Step2 Lifestyle Twin Bed

We just got 2 of these beds for our 2 and 4 year old (4 year old with autism) thanks to on-line reviews. We live in a major cosmopolitan area where we could not find a set of 2 beds for our children that were safe. Every twin bed we found required box springs, had no side rails, had sharp corners, etc. I was shocked to discover there were no beds out there for 2-5 year olds except for toddler beds. Kids furniture stores were full of bunk beds featuring large gaps, sharp edges, breakable pole head and footboards, and were full of 90% bunk beds. Bunk beds are for ages 6 & up, and who wants the lower bunk anyway.
The boxes were almost appliance size, huge, and one had an hole in corner. The manufacturer was thoughtful enough to tape the bag of tools onto one of the support rails, so even if the large box split open, unlikely small parts could fall out. The box was too heavy to move, so we removed the pieces and walked them into the house. I let my son play a day with all the random pieces and the following day we put the beds together. It took me 20 minutes to assemble the first bed yesterday, and 10 minutes to assemble the second bed. I needed no help from my husband at all (I'm the handyman of the house). I am going to put the handles on the doors today which will probably take another 10 minutes. I actually timed it because I have put together so many kids items, that I'm always interested in which items may take enormous amounts of time (like 8 hours to assemble my daughters armoire).
After I got the beds assembled I rolled in the new bunkie boards and the new mattresses (Simmons Princeton Deepsleep mattresses -firm), and the mattress comes to just the right height, with the ladder rising about 2" above and about a full foot of height all around for the rest of the bed. My 2 year old usually falls out of bed as she spins when she sleeps, but when I peeked in this morning, she was as usual upside down but curled up at end of bed, safely. The supports are strong and I feel comfortable tucking kids in and reading books to them with all 3 of us in the bed (I'm a bit overweight too and tall). They had no trouble climbing out of the beds either in the morning. The kids love the new beds and they have the feeling of a bunk bed, with no lower bunk to them (just storage underneath). Of course, the first thing they do is start bouncing so you may want to consider just a foam mattress (I don't like those, but less easy to bounce) and I was terrified of a big fall down onto the hardwood floor. The beds have a somewhat Disney castle look to them. On-line photos I saw made me think the bed was just plain ugly, but the bed is really quite neutral and blends nicely colorwise. Our friends have laughed at how big they are (fill up the kids room). The color I think was well chosen as white plastic looks dirty and turns yellow, bright color plastics fade and also do not blend well with all decor, so these neutral tans work best. The arched design of the rails is well thought out as arches endure more weight and abuse than straight lines. The only complaint I have so far (like one other person reviewed) is the finish being rough. It is very easy to get raw knuckles when changing the bed linens because of the faux wood texturing. You just need to be careful. Make sure your mattress is light weight (our Simmons Deepsleep Princeton mattress is mostly hollow so is fairly easy to lift).

We also have in our backyard a full Step2 playground with the folding slide, the adobe roof playhouse, and the sand box. They are all made from same plastic batches. I used to detest large blobs of plastic, but as a parent, you find plastics work so much better with kids than natural woods, etc. I had one of those spindle canopy beds when a kid, and regularly knocked out a spindle from week to week. This bed will hold up a long time, and can donate or resell when kids ready for more mature bed, as bed should remain in same condition. Improvements I could find would be: 1) Smooth out texture of faux wood2) Manufacture a low rise version without the storage underneath (the 2 beds fully fill the floor and air space of our kids room). They have a huge closet, so I would have preferred a low-rise version. 3)Provide nicer handles for the doors. Provide a slide-in rail for where the latter is if you feel there's a chance you kid could fall at that small opening for the latter (my husband's worry). 4) Provide climbing latter at ends as well instead of the non-climbing 3 verticle windows at each end. 5) Provide a small inset ledge for water sippy cup.6) Offer an off-set set of stairs. Although my kids are happy with straight up stairs, they generally just jump out instead of bothering to turn around to go back down them. This could be a little difficult for middle of the night bathroom run. We always keep a lamp going with a 7 watt bulb in their room that makes perfect night lighting for them.7) Instuctions should show a rubber mallet instead of metal hammer, as I chipped off edges of several of the pegs. No drill was needed although I do often use a small rechargeable Black & Decker screwdriver for projects like this. But the bed goes together without need of any screws (the screws are just for final ornamentation a few security corners of bed, but the bed is fine without a single screw in place (just the pegs are all that's really needed). Overall, great product! Still shocked that not more companies make anything like this (we tried IKEA that sold only propriety mattresses and particle board, Lullaby Lane Kids Furniture that had no 2 matching twin beds with rails, and couldn't find anything in the SF bay area that has anything like this. We purchased from Home Depot on-line, as easier to make returns with them at no shipping cost if needed to return. Yippie! Our kids are finally out of our bed & happy in their own beds! I got my husband back too!

We searched everywhere for a twin sized bed with the features of a toddler bed (preventing roll outs). I also researched to find a great deal on it. We had no problems putting it together. We were worried about also adding a box spring, but it worked great. Our 2 1/2 year old really did not have any problems getting into it. He is a little wobbly going down, we just have to remind him to have both hands empty when he goes down. This bed provides huge amounts of storage or play area underneath. By raising up the bed vertically, we gained tons of storage space on the floor. This is an awesome bed and holds up to 300 pounds of weight. I highly recommend this bed!!!! Just find it on sale.

We purchased this bed for our [...] a couple of months ago and he loves it. The only thing that bugs us is the doors not hanging straight but I think that is from the bed shifting. They hung straight for the first day or so. The under-bed storage is a huge deal for us since we rent and don't have a lot of storage options. We can fit so much stuff under there and his room can still look neat and organized. He has never had a problem with the ladders, just had to show him once and he got it. We are using a bunk board and a twin matress. I think it helped when moving him from his crib because it still gives him that crib feeling. The bed is pricey but for all you get, it is well worth it. It is one of the best purchases we have ever made. We are very pleased!

Ok here is a perfect solution to your boxspring problem. I recently bought my teenage daughter and my 2 year old bunk beds and of course you can't have boxsprings on them so they suggested for the same support to get a bunkie board. they are about 25 bux and work the same as a boxspring except they are only about 1or 2 inches thick. Good luck hope it helps

OK, I haven't bought this bed..yet, but am thinking about it. The sagging doors thing bothers me since it's not made of wood and would be harder to correct. As for the mattress issue everyone is concerned about. Ditch the box spring and get a piece of 1/2" or 3/4" plywood to lay on the supports. The mattress will be soft enough to sleep on and you won't lose that extra 6" or so from the box spring. Easy fix..