Silver Screen Twin/Futon Bunk Bed

It took me a LONG time to decide, if at all, which bed that we would ultimately purchase. I wasn't sure if I wanted a twin/twin, twin/full or twin/futon. I knew I wanted a LOT of clearance between the bottom bunk and top bunk and that the bed HAD TO BE SAFE AND STURDY! I'm so glad I chose this one. We now have, for our son, a high top bunk with both a couch AND a double bed on the bottom. There are 44" clearance when sitting on the futon/bed. We LOVE it, but there were a few cons that we've fixed. The ladder is stationary and only on the left side of the bed. His ceiling fan is pretty much right over that ladder, so he has to crouch when climbing to and from the top bunk in order to miss the fan, plus the thin, square metal rungs hurt your feet when climbing. We built a new ladder out of wood and positioned it directly to the left of the built-in ladder and now he doesn't have to crouch to miss the fan. Also, although the bed is well built and sturdy, it's a little shaky when my 55 lb son moves around on the top bunk. My husband secured the bed to the wall by screwing a 2X4 to a stud in the wall and clamping the bed to the 2X4 with "L" brackets that are screwed into the 2X4. The bed doesn't move at all now. We've never had a futon before, so I wasn't sure what my options were for the bottom bunk in terms of material, thickness and comfort. What I did do was buy an inexpensive 6", size 'double' futon. It was OK in quality, feel and comfort, but not great. I ended up cutting our 2" thick memory foam mattress topper to size and put it under the futon. It's perfect now! So comfortable and even helps the futon to stay in place without it sliding around. The max weight for the whole bed is 600 lbs. and 225 for the top bunk; much better weight restrictions than any of the wooden beds we looked at! Also, the frame is so thin that it keeps the room looking nice and spacious. Usually bunk beds make a big room look tiny. Not this one!