Bed Design

[quixoticgeek]

My housemate has taken back the bed I was using (it was hers originally), and I am currently sleeping on an ikea slatted bed base, that is directly on the floor, with a mattress on top. It works. But it's hardly optimal.

I want to build a new bed, I have access to a workshop with table saw, and other suitably useful tools. But I'm stuck on the design. Which brings me to my question.

What features of your bed do you find really annoying? What features of your bed do you really like?

J

[Mrs Pingu]

To be honest not a lot:
1. Good -The rail and posts at the end of the bed provide somewhere to hang cycling kit that's not yet ready for the wash
2. Bad - see 1.
3. Sometimes when I'm not totally relaxed the mattress makes a noise every time I breathe.
4. It's been a really good mattress (our 2nd of the same model and the company (a 'Blindcraft' type org) doesn't make them anymore.

That's it.

[Feanor]

If you got on with the Ikea frame, I'd simply replicate that.
The slats will just fit into it.

But I think you'll find that the cost of the raw timber alone is significantly more than just buying another Ikea bed.
They have economies of scale that you just don't.

For bespoke shelving etc, I usually buy some Ikea thing for much cheapness, then modify it as required for the space I need it to fit in.

[quixoticgeek]

If you got on with the Ikea frame, I'd simply replicate that.
The slats will just fit into it.

But I think you'll find that the cost of the raw timber alone is significantly more than just buying another Ikea bed.
They have economies of scale that you just don't.

For bespoke shelving etc, I usually buy some Ikea thing for much cheapness, then modify it as required for the space I need it to fit in.

I didn't have an ikea bed before. My housemate took the whole bed away, except for the mattress, I owned that. I bought the slats so I wasn't just using the mattress on the floor, and cos I intend to use them in the new design.

I know that I can get something from Ikea for not much money. But I like to make things, and I want to make a nice bed. The bedroom is the only room in the house I have control over the furnishings, so I want to do something nice. I also want to maximise the storage (It needs to be able to fit 35l really useful boxes underneath).

J

[andrewc]

I think there is a thread somewhere detailing Kim's adventures in bed making.   I seem to recall lots of sanding was involved. 


If this is going to be _your_ bed, you might want to take it with you if you move, so it would seem sensible to build it in a way that it can be broken down for ease of transport.

[Kim]

When I molished our bed, it was because I couldn't find anything that would:

- Take a euro king size mattress (it's the extra 100mm width that makes all the difference)
- Fit in the available space
- Dismantleable into parts that could easily be carried up/down our stairs by a single person, without weakening the structure
- Not be poo-coloured leather

Bonus features enabled by making it myself:
- No hard edges or decorative buttplugs^[1] at the corners to injure yourself on
- High enough to crawl under to reach boxes of infrequently-needed stuffs and/or the power sockets^[2]
- Complete absence of chipboard
- Vestigial middle leg (I fitted one as an afterthought out of general paranoia, but it doesn't bear any weight because I got the maths right)

Lessons learned:
- Wood isn't straight
- Should have bought a circular saw
- How to do mortice joints
- Not to varnish anything that might squeak
- You can never have too many clamps or ratchet straps

Needless to say, this didn't really save any money, but it was less of a compromise than the UK sizes or the fugly leather divans that wouldn't fit up the stairs.


_{[1] Feature of the previous metal bedframe we inherited from bratchild.
[2] Coincidentally, this is the occupational-terrorist-approved bed height for barakta post hip surgery, which would be super if she wasn't confined to the downstairs.}

[Kim]

I think there is a thread somewhere detailing Kim's adventures in bed making.   I seem to recall lots of sanding was involved.

There was quite a lot of sanding (and a fair bit of planing), but that's always the way when you make things out of tree carcasses.

[perpetual dan]

I dislike beds with a foot board, I like to hang my feet out.

No silly sticky out features that bang legs in the dark either.

Do you want to do anything else with the room, than use it as a bedroom? A telescopic four poster with a chart table / bike stand above, maybe?

[quixoticgeek]

I dislike beds with a foot board, I like to hang my feet out.

No silly sticky out features that bang legs in the dark either.

Do you want to do anything else with the room, than use it as a bedroom? A telescopic four poster with a chart table / bike stand above, maybe?

The bedroom will be a bedroom, and a kit store. All my camping, backpacking, bikepacking, cycle touring, and general outdoors kit is in there. Currently on IVAR shelves from IKEA. But I am going to produce things that look like wardrobes. I'd like for the bed to include a space underneath that is dust free that I can lay out my exped sleep mats. As they are recommended to be kept flat.

J

[perpetual dan]

...
 I'd like for the bed to include a space underneath that is dust free that I can lay out my exped sleep mats. As they are recommended to be kept flat.

J

I'm picturing something like the big but shallow drawers libraries and architects keep paper maps and plans in.

[robgul]

Thousands of YT videos for design, ideas and construction . . .  BUT as suggested timber is, currently, VERY expensive - I'd be looking at something off the shelf and consider modifying it.   Have a look at the "IKEAhacks"  website too - some clever stuff.

[T42]

...BUT as suggested timber is, currently, VERY expensive...

Yeah.  I can get 200x14x2 cm planed oak boards for 20€ a throw, so rebuilding our current bed would cost me around 220€, and that's without the four corner-posts, the spring and the hardware.  And I don't much like oak anyway. I'd rather use red pine, but solid boards are rare these days.

Re hardware, I'd strongly recommend getting bed bolts or similar so that you can knock the frame down for transport.  In our case it was a matter of getting it into the house - the beast is ~2 metres square.

ETA if the bedspring squeaks or creaks where it rides in the frame, give it a good rub with a candle.

[JennyB]

I dislike beds with a foot board, I like to hang my feet out.

No silly sticky out features that bang legs in the dark either.

Do you want to do anything else with the room, than use it as a bedroom? A telescopic four poster with a chart table / bike stand above, maybe?

The bedroom will be a bedroom, and a kit store. All my camping, backpacking, bikepacking, cycle touring, and general outdoors kit is in there. Currently on IVAR shelves from IKEA. But I am going to produce things that look like wardrobes. I'd like for the bed to include a space underneath that is dust free that I can lay out my exped sleep mats. As they are recommended to be kept flat.

I have a similar base base (Lidl, not Ikea) that I originally used on the floor. Then I hung it from the ceiling, porch swing style. Maybe not a good idea if you're renting, but it was the most comfortable bed I've ever slept in, and you can arrange to hoist it out of the way when you don't need it.


Other drawbacks:

• No storage (you could hang it over a chest of drawers or something)
• Needs about a foot of space all round so it doesn't bump into things

Later I supported one side again the wall and the other on top of an old pigeon-hole chest, about waist high from the ground. This sort of thing lets you get away with the roughest of carpentry for supports.


What I learned:

• There are always dust bunnies under a mattress
• Leave space for a shelf between mattress and wall, either at the side, or the head end
• Don't leave hole where stuff can slip down under the bed
• Make sure you can get into that space easily to retrieve said stuff.

[quixoticgeek]

Thousands of YT videos for design, ideas and construction . . .  BUT as suggested timber is, currently, VERY expensive - I'd be looking at something off the shelf and consider modifying it.   Have a look at the "IKEAhacks"  website too - some clever stuff.

Yes. But

a) I am not doing this to save money
b) I want to know what features of their beds they like, and what they dislike.
c) I am not doing this to save money
d) yes a and c are the same, but it seems everyone thinks that's what I'm trying to do.
e) Did I mention I wanna know what features people like and dislike about their beds. Not what ikea kit I can abuse.

J

[quixoticgeek]

I have a similar base base (Lidl, not Ikea) that I originally used on the floor. Then I hung it from the ceiling, porch swing style. Maybe not a good idea if you're renting, but it was the most comfortable bed I've ever slept in, and you can arrange to hoist it out of the way when you don't need it.

I did think about this, but the problem there is that the ceiling here is made from a sort of wire mesh covered in plaster, making it not load bearing in the slightest (I have to be careful how I install curtains!)

The lack of storage is also why I discounted a Murphy bed.

J

[Auntie Helen]

Headboard angle is important to me as I sit up and read in bed. We have a headboard from Dänisches Bettenlager which leans slightly backwards and that works really well, although it makes the bed slightly longer.

Nothing at the foot end so I can sit on the end of the bed to put on my shoes.

I have four IKEA under bed storage boxes which are handy but get very dusty so I have to hoover the top of them regularly.

We have movement-detecting LED strip lights under the bed - brilliant when I get up in the night for the loo. Put my foot to the floor and I can see the way out of the room.

[quixoticgeek]

I'm picturing something like the big but shallow drawers libraries and architects keep paper maps and plans in.

Alas there is a wardrobe either side of the bed, which means there's not enough room for something to be pulled out to the sides, and only about 600mm or so at the end of the bed.

J

[Auntie Helen]

Is it a single or a double? If double, will you have 2 mattresses German-style or one big one?

[quixoticgeek]

Is it a single or a double? If double, will you have 2 mattresses German-style or one big one?

It's a double. With a single 2000x1400 mattress. Which I currently own, which dictates the design.

I am not entirely sure I would go for a double mattress if I was starting from a blank canvas. It's not like there's ever more than me in it, and ultimately half of it ends up being covered in books...

J

[Auntie Helen]

I thought if it were 2 mattresses you could invent a hinge to lift each side separately up, mattress ‘n all, and access storage underneath. But that won’t work with one whopping mattress.

[Auntie Helen]

Is the mattress that great then? Maybe starting from scratch with a 200x100 bed would give you more options - you could build some great storage underneath it if you have more space round the sides.

[quixoticgeek]

Is the mattress that great then? Maybe starting from scratch with a 200x100 bed would give you more options - you could build some great storage underneath it if you have more space round the sides.

I got the mattress 2 years ago. It is very comfy.

J

[Polar Bear]

Thousands of YT videos for design, ideas and construction . . .  BUT as suggested timber is, currently, VERY expensive - I'd be looking at something off the shelf and consider modifying it.   Have a look at the "IKEAhacks"  website too - some clever stuff.

Yes. But

a) I am not doing this to save money
b) I want to know what features of their beds they like, and what they dislike.
c) I am not doing this to save money
d) yes a and c are the same, but it seems everyone thinks that's what I'm trying to do.
e) Did I mention I wanna know what features people like and dislike about their beds. Not what ikea kit I can abuse.

J

It 's a YACF "feature".  It's impossible to get a question answered: I have suffered this many times.

Here are my thoughts:

I like to rotate or flip our huge euro king size mattress monthly*.  If our bed didn't have a foot board integral to the frame this herculean task would be so much easier.

I like clear space beneath the bed as oppose to cupboards and drawers because it means that we can shove all manner of items beneath and the capacity is greater for storage too.

No castors.  Just no.

Rounded legs and edges.

A fabric padded cover for the headboard which is removable for washing.  I find bare wood and pillows make noise when I move at night which is irritating.

Bed slats are the work of stan unless you fix them firmly into position.  If not fixed they like to wriggle and move whenever you wrestle with flipping and rotating the mattress.

I like that our bed has the slats a couple of centimetres below the edges of the bed frame.  This keeps the mattress in place but again, it does make turning and flipping more difficult and it's a bugger if you are a "tucker in" as oppose to a fitted sheets and duvets kinda person.

That's all that I can think of just now.

*  Our mattress has a summer and winter side so it flips twice a year and rotates ten times a year.

[T42]

Being hemmed in by wardrobes, putting a bit of a shelf to take reading-lamps, books, glasses, etc. behind the bed-head might be worthwhile, even if it meant sacrificing some of your space at the other end.

I made our bed a bit higher than usual. It's about 60 cm to the top of the mattress, which makes it easier to get into and out of if you're injured or ancient, and easier on your back to make.  No, I wasn't decrepit when I made it 25 years ago, it just looked like that in the photo I worked from.  The bed spring - people seem to be calling them slats, which for me are just a part of the spring - fits snugly into the main frame and doesn't move much because I designed the bed around the frame. There'll always be Paris wood movement so it will always move a little, but that's where candle wax comes in.

Rather than building a rigid base I built a head and a foot and joined them to the sides with things like this (UK link, dunno what to search for in Dutch).  As I wrote above, these allow you to knock the bed apart for removals etc.  You can get flimsier ones stamped out of plate but I don't like them.  You can also get others that use a long bolt and a cylindrical nut embedded in the bedpost but they've a bit fiddly and need precise drilling.

The head & foot I built have 7 cm square posts either end.  Ours are 1m50 at the head and 1m tall at the foot, but that's just bombast.  Handy to hang a wet jacket on, though.

I didn't put drawers underneath, but we have plastic boxes lids and wheels that roll away under it.

[Kim]

Being hemmed in by wardrobes, putting a bit of a shelf to take reading-lamps, books, glasses, etc. behind the bed-head might be worthwhile, even if it meant sacrificing some of your space at the other end.

Yes.  Soon after making our bed, I knocked together a very thin shelf unit to squeeze into the remaining space on barakta's side so she's have somewhere to put things.  I cocked up the design by not including a lip to stop hearing aids pingfuckiting (or, occasionally, creeping under their own power) into the dusty oblivion below.