her violin workshop because she couldn’t find a good bookcase for her kids. Now her Tidy Books bookcases and storage designs are encouraging independence and a love of reading in kids all over the world.

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