The coolest bunk beds ever
DAVID MINK GateHouse Plus

Bunk beds have been in the dreams of children across America for years. Although invented as a space saver for some very un-childlike institutions like slavery and the military, they've become a bastion for children in summer camps around the world.

No one really knows what draws children to bunk beds with such fascination. It is not unlike an imaginative child's desire to sleep in a box. Maybe it's the height of the top bunk, the lure of having a sleepover or the thrill of being boxed in. Maybe it's simply the unknown.

For whatever reason, your child desperately wants a bunk bed. And, yes, you could buy him or her the average, particle-board frame and mattress set from your local retailer. How cool would that be, though? Not very, your kid says, if he or she knows about themed bunk beds from Tanglewood designs. Simply put, these are not bunk beds. They're dreams.

Imagine being a child and having Snow White's cottage. Or a Medieval castle. Or a multi-leveled space ship. Or a log cabin. How much fun would your little girl have living, sleeping and playing in a pink, turreted, spired castle built especially for her?

These bunk beds are anything but wood-and-slat constructions. Intricate, shingled towers, elaborate, shuttered windows and inlaid dressers, book shelves and work stations make these beds the envy of kids everywhere.

More like playhouses than bunk beds, these hand-crafted masterpieces dominate the child's playspace and turn his or her room into a youngster's entertainment mecca.

The lower bed is generally featured underneath the castle (or cabin or shuttle), while the upper bunk is deftly hidden behind spires and eaves and accessible only through a side staircase. Windows with shutters allow covert peepholes for kids on the upper bunks. Let your kids storm the castle, save the princess (or be saved by the knight in shining armor) and then go to sleep all in one place.

Although pricey (in the range of $2,000), the company's Web site PlayhouseDesigns.com also offers construction plans for a fraction of the cost.