First I'd consider the color of the woodwork/trim in his room. I'm not fond of maple for some reason, except to use as painted kitchen cabinets. lol.

I think a painted bed would look better in a girl's room. He'll grow up fast and a nice dark wood would grow with him.

Our boys had bunkbeds only for space, and I HATED them. The top bunk was a pain to change sheets with. Plus, I always had a fear one of them would fall, especially when friends came over and they were romping around.

If space is a problem, I'd get a nice twin with the drawers under it.

Sorry about the typo in the header.

There is only white trim and closet doors in his room at the moment. Very nuetral with no personality as of yet. Thanks for your input.

I wouldn't actually try to match features of the house. He's young and you want this bed to work in any house.

I went for a darker wood, not totally black, not light, pretty non period specific and I did do a trundle. I know some day he will have friends over, and his room isn't huge, nor did I want bunks because they would block too much of his wall space (we have murals on the wall). I really like the option we went with, which I think is fairly transitional to any age or decorating style.

This is a terrible picture (of both him and the bed) but the best I could find...I think it's similar to a few in the link you provided. The trundle is actually not quite in the pic, but the bedding on it is the white line on the right of the pic (as you're facing it). It slides out quite easily. We actually used it for toys for quite a while as we were getting settled in the new place, but added the trundle finally when we were finished. At 7 you probably need the trundle now :)

I wanted something that would work in the theme of this room (1930's safari tent) but also work with his antiques in the future (he has a chest and this amoire next to the bed). Trying to match finishes on wood makes me crazy and to me is too matchy matchy...so I liked this one because it was dark, but not painted dark, and yet not light (I hate blonde wood myself...but that's just me).

This bed is pottery barn I think.

I have bunk beds in my twin girl's room and ditto on the hating it. My DS (10) has a twin bed and if I bought a new one it would definitely have a trundle. You will need it for the sleep overs and assorted house guests. Grandpa can sleep on the top and DS on the bottom.

A color like igloo's above is beautiful.

I like the dark woods. DD former bed (twin) was a family piece very similar to igloo's DS bed. Bedposts were higher as well as the bed itself.

Sleepovers were a problem so I purchased a couple of the aerobeds and things worked fine. DD now has a queen pillow top which she loves but will be leaving for a thin mattress at college this fall:).

I would definitely keep the sleepover issue in mind when chosing your bed. Kids love to have friends sleepover and it gets to be a bigger deal the older they get.

Best of luck in finding something you like.

We have a bunkbed in my 5 yo DS's small room. He loves it but I hate changing the sheets - very difficult. Also, one of my boys has dark chestnut stained furniture, while it looks nice and is masculine, it shows dust a lot more than my 5 year olds Stanley maple furniture. Perhaps people are better housekeepers than I and/or don't mind the dust, but I dislike black furniture because of the dust issue. Good luck!

DS1 had a bunkbed for a few years and I echo the hate for bunkbeds. There's the fear of falling, the PITA of changing the sheets(I would literally pull the mattress down, put the sheet on, then lift it back up to avoid getting up there,) the "no, really mom, I cleaned my room" just to find random wrappers, paper, clothing, and other detritus on the top bunk, and of course if you only have 8' ceilings the fear that he'll hurt himself on the ceiling, light fixture, or god forbid fan.

He has a full size bed w/ a trundle underneath now. Much better. As far as color, you can never go wrong with stained wood in a boy's room. Paint finishes can chip and scratch. Depending on how active your boy is that can be a problem.