You could buy a fancy, souped-up theme bed for nearly $4,000... or you could just hack one yourself. Savvy dad Eric Strong didn't want to spend thousands on a new bed for his young son, who had outgrown a regular crib. Promising his son "the coolest bed ever," Strong came up with an epic Ikea hack that resulted in the ultimate kids' bed: a lofted mattress, a ball-and-pulley play system, a secret chamber with a lookout window, and one seriously sneaky trap door escape. How does it work? The project started with three pieces of Ikea furniture: The Kura bed, the Trofast storage system and the Besta shelving unit. Strong bought two of the Kura beds, taking one apart to use its pieces for siding, panels and other elements that would make up the ultimate bed. Without drawing up plans, he assembled the bed's separate elements -- slide, bed frame, secret hideout and all -- spending 1-2 hours per night on the project over the course of two months. Then, he snapped the elements together in just four hours.
The result is a dream bed that not only looks incredibly sleek, but also brilliantly fun to play in. The secret door is triggered by a bookcase handle, of course... ...and it leads to a secret room with color-changing LED lights (also from Ikea). Kids can play with the epic chute system, which sends balls downstairs... ...or climb out the secret back entrance! Altogether, the ultimate bed cost about $850 to build, Strong told HuffPost. The only non-Ikea materials he used were some plywood slats, whiteboard covering for the slide, and odds and ends from the hardware store. Since Strong didn't draw up plans and merely relied on his creative juices, he thinks that anyone can hack an Ikea bed. Inspiration from the passionate online community of Ikea hackers makes it easy to create custom desks, closets and even sinks out of regular furniture pieces. And the best part? You'll feel like a DIY superstar when you avoid the frustration of purchasing something more costly.
"You don't need any special expertise (to hack)," Strong said. "Just lots of patience. And it's worth it." Watch Strong's full video above for more. For a more adult-style Ikea hack, try this DIY colorblock desk:Plenty of startups are tackling the sleep problem. Wearables like Lark and Jawbone’s UP track how well you sleep, while apps aim to monitor your sleep cycles by bringing your phone into bed with you. Collecting data on our sleep patterns can be eye-opening, but it can only do so much to improve the environmental factors that keep us from getting the shut-eye we deserve. Casper is approaching the problem from the ground up with its redesigned mattress. Ever been to a tech festival? TNW Conference won best European Event 2016 for our festival vibe. See what's in store for 2017. Casper’s first product, which launched back in April, aims to address three different issues in the mattress industry: the shopping experience, distribution, and the product itself.
On the shopping front, Casper has bypassed your usual mattress superstores, which have become a caricature of poor salesmanship, in order to sell just one model via its website. As for distribution, the mattress comes packed in a box that can be delivered locally by Uber or bike couriers in New York, or via free two-day shipping in the US. Global shipping is currently in the works. Casper handmakes its mattresses in the US and sources most of its materials domestically. The mattress ranges in price from $500 for a Twin, $850 for a Queen and $950 for a King. That’s more than I’ve ever paid for a mattress, but it’s affordable by memory foam standards. A natural latex mattress from IKEA, for instance, costs $999 for a Queen, while Novosbed’s basic Queen model is priced at $879. Casper’s worth the money. After two weeks of sleeping on it, I’m happy to say that the bed is delightfully comfortable. The company’s name seems quite fitting now, as lying on top of the combination memory and latex foam surface feels a lot like cuddling up to a friendly ghost.
If you like your mattresses firm, Casper is likely to be too soft for you. I’ve heard mixed responses from friends that have given the bed a quick try. Casper manages to make you forget that it’s there, which is an accomplishment in my book. With the exception of the beds at a couple high-end hotels, this is the nicest mattress I’ve slept on. Casper has a 40-day free-return trial period if you want to give the mattress a try. The company does recommend that you use it for at least two weeks before sending it back, though. The box for a Queen-size Casper measured 21” by 21” by 42”, roughly the size of a large barrel. Carrying the package was a bit unwieldy, but I was able to move it by myself more easily than a normal mattress. Once you’ve got the rolled-up mattress out of the box, use the included tool to cut open the packaging and let the mattress “unfurl.” One downside after using Casper it that my pillow now feels inadequate next to this awesome mattress.
The company has said that it’s interested in other sleep items, such as pillows and sheets, so you have that to look forward to. Bed preferences are so varied that I can’t unequivocally recommend Casper to everyone, but if you can handle a soft mattress and the $500-$950 price tag doesn’t dissuade you, Casper’s worth checking out. Even if you don’t decide to keep it, you’ll hopefully get up to 40 days of good sleep. New Google Glass feature shows your notifications when you glance up at the screenAfter a million requests (and that might not even be an exaggeration) I have put together a tutorial on our Ikea Hack Kura Bed. I hope this breakdown makes it even easier for your family to get the sleep you need!!Above is a drawing I did that best represents our new bed. I am hoping this will visually allow you to see how simple it really is! Your bed size will vary depending on your space. But I will give you a quick explanation of what we did.Step 1: Purchase two Ikea Kura Beds
We already owned them when we created the family bed, but we were able to purchase them on Craigslist for $75 each. Expect to pay between $75-$125 used and $200 new per bed. Ikea sells a thinner mattress that would make the rails higher. It wasn't as comfy for our kids and we already had mattresses. You can use what works for your family.In order to keep the bed looking like one piece, we opted to keep all the white sides visible. You can also check out other hacks where the panel boards are redecorated. Complete creative freedom with this bed!The beds were assembled so that they were mirror images. Due to space restrictions, our ladders would be up against the walls, making them unusable, so we faced the solid side of the bed out so they could climb up that way. If you prefer to have the entire bottom space open for easier access and airflow, simply assemble so the open side is facing out. We suggest that the entire bed be put against a wall that will act as your headboard.
Step 2: Remove or do not install the bottom crossbar that faces the middle of the bed If your room is large enough to fit this bar in it's new location without cutting it, do that! If not, you can either cut it to size or replace it with a 2x4 sized piece of wood. We opted to buy other wood and store the crossbar so that the bed could be used on it's own in the future. These cross bars help stabilize the bed. If you wish to put something in the space the crossbar previously occupied, we suggest something flat that a mattress will lay easily on top of.To anchor these, we used l brackets screwed into the wood leg of the bed and the wood cross bar. Step 3: Purchase two 2x4 pieces of wood and white panel board.I bought the 2x4's that most closely matched the bed colors natural wood. I did not have the time or energy to sand and stain. It isn't exact, but you can hardly tell. I had Home Depot cut it to fit between the two beds to create a crossbar/shelf. Next I purchased white panel board.
You can purchase a large piece that can be cut lengthwise only and have it be one solid piece. Because I was on a small budget, I chose to purchase a square piece that was cut in half and then put together with brackets to create a solid piece. There is a tiny gap, but again, not noticeable./p/Unbranded-Marker-Board-Common-3-16-in-x-2-ft-x-4-ft-Actual-0-180-in-x-23-75-in-x-47-75-in-7012090/203377708My finished seam looks like this... Step 4: Nail the white board to the two 2x4's with small white panel nails to create one long piece Step 5: Attach the headboard to the two bedsUsing corner brackets and screws I was able to attach the headboard to each bed. It was a perfect match, but it worked well enough! I also wasn't quite strong enough to get all the screws in, but it wasn't going to be weight bearing (the kids had very strict instructions not to walk across it) so it just needed to be secure and safe. Once attached, it should look like this on each side... Step 6: Put in mattressesWe have a twin mattress on top of each bunk.
On the bottom, we are able to fit a king, twin and toddler mattress easily. It is possible to fit two twins, but it is a very tight squeeze. There are some small gaps around the bed. We have taken extra body pillow and filled them in. You could do the same. Our mattresses are on our floor. You could choose to take plywood and make a palette for them to sit on if you wanted.We wanted to keep it simple and easy, but also make each space feel like it's own. I used Ikea curtain rods and Ikea curtains to section off each space. I purchased battery operated wire lights to put in each space for reading at bedtime. We used a small folding travel bag from Target hung from a hook to hold my phone, earplugs, nose spray and CPAP. I am so high maintenance! We hung up a few pictures and we were done!Looking back if I were to do it again, I would buy lights with a remote (shown below) since it proves hard to get the lights off if the kids fall asleep with them on. Cost Breakdown of what we spent:Kura Beds $150Wood and paneling to make one bed: $16.50Curtains, rods and lights for the beds (4 sets): $61.00We actually already owned the curtains, rods, and beds, so my only cost was the wood and paneling as well as the lights.