IKEA Kura Children's Bed Guinea Pig Cage

We converted the downstairs portion of this Ikea reversible bed into a large guinea pig hutch for our buddies Scrunchy and Friskle. Bedding and hay is placed in a large wooden removable tray on the right side, and the remaining 3/4 of the floor space can be hoisted up to an incline for easy cleaning.

Materials:

• 2m x 89.4 cm MDF chipboard (most of a full sheet)
• approx. 310 cm 1"x6" (can you tell I'm an American living in Europe?) for tray walls
• Approx 2m 2"x6" for floor joists
• 8 m 4x 4 cm square bar lumber (same dimension as that used to make the Kura) for the front door
• Floor lacquer
• wire mesh, about 3.6 m2
• 2 pull clasp fittings
• 3 hook / eye clasps
• 1 bar slide for door
• 75 cm piano hinge
• 2 hinges for door
• chipboard screws / wood glue
• plastic sheeting for under the bed / cage in case of leaks
• Large steel staples (to be hammered in to hold the mesh)
• Assorted long screws for floor joists
• 2 short lengths of chain, approx 30 cm
• 2 small pulleys
• paracord, 3 m.
• 2 eyehooks for chain to attach to at left end of tiltable floor
• eyehook to mount to ceiling / bed support to hold pulley / tackle

Tools:

• drill / driver and bits
• hammer
• measuring tape
• saw
• jigsaw or sawzall for rounding mdf corners

Place thick plastic under the bed as spill / leak protection for your floor. Cut two pieces of 2"x6" to fit snugly between the long floor rails. One will support the hinge that the MDF is attached to and the other will be placed behind the innermost vertical of the ladder to act as a support for the MDF floor.

Cut your wire mesh into 50cm wide strips. Using the hammered staples, begin from the inside of the rightmost vertical post by cutting out a small notch so the mesh contacts both the vertical and the horizontal bars, so you can staple it in place. Overlap 5-10 cms when you need to use another strip. Wrap wire all around the inner portion of the bed until you reach the end of the ladder. Use a wire clamp making tool, a hose clamp, or a zip tie to hold the top of the mesh close to the inner corners of the verticals. This means the inside face will curve a little instead of forming a sharp corner, but we'll compensate for that.

Next screw in the piano hinge to the right side bottom edge of the MDF, and then screw the other side of the hinge into the rightmost 2x6 joist that will be mounted flush with the tray (with a little room to spare so the tray can easily be removed for cleaning). Attaching the hinge to the joist must be done before it is screwed into the bed frame in the next step because it's difficult to position the hinge in such a way that you have room to drive the screws in if the joist is already screwed in place.

Cut the MDF sheet into two pieces: one for the floor of the removable tray, to occupy 1/4 to 1/3 of the rightmost floor area, and one for the tilting floor that covers the rest of the area. Since wire mesh will be placed on the inner face of the wood that makes up the bed, subtract 1 cm from the width (and length) of the inner dimensions to permit space for things to move and fit together.

Build your tray by cutting 4 sides out of 1x6 and screwing into them from the bottom of the small MDF sheet after gluing to make a square tray. Drive a few screws near the top and glue the sides as well for extra strength. Tray dimensions need to be about 1 cm smaller in both directions than the cavity in which it will fit so it can easily be removed. Paint all MDF floor sheets, sidewalls and the walls of the tray with floor lacquer or other pet-safe water barrier.

Drive long screws into the 2x6 joists through both sides of the bedframe, also using small blocks as braces to keep them upright, at least on the joist that will hold the MDF hinge.

You may have to round off the corners of the MDF in order to make it match the curve of the mesh. Be sure to leave a little space so the floor can tilt upwards on the hinge for cleaning without too much friction from contacting the mesh. (But note that the block and tackle will give the person tilting the floor 2:1 leverage, so a little friction is ok.)

Now add railings to the MDF with glue and screws, just tall enough to provide a little cover and to keep things from falling out of the sides.

At this point it may be useful to screw in a small piece of scrap outside of the mesh and into the far ends of the floor joists to pull the rear wall's mesh flush with the floor / railings.

The front wall is made from approx. 4 x 4 cm square lumber, similar to the dimensions of the lumber used to build the Kura bed. Since the tilting floor is already positioned at the height of the joists, we'll make the front wall expose the area under the tilting part of the floor so it can be used as a storage area for food and hay.

First cut 3 verticals the height of the distance between the Kura bed's floor rail and the horizontal that supports the bed (measure this in each place to account for variation in the Kura bed.) For all these measurements, cut 1 cm smaller than the measured distance to allow for play so that the door can be put in place and removed easily.

Next cut the 4 horizontals and screw them in to the verticals to make the large meshed rectangle and the door frame in the front wall. Corner braces and glue will make these joints much stronger.

Next cut pieces to make the door, again leaving 1 cm (5mm on each side and top and bottom) to give it room to move freely. Place hinges on outside right side, so the door opens towards the right hand wall.

Cover the large rectangular area and the door with wire mesh.

Screw in corner brackets in the upper left and upper corners of where the front wall will be inserted so that it can be pressed against them without falling inward. Insert front wall and screw in hardware to hold it in place. A hook / eye works well for the top corners, but a latch with some compression force is best for the lower corners, to hold it securely in place. Note the hook / eye in the base of the middle vertical to hold it flush against the floor joist (which in turn keeps the mesh walls close to the MDF floor). Attach door latch as well.

Now screw in two eye hooks and attach about 25 cm of chain between each one and the base of the lower pulley. Mount the upper pulley with an eyehook placed in one of the bed supports. Thread paracord through the upper pulley, around the lower, and tie off on the frame of the upper pulley to form a "gun tackle" with 2:1 lifting power ratio. Use another screw hook to attach a loop of the paracord to when the floor is in the up and down positions, so you can leave the floor tilted up when desired.

Insert bedding, assorted shelters, hay, water bottle, and guinea pigs! You may want to add a little ramp to ease movement between the bottom of the tray, where most of the hay and bedding is, and the upper floor.