Bunk Bed Guide
Types

Shorty bunk beds for smaller rooms

A shorty bunk is a lower, usually shorter bunk for a tight ceiling. Boori’s typical mattress is about 75 × 175 cm, and their typical top surface is about 120–130 cm. Confirm both figures on the model you buy.

By the Bunk Bed Guide team · Updated 13 November 2026

What you gain and what you give up

You gain headroom. Boori says the frame is often 20–30 cm lower than a standard bunk, and that a ceiling around 2.0–2.05 m can work if you keep 75 cm above the mattress. You give up easy bedding. A 75 × 175 cm mattress is shorter than a 75 × 190 cm small single, so high-street sheets may not fit.

If the room is already around 2.4 m, Boori says a normal bunk is usually more practical, because the mattress and the bedding are the ordinary UK single.

Safety does not shrink with the frame

A shorter ladder is still a ladder. The under-six warning still applies when the base is 600 mm or higher. Boori’s own guidance for that series is age 9 and above on the top bunk, shorty or not. Guard-rail height and the marked mattress thickness still apply. A lower bunk is not a toddler bed.

Questions people ask

Are shorty bunks only for infants?

No. The point is ceiling height. The age warning on an upper bed still applies, and some makers want an older child than six.

Can I use a 90 × 190 cm mattress on a shorty?

Not if the frame is built for 75 × 175 cm. The mattress would overhang or not sit inside the rails.

Sources

Opened 13 November 2026. The maker’s sheet and the mark on the bed take precedence.

  1. Shorty bunk beds for low-ceiling UK rooms — Boori UK
  2. UK bed sizes: bed and mattress size guide — Which?
  3. BS EN 747-1:2024 — Furniture. Bunk beds and high beds. Safety, strength and durability requirements — BSI

Keep going

Types

Bunk, cabin, mid sleeper or high sleeper

A bunk stacks two beds. A mid sleeper is a lower raised bed with space underneath. A high sleeper is one high bed, often with a desk. A cabin is a raised bed with a den or storage. The upper bed of anything with a base 600 mm or more off the floor carries the under-six warning.

Types

High sleeper with a desk for teens

A high sleeper puts one bed at the ceiling and a desk underneath. The Ocean listing is 178.5 cm tall before the mattress. You still need sitting headroom, a chair that pulls out, and the maker’s weight limit if they publish one.

Types

Cabin beds and storage underneath

A cabin bed trades floor for a den or for drawers. If the mattress base is 600 mm or more above the floor, treat it as a high bed: the under-six warning and the marked mattress thickness apply.