College Dorm Room Loft Beds Create Space

Anyone who has experienced college dorm room life knows a bit about creating space. The typical college dorm room houses two students. With increases in enrollment and tight funding, many colleges and universities now make use of quad dorm rooms housing as many as four students. Through is a small refrigerator, microwave oven and other appliances and the space available for beds and clothing storage.

With living space at premium, students must make efficient use of what little they call their own. Loft beds offer some definite advantages when it comes to utilizing space. Similar in design to a traditional bunk bed, a loft bed provides space for a bed on top with open space underneath. Loft beds are tall enough to allow for the placement of a desk, dresser or other items of needed furniture.

One major university in South Dakota had a policy of requiring incoming students to provide their own loft bed. During late August in South Dakota it was common to see caravans of vehicles, each one filled with eager students, anxious parents and a stack of precut two by four lumber. The dorm rooms available to incoming freshman were quite small and a loft bed was the only type of bed the university allowed.

This is still the practice at many colleges today with schools providing designs and specifications for building a proper loft bed. For those parents and student who lack the skills to build a dorm room bed from scratch, prefabricated loft beds are available from many online retailers and traditional brick and mortar stores.

Along with supplying the loft bed frame, many parents and students will find that they need a mattress. Since most college dorm room beds require a tall twin or twin extra long mattress, so it is with dorm room loft beds. At 80 inches long, a tall twin mattress is five inches longer than a standard twin size mattress. The extra length means having bed sheets, mattress covers and mattress pads that are designed to fit a tall twin mattress.

A mattress cover and pad will protect the mattress from dirt and dust, extending the usable life of the mattress.