Buying a mattress for most customers is like buying a car. There are so many options, customers always want to get the best deal, customers always feel like they are getting ripped off… In fact most customers put off mattress shopping until the mattress is finally dead.

Here, I am focusing more on children’s mattresses but you can hopefully use some of this info when shopping for your own mattress.

Mattresses should really be purchased with the end user in mind. Whether it is a child or an adult, the weight, body type, shape, preference in softness should all be considered. For example, in Europe, most childrens mattresses are either 12cm or 16cm. This is fairly thin compared to US standards but this is really all you need. You can see a picture of one of these European mattresses below. The mattress below is a mattress from Flexa, a company from Denmark.

Flexa Latex Mattress

The Flexa latex mattress shown above was a 12cm mattress with a zippered cover. This company is no longer in the USA but they made some excellent mattresses for children. The advantage of using a thinner mattress is that when used on a bunk bed or loft bed, you get maximum guard rail spacing for safety. Plus, children really do not need anything thicker for proper support and comfort. These mattresses in my opinion are great up to about 125lbs. More than 125lbs, the mattress will begin to bottom out and the person will feel the the wooden support slats underneath.

Although Flexa is no longer in the USA, there is a new company called Maxtrix that is making thinner mattresses for children using high quality materials. Please see photo below.

Maxtrix Latex Mattress Core view (without organic cotton cover)

The Maxtrix latex mattress above is the actual core material that goes inside their mattress. Maxtrix uses an organic cotton cover over these cores. You can see the full selection of Maxtrix mattresses at: www.MaxtrixOnline.com/Mattresses_c_20.html.

I added this as a separate post since I didn’t want to put too many pictures on the Berg Bunk Bed and Loft Bed post.

Some of the features that make Berg furniture great is:

• Laminate construction makes it easy to clean and very durable
• Metal roller glides on all drawers
• Deep drawers to hold more stuff
• One of the best hinges on their doors
• Small details like the slip proof tape on the stairs

Berg Stairs - Slip proof tape on the steps

All of these features make Berg one of the most unique beds available on the market. Now, I know a lot of customers object to presswood or MDF as it is more commonly called but what a lot of people don’t realize is that MDF is eco-friendly. The reason why is that instead of just burning off or discarding the wood waste from the saw mills, the powdered wood is used to make laminate boards which are more efficient since almost 95% of the wood can be used as compared to solid wood furniture which can only use about 30% of the wood in a tree. People had also complained that presswood uses a lot of chemicals but that is not the case. In fact, the laminate boards used in the Berg beds use 92% wood and only 8% resin. Also, the resin passes the new California CARB laws.

Here are some more pictures of the Berg Furniture features.

Berg Stairs also incorporate drawers for extra storage

Berg drawers utilize smooth rolling metal glides

Berg uses one of the best hinges for their doors

If you are interested in Berg products, please visit www.BergenFurniture.com they specialize in Berg furniture and they are an authorized online dealer.

I really like Berg furniture. Berg is one of the last manufacturers that actually manufacture here in the USA. Their products are made in Southern New Jersey. Berg has been around for a long time now and their product range has expanded quite a bit over the years.

Shown below is the Berg Play and Study Loft Bed. This unique loft bed offers a desk, drawers on either side of the desk, shelf, and a bonus storage area with two doors behind the desk shown on the second picture. Also, it features the Berg stairs instead of a ladder which makes this bed really safe for children. This is a twin size loft bed.

The Play and Study is one of the most popular twin loft beds but Berg also makes different style loft beds and bunk beds.

The Play and Study is one of the most popular twin loft beds but Berg also makes different style loft beds and bunk beds.

Berg Bunk Beds:

Berg offers a variety of bunk bed configurations. They have twin/twin bunk beds as well as twin/full bunk beds.

Shown below is the twin over full utica bunk bed.

Shown below is the Enterprise twin over full bunk bed

Berg also makes really nice low loft captains beds with drawers and stairs.

Berg products are warrantied for a full year from the time of purchase. The fact that they use a laminate process also makes these furniture pieces very durable. You can check below to see some vendors of Berg Furniture online. You can also try to see if you can locate a local dealer.

If you are shopping for Berg online, you can check out www.BergenFurniture.com.

If you are in the New York, New Jersey, Connecticut area, you can also shop for Berg at Kiddie World which is one of the largest Berg dealers in the area. They have great prices on the Berg furniture.

You can also check these dealers below:

We all have to admit that we would have loved to have a bed like this when we were growing up. I remember when having a nice headboard on a metal frame was WOW back then but theses days, there are so many more options for children’s furniture.

You can get car beds, princess coach beds, plastic beds, doll house beds and so forth. The choice these days is endless.

Now, even with so many fun beds out there in the market place, traditional furniture still makes up the bulk of kids furniture sales. Almost all of us look at these beds and say, no way I’m getting something like that and spending my money on something that they are only going to use for a little while.

That’s why I really like Maxtrix furniture that is pictured above. You can have the fun, exciting bed with a slide and tent and curtains and when the child gets older, you can convert it to a more practical bed. The bed is made like a lego system where you attach extensions and ladders and create all sorts of configurations. Personally, my favorite is the Yo day bed shown below.

The Yo day bed is perfect for the child outgrowing the crib and going into their first “big boy” or “big girl” bed. You can buy the Yo daybed in the twin size or the full size.

As soon as they are old enough, you can buy the low loft ladder and leg kit as well as the slide, top tent and bottom curtain and make the castle slide bed first pictured.

You can see more of the Maxtrix beds by going to www.MaxtrixOnline.com.

The other nice feature of Maxtrix is that the items are made from quality birch hardwood, not pine like some of the European manufacturers that charge just as much. The hardware is also very unique and it makes the beds really secure.

Even though you may not have considered getting one of these beds for your child, in the end they really are not that impractical and your children will absolutely love it.

The case for the Dollhouse Loft Bed.

This bed is all over the internet and a lot of vendors sell this item but I wanted to put in my two cents about this bed. When customers see this bed online, they all say wow and they fall in love with it and place orders for it without really looking at the bed. Unfortunately a lot of local dealers do not carry this company and do not stock this item so it is a hard bed to find at the local furniture store. Where I worked, we used to carry this bed so I wanted to give an objective review of the bed.

The pluses:

• It is really beautiful. The colors are very nicely done.
• It has an integrated bookshelf which is neat.
• It can accommodate up to a full size mattress and box with a metal frame underneath so you can use it as a bunk bed.
• Instead of a ladder, there are little foot holes for climbing onto the bed (nice since there is nothing sticking out) but it does have some minuses which I will list below.

The minuses:

• Don’t let the picture fool you, this bed is humongous!
• Height is a whopping 94″ from the floor to the top of the roof.
• Width is 81″ at the bottom and 87″ if measured from the roof overhang on each side.
• The same foot holes that are nice since there is nothing sticking out is also a minus because a lot of children when climbing up onto the bed complain that the bottom of their feet hurt because it is not designed like a step on a traditional ladder.
• You really need to use a full size bunkie board and a mattress if you want even a little bit of space between the bottom bed and the top bed. If you use a mattress, metal frame and a traditional box spring, there is very little space between the bottom bed and the bottom of the top bed.
• Most internet vendors who ship these have seen a very high rate of damage since the boxes are just too big to handle. Half the time, the item arrives at a customer’s house damaged.
• If you are not paying for assembly, this is a very difficult item to assemble. In fact at one point the manufacturer even tried to make a dvd to help.

Despite everything, this bed still continues to be a very strong seller but you may really want to consider other fun beds as an alternative. The biggest question is, when my daughter turns 12 years old, does she really want to be in a Doll House Loft Bed? You have to be realistic about how long this bed will actually last.