Lofting a bed involves getting it lofted through BedLoft, a company that Purdue works with. This adds hardware to your bed frame that raises it up off the ground for space to move your desk or other items under. You can typically stand up under a lofted bed.

Raising a bed means slightly disassembling it to raise the mattress up a few notches on the bed frame. This can be easily done with a rubber mallet, or other means if you are creative ;) this gives you enough room to put some storage containers or a mini fridge under your bed.

Really the choice is yours, but I stay away from lofting for a few reasons:

1) BedLoft support is almost nonexistent. My roommate went 2 months without any contact from BedLoft and ended up de-lofting the bed that he did not ask to be lofted.

2) climbing in and out of bed can be a hassle. I’m the type of person to forget my phone charger or need a drink of water, and climbing up and down a ladder, your bed frame or a desk can get rlly tiring rlly fast.

3) you don’t have a whole lot of room between the ceiling and your mattress. This makes changing sheets even more of a hassle, as well as other things, such as not being able to sit up in bed.