Stackable Residence Hall Room Furniture
Introduction:
Welcome! Eastern Illinois University’s Department of Housing and Dining Services
has furnished your room with stackable residence hall room furniture. This furniture can
easily be arranged many different ways. When you arrive on campus, your furniture will
be set to the bunk configuration.
Please note that upon your departure, your furniture will need to be returned to the
bunk configuration. You may be happy with the bunk configuration. However, if you
would like to change it, here is how to do it safely and easily.
A. You won’t need any special tools or training to move this furniture. Just use
one of the planned configurations and make sure that the safety pins are
properly placed at all times.
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B. The furniture can be placed into four basic designs:
I. Loft: the most effective space saver
II. Trundle: combines good qualities of both loft and bunk
III. Singles: a more traditional bed set up
IV. Bunk: divides your room into both a sleeping area and a study area
C. To find out more information on how to assemble your stackable room
furniture continue with these instructions. These instructions will show you the
ways to effectively install your furniture into the four approved configurations.
Here are some safety tips to follow when re-arranging your furniture:
• If you place your elevated bed up against the window wall you must
make sure the safety rail is between you and the window.
• For safety reasons, we encourage students be able to sit on their bed
without hitting their head on the ceiling.
• Size up the area: Are all obstacles out of the way? Have you moved
all objects off of desks and shelves and are the drawers empty?
• Before you move any furniture, stand close to it and center yourself to
it. Plan the lift before you start so the lift will not throw you off balance.
Plant feet firmly and maintain good body position during lifting.
• Ask for help when lifting heavy pieces. We recommend that you use a
minimum of four people when lifting.
• When you are lifting don’t bend at the waist. Lift from your legs. They
are your largest muscle group and can support the weight of the
object better. Don’t rely on your arms and legs alone. This will help
prevent back injury.
• As you move, make sure not to twist your body. Notice the feet
moving, keeping the spine straight and free of any stress.
• Lift furniture rather than push it. If you can’t lift, it’s better to push the
furniture than to pull it.
• Keep windows and smoke detectors clear. Do not put lofts in front of
windows or block airflow from smoke detectors.
D. Next we will identify the five furniture items each student is provided to form
the pre-approved room configurations. One complete set includes:
I.
Bed: with attached safety rail & 2 deck boards
II.
Extra-long Twin Mattress (39” x 80”)
III.
Three-drawer dresser
IV.
Desk with desk-top organizer
V.
Bookshelf
VI.
Ladder (One per room, additional ladder available upon request)
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Other pieces of furniture besides the beds can also be stacked. You can stack a
bookshelf onto a dresser,
or a dresser onto another dresser.
Simply place safety pins at the pinhole locations to connect the two pieces of furniture.
E. Your room has been prearranged in the bunk position. For demonstration
purposes, we will show you how to assemble a bunk configuration from
scratch.
1. Remove the mattress and two plywood deck boards from the frame.
Never lift, stack or turn over the bed with the deck boards in the frame.
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2. Place the bed frame on the floor where you would like to have your bunk
bed. Position the frame so that the shortest bedposts are on the floor.
3. Before setting the second bed on the top of the first, place one pin in
each of the bedposts so that the beds will be properly aligned.
4. For the second bed, again remember to remove the mattress, and deck
boards and use proper lifting techniques.
5. Place the second bed on top of the first with the longest bedposts
pointing down towards the floor. Check to make sure the pins are
connecting the two beds together at both ends.
6. Now, you can put your mattress back on your bed and arrange the other
furniture in your room, as you like.
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F. The second configuration is the loft.
1. Place the desk with attached desk organizer where you want one end of
the bed to be. Remember to empty the desk drawers and the desktop.
The end of the bed frame without the safety rail fits over the desk.
2. Place dresser where the other end of your loft will be.
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3. Place the bookshelf on top of the dresser; notice the three options of
pinhole locations. Make sure both pins are placed in the aligned holes on
the bottom of the bookshelf. Placements of these pins are important
because the loft furniture really isn’t safe with out them. The end of the
bed frame with the safety rail should be placed over the bookshelves.
4. Now, you are ready to place the bed frame on top of the bookshelf and
desktop organizer.
5. Make sure you remove the mattress and deck boards from the bed frame
to make lifting easier. In the loft configuration, place the bed frame
directly on the supporting furniture, shorter ends of the bedposts down.
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6. We recommend the safety rail be placed on the outside of the bed, and
not against the wall, so it can be utilized as a guardrail.
7. Place pins in the pin hole locations.
8. Lift bed, place on top of supporting furniture and replace deck boards
and mattress.
9. Make sure to use the ladder provided to go up and down the loft safely.
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F. A third way to arrange the furniture is in a trundle set-up. When this
configuration is finished, your beds will be in an L-shaped pattern.
1. Choose either your bookshelf or dresser and place it so it can support the
foot of the other bed.
2. Place your first bed (the lower bed) with the shortest bedposts pointing
down towards the floor. Place the safety rail in position towards the floor
and in the corner of your configuration.
Now place two pins in the top of the bookshelf or dresser and two pins in the
top of the safety rail on the lower bed.
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3. Now move the second bed, your upper bed, into the trundle position.
4. Place the upper bed, with out mattress, into position with the shortest
bedposts pointing down.
5. When you put the bed down, make sure the pins in the bookshelf or
dresser line up with the holes in the head of the upper bed. Make sure the
holes at the foot of the bed line up as well.
6. Re-check all pin connections to make sure they are secure.
7. Reinstall deck boards and mattresses.
8. Place the remaining furniture around the room as you like.
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9. The final configuration is the single bed.
There are a few option designs of the bed that you might not be aware of.
1. As before, we will start assembly of the single bed from the loft set-up.
2. Make sure to use pins on all stacked pieces and be very careful when
moving heavy objects.
3. As shown in the loft position, your bed frame is reversible. It can change
height, as you like. The mattress and deck boards will lie on either side of
the platform.
4. In the finished configuration, notice how much storage space is available
under a bed with the long posts facing down towards the floor.
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G. The stacking residence hall room furniture has the capacity of being
stacked three high, however if you choose to do so, please follow these
guidelines.
1. If the bed is stacked on the on the desk/organizer and the
dresser/bookshelf, place the short legs facing down.
2. Be sure to use the four retainer pins to connect the bookshelf to the
dresser, and two pins on each bed frame end.
3. Always remove the mattress and deck boards from the bed before lifting
it into position.
4. When lifting the bed and lining up the pin holes, we recommend not less
than four people assist in making the lift.
5. To limit the accidental movement of the three high configuration, place
the three high lofted furniture in the corner of the room against the walls.
6. Never support a bed end in the high loft or low loft position with two
bookcases. This is not a stable base and could cause serious injury.
7. Use the ladder with the rail hooks in the upper position, and place over
the bed rail. Make sure the ladder feet are firmly on the floor before using
it.
8. If you choose to use the three high stacking configuration, there will be
limited headroom in the top bunk, please use caution.
9. Do not use the three high bunk, or standard loft configurations if you feel
unsafe in the bed or using the ladder!
Preparation for Moving In:
1. Contact your roommate before arriving at the University. Discuss what
arrangements might work for you, considering issues such as fear of heights,
other furniture that you may/may not be bringing, etc.
2. Decide who will bring what additional items (don’t waste space by bringing two
TV’s, etc.)
3. Discuss sleeping habits, as it may pertain to your arrangement. If one person likes
to go to bed early, you will probably not want to put their bed next to their
roommate’s desk.
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4. If feasible, bring only essential items first and determine what other items will be
necessary after you understand the space available and have the furniture
arranged.
5. When possible, wait until both roommates are present before moving furniture to
avoid conflicts.
Preparation for Moving Out:
As mentioned at the beginning of these instructions, your stacking room furniture must
be returned to the bunk configuration when you move out of your residence hall room.
There is a charge for not returning your furniture to the bunk configuration. To refresh
your memory, here is an example of the bunk configuration.
It is important to know that University staff will not remove furniture from your room. All
furniture pieces and hardware (i.e., safety pins) must remain in your room.
Conclusion:
This concludes our presentation of basic room furniture assembly. It is easy and
safe, just make sure to follow our guidelines and make sure that all pins are properly
placed. Whatever configuration you choose to use, we hope you enjoy the versatility of
your stackable residence hall room furniture system.
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