Built Myself a Loft :)

[nyxst]

I love making things, but sometimes it gets a little out of hand.  I needed some more space in my house to properly segregate my craft items from our daily living space.  I kicked around the idea of enclosing one of our porches, and started calculating how much it would cost.  It was too expensive, and I don't think I would have been happy with more house to clean and maintain forever. 
I thought a lot and decided on building a loft in my bedroom (I'm single, so my bedroom is basically useless space except when I'm asleep... so a lot of things get put in there to de-clutter actual living space for me and my kids). 
I looked things up on youtube and figured out the best and most sturdy configuration, and now my bed is 6 feet off the ground and I have a WHOLE NEW ROOM of floor space to organize my craft items/wood buring kits/wood for projects/art station/sewing machine/jewelry supplies!  Its like a different world in my house with all of these things contained now! 
Only thing I have left to build is a railing and a ladder or stairs to get up (currently using my 8 foot aluminum ladder to make the climb and my toddlers old "mattress fence" to make sure I don't roll off :)
Any ideas for a ladder/stairs are welcome! I saw some low profile ladder steps.... like a ladder, but the steps are cut in half so it doesn't stick out as far as stairs, that I might attempt.
Anyway, I am super proud that my house is substantially cleaner and more organized and it only cost me about $150 so far to get basically a whole new room :)

[Bob W]

Sweet!   If people were more creative with this type of thing we could all happily live in 200 sq ft.   

[sisto]

I built a similar loft bed for my son when he was younger, but it was not suspended. Yours looks suspended in the pics. The one I built I just added 2x4's across the 2x6's I used for the corner supports. This basically made a simple ladder to climb from the foot of the bed. On the one I made I also used 2x4's for the railing so he wouldn't fall out. Good luck finding a solution.

[nyxst]

I built a similar loft bed for my son when he was younger, but it was not suspended. Yours looks suspended in the pics. The one I built I just added 2x4's across the 2x6's I used for the corner supports. This basically made a simple ladder to climb from the foot of the bed. On the one I made I also used 2x4's for the railing so he wouldn't fall out. Good luck finding a solution.

It actually isn't suspended, but I used porch posts for the two corners that aren't against a wall.  The parts that are against a wall are just bolted to the wall itself.  My queen bed is up there, and there is about a foot and a half at the side and bottom of the bed, so it is pretty big!  I may do a ladder similar to what you describe.  I'm trying to decide if i should do a fancy railing to spruce up the look of the room, or if I should keep it basic/simple.

[Greg]

Another ladder idea is a stairway of large storage bin boxes, big enough to store stuff in, but small enough to use as steps... double use thing.

[Syonyk]

Very cool!  Lofts are awesome. :)

Sweet!   If people were more creative with this type of thing we could all happily live in 200 sq ft.   

mm... no. :)

I may do a ladder similar to what you describe.  I'm trying to decide if i should do a fancy railing to spruce up the look of the room, or if I should keep it basic/simple.

Ladders are nice.  And just paint it some plain color - it'll look good.  I built a lot of lofts in college and generally just painted them a gloss black.

[nyxst]

Another ladder idea is a stairway of large storage bin boxes, big enough to store stuff in, but small enough to use as steps... double use thing.

I was thinking about doing this! Making it useful cabinet space AND stairs... I am still trying to figure out how to pull it off though :)

[Matthew Olszewski]

Great idea, once this type of solution with a bed upstairs were quite popular. Currently rare to see that someone was so creative in organizing themselves free space.

[meg_shannon]

We want to build a loft for our daughter's room when we buy a house for these reasons. We're looking for smaller houses and she'll need hobby space as she gets older.