What are the odds of getting a double-sized room to yourself? Slim to none, you’d think. But through a crazy series of events, it happened to me: I have a big room on the third floor of Lesher, and I have no roommate. I have two beds, two desks, two closets, and one me. So, I was thinking to myself in the first weeks of the semester, “How am I going to use up all this space?” And then the words of my RA came floating back to me…

“If you want to make a mega bed or whatever, I’d say you can go ahead and do that.”

And so, one night alone in my room, I decided to do it.

I’ve been living with this mega bed for two weeks now, and I’ve gotten a mix of praise and scrutiny from the community (by which I mean my friends and people in my hall). I think every college student, upon discovering the concept of the Mega-Bed, has a kind of fearful curiosity about it. Once you hear about it, you’ve got to know what it’s like. But, what if you don’t like it? Well, I’m here to dispel some myths about the Mega-Bed.

1. The “crack” is NOT an issue.

The number one thing my friends were concerned about was falling through the “crack” between the two mattresses. So far, the only thing that has ever gotten lost in the abyss was my phone, and it was safely retrieved. There’s no danger involved in having the “crack” there, as long as the beds are securely pushed together. The issue of comfort is a minimal as well – to be fair, if you roll around on the mega bed and your knee gets wedged between the two mattresses, it’s slightly uncomfortable, but not a big deal. Just move your leg. Most of the time, I don’t even notice the “crack” is there.

2. Is the space worth it?

Yes! Yes it is. I too was skeptical at first – two beds worth of space seems a bit excessive. But consider this: You can’t take the furniture out of your room, so it’s either have it take up space in the room somewhere, or put it to good use. At first, I thought I’d use the second bed as a couch, but that wasn’t really feasible since I didn’t bring enough cushions (silly of me, right?). It functions much better as an addition to my first bed.

3. What about sheets though?

Here’s where we run into some of the downsides of a Mega-Bed. Making my bed can be a little difficult – one set of sheets doesn’t cover both mattresses. Luckily I had an extra set, but as you can see in the photo, my comforter does not cover the entire bed. Personally, that’s something that I can live with, but if that sort of thing would drive you crazy, the mega bed may not be for you. Also, there’s the wrinkles. When I had just one mattress, I liked to keep my bed as crisp and wrinkle-free as possible when I wasn’t using it. Now it’s just something I just have to accept – the “crack” inevitably cause wrinkles due to sitting on i, and I’m too short to ever get them all out without creating more.

I hope this little review helped those in a similar situation decide whether to undergo the process of making a Mega-Bed or not. And for those who have roommates but dream of the possibility, maybe you could live vicariously through me.