The best bunk beds with built in shelving have shelves within easy reach of both sleepers, a solid back panel or lip to stop items sliding off, and enough depth to hold books, a lamp or a phone without crowding the ladder. End shelving units that double as steps, headboard shelves on each level and side bookcases fixed to the frame are the three designs worth considering. Each one replaces at least one separate piece of furniture, which is exactly what a shared bedroom needs.<\/p>\n
Shelving on a bunk is not decoration. It is the bedside table that a top bunk otherwise lacks, and the bookcase that a small room has no wall space for. You can explore frames with integrated storage within our modern bunk beds UK sale<\/a> collection.<\/p>\n Anyone who has slept on a top bunk knows the problem. There is nowhere to put a glass of water, a book or a pair of glasses. Children end up storing things under the pillow or along the mattress edge, where they fall off in the night. A shelf at mattress level solves that immediately.<\/p>\n For the lower bunk, shelving offers a sense of a personal space. A child sleeping below can keep their own books and treasures within reach without encroaching on a shared bedside cabinet. In rooms where children share, small boundaries like this reduce friction. When you plan the rest of the room, consider how a shelving bunk can reduce the number of other pieces you need from our modern bedroom furniture UK<\/a> range.<\/p>\n Some bunks replace the ladder with a set of steps, each one a small cupboard or open shelf. These are easier for younger children to climb than a vertical ladder and offer a surprising amount of storage. The trade off is footprint: a staircase adds length or width to the bed, so the room needs space for it.<\/p>\n An end unit attaches to the foot or head of the bunk and runs from floor to top bunk height. It typically has several open shelves accessible from the lower bed, with one or two reachable from the top. These work well in narrow rooms where the bed sits against a wall, as they add storage without widening the footprint.<\/p>\n A shallow shelf built into the headboard of each bunk gives each sleeper a place for a few items. These are compact and tidy, though they hold less than a full bookcase. They suit rooms where floor space is tight and the main need is a bedside surface.<\/p>\n Some frames include shelves along the long side, below the top bunk. These suit L shaped and high level designs where the space under the top bed is partly open.<\/p>\n Built in shelves rarely cover every storage need. Children’s rooms tend to hold far more books, toys and clothing than a bunk can manage alone. The trick is to choose additional pieces that work with the bed rather than duplicating its role.<\/p>\n A freestanding bookcase in the same tone as the bunk can hold the overflow of books and games. Our modern bookcases UK<\/a> include slim designs suited to children’s rooms. For mixed storage of toys, baskets and display pieces, shelving units and storage UK sale<\/a> options offer cube and open shelving that children can reach easily.<\/p>\n Shared shelving works best with a few simple rules that everyone understands. Assign each child their own shelves rather than letting things mix. Use small baskets or boxes in different colours so items can be grabbed quickly. Keep the top shelf for the top sleeper and the lower shelves for the lower sleeper, which avoids anyone climbing to reach their things.<\/p>\n Encourage children to keep only what they use regularly on the bed shelves. Bedtime books, a torch, a water bottle and a favourite toy are plenty. Everything else can live in the main storage.<\/p>\n Shelves can change how children use a bunk, so a little care goes a long way.<\/p>\n Open shelving is on show all day, so a little styling helps the room feel calm rather than cluttered. Group books by colour or height. Leave some space on each shelf so it does not look crammed. Add one or two personal items such as a framed photo or a small plant to soften the look.<\/p>\n In a room with a white frame, natural wood or rattan baskets add warmth. With a natural wood bunk, coloured boxes can bring in an accent that ties to the bedding. A consistent approach across shelves makes the whole bed look like a single, well planned piece of furniture.<\/p>\n Where two children share a box room or narrow bedroom, every piece of furniture needs to earn its space. A shelving bunk means you may not need bedside cabinets at all.<\/p>\n A shelf of books within reach of the pillow encourages reading at bedtime. It also keeps favourite stories close, rather than buried in a toy box.<\/p>\n Older children often want somewhere to charge a phone, keep headphones and set down a book. A shelf with space for a small charging hub, kept well away from bedding, meets that need neatly.<\/p>\n For further ideas on planning family bedrooms with enough storage, our guide to children’s bedroom storage furniture for UK family homes<\/a> covers wardrobes, drawers and toy storage in detail.<\/p>\n The right shelving type depends as much on the room as on the children using it.<\/p>\n Shelves on a bunk take more wear than a standard bookcase because they are handled every evening and morning. Wipe painted surfaces with a damp cloth and mild soap, and dry them straight away. For natural wood, follow the manufacturer’s care advice, which may include occasional waxing or oiling. Check the fixings that join shelving units to the main frame every few months, as these can loosen with daily use. Clear the shelves completely every so often to dust and to give children a chance to decide what they still want to keep close to bed.<\/p>\n Start by deciding where the shelves need to be: at the head, at the foot or in place of the ladder. Measure the room to see whether a staircase design will fit, and look carefully at shelf depth and edge detailing. Then plan any extra storage around the bed so the room stays balanced. You can compare shelving bunks, bookcases and storage units for shared rooms at Furniture in Fashion<\/a>, with free delivery to most UK mainland postcodes.<\/p>\n Staircases are generally easier to climb, especially for younger children, because the steps are wider and less steep. They do need more floor space.<\/p>\n Some manufacturers sell add on shelves or bookcase units for their frames. Avoid drilling into the frame yourself, as this can weaken it and affect safety.<\/p>\n Deep enough to hold a paperback, a phone and a small lamp comfortably. A raised edge helps stop items falling off.<\/p>\n In many cases, yes. A shelf at mattress level gives each sleeper a surface for essentials, which can free up valuable floor space.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Shelving on a bunk bed is far more than a decorative extra. For the top sleeper, it replaces the bedside table they would otherwise lack, and in a small shared room it can stand in for a bookcase you have no wall space for. The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":75945,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3511],"tags":[8008,2673,988,974],"class_list":["post-75943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-childrens-furniture","tag-bunk-beds-with-shelves","tag-childrens-storage","tag-shared-bedrooms","tag-small-bedrooms"],"acf":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Why shelving makes such a difference on a bunk<\/h3>\n
The main types of bunk bed shelving<\/h3>\n
Staircase shelving<\/h3>\n
End bookcase units<\/h3>\n
Headboard shelves<\/h3>\n
Side shelving on high or mid level bunks<\/h3>\n
What to check before choosing<\/h3>\n
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Storage that complements bunk shelving<\/h3>\n
Organising shelves for two sleepers<\/h3>\n
Safety around shelving and bunks<\/h3>\n
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Styling bunk shelving so it looks considered<\/h3>\n
Who benefits most from a shelving bunk?<\/h3>\n
Siblings sharing a small room<\/h3>\n
Children who love reading<\/h3>\n
Teenagers with gadgets<\/h3>\n
Matching the shelving design to your room<\/h3>\n
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Caring for bunk shelving<\/h3>\n
Choosing the right one<\/h3>\n
Frequently Asked Questions<\/h3>\n
Are bunk beds with stairs safer than ladders?<\/h3>\n
Can I add shelves to an existing bunk bed?<\/h3>\n
How deep should a bunk bed shelf be?<\/h3>\n
Do shelving bunk beds replace bedside tables?<\/h3>\n