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June 13, 2010 6:57 AM Subscribe
Modern bed frame that hides a boxspring?
We have a queen mattress and boxspring. We love the combo, but with our current bed frame (12" off the ground with slats), the sleeping area ends up being 35" off the ground. We're looking for a new, modern style bed frame, however, most of these seem like they'd look weird with a mattress and boxspring. Are there any that hide the box spring?
Like this, but where the slats are lower so that the boxspring is hidden behind the wood frame.
Getting rid of the boxspring is not an option (voids the warranty on the mattress).
Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
Note: I linked to DWR for illustration purposes, but we're looking to spend less than $500 ideally.
We have a queen mattress and boxspring. We love the combo, but with our current bed frame (12" off the ground with slats), the sleeping area ends up being 35" off the ground. We're looking for a new, modern style bed frame, however, most of these seem like they'd look weird with a mattress and boxspring. Are there any that hide the box spring?
Like this, but where the slats are lower so that the boxspring is hidden behind the wood frame.
Getting rid of the boxspring is not an option (voids the warranty on the mattress).
Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
Note: I linked to DWR for illustration purposes, but we're looking to spend less than $500 ideally.
I'm a little confused - is the problem that the bed is too high, or that the box spring is visible? Or both?
Until recently, the future Mrs. and I had our mattress (no box spring) housed in a waterbed frame since that's all I had (but had long ago ditched the waterbed itself). This worked out fine. We've since switched to a standard frame-boxspring-mattress setup.
Though it isn't exactly the same thing, I'd imagine this could work for you; the frame would hide the box spring perfectly. We didn't even use the pedestal for the frame; it just sat right down on the floor; an option if the height is an issue for you.
I would point out that most waterbed frames are a few inches longer than a normal mattress; I actually just moved / re-bolted the board at the head of the bed up to match the size of the mattress. The only other thing I can think of that might be an issue with this is the headboard. If the headboard is like the one in your picture, then aesthetically it's not an issue. But with ours it would have been a little awkward since it was one of those shelf / cupboard / cubby things, and the mattress would have more or less covered up a good portion of the lower cubby. (Which may have been a good thing... as it was, that cubby sure loved to eat our pillows.)
Overall I would think it would look nice... the box spring wasn't nearly as thick as the waterbed frame sides, so it would simply look like you have a really, really thick mattress. Some waterbed frame sides are not as tall though.
Take these pictures and just imagine the mattress top raised up another 6 inches or so.
A quick search in my city on Craigslist comes up with dozens of waterbed frames well within your budget; I'm sure they'd be easy to find in your area, though this option might not fall into the 'modern' classification of decor; ymmv.
posted by SquidLips at 8:15 AM on June 13, 2010
Until recently, the future Mrs. and I had our mattress (no box spring) housed in a waterbed frame since that's all I had (but had long ago ditched the waterbed itself). This worked out fine. We've since switched to a standard frame-boxspring-mattress setup.
Though it isn't exactly the same thing, I'd imagine this could work for you; the frame would hide the box spring perfectly. We didn't even use the pedestal for the frame; it just sat right down on the floor; an option if the height is an issue for you.
I would point out that most waterbed frames are a few inches longer than a normal mattress; I actually just moved / re-bolted the board at the head of the bed up to match the size of the mattress. The only other thing I can think of that might be an issue with this is the headboard. If the headboard is like the one in your picture, then aesthetically it's not an issue. But with ours it would have been a little awkward since it was one of those shelf / cupboard / cubby things, and the mattress would have more or less covered up a good portion of the lower cubby. (Which may have been a good thing... as it was, that cubby sure loved to eat our pillows.)
Overall I would think it would look nice... the box spring wasn't nearly as thick as the waterbed frame sides, so it would simply look like you have a really, really thick mattress. Some waterbed frame sides are not as tall though.
Take these pictures and just imagine the mattress top raised up another 6 inches or so.
A quick search in my city on Craigslist comes up with dozens of waterbed frames well within your budget; I'm sure they'd be easy to find in your area, though this option might not fall into the 'modern' classification of decor; ymmv.
posted by SquidLips at 8:15 AM on June 13, 2010
I usually browse overstock.com for stuff like this, though their photos are not the greatest. You might want to try something like this or this or this. Sometimes you can google "low profile" bed but some of the ones I saw seem to not even have boxsprings, I can't quite tell. Here's an example, a little outside of your price range.
posted by jessamyn at 8:19 AM on June 13, 2010
posted by jessamyn at 8:19 AM on June 13, 2010
Response by poster: Thanks for the suggestions so far.
We want it to look like the modern platform beds, which just have a mattress on top, but actually be resting on the boxspring (which would be hidden behind the frame). Basically, low profile (thanks for the search term jessamyn), with non-visible boxspring.
posted by melissasaurus at 8:58 AM on June 13, 2010
We want it to look like the modern platform beds, which just have a mattress on top, but actually be resting on the boxspring (which would be hidden behind the frame). Basically, low profile (thanks for the search term jessamyn), with non-visible boxspring.
posted by melissasaurus at 8:58 AM on June 13, 2010
Best answer: The classic IKEA Malm frame is pretty low-slung, and you can set the slats at two different heights to adjust for different depths of mattresses. I would estimate that at the lower setting, the slats would wind up being in the neighborhood of 6" off the ground, thus dropping the overall height of your bed by about 6" and disguising about 8" of the 12" or so of the total height of your box spring.
It appears that other beds in their current lineup may operate on similar principles, though I suspect none of them are sunken enough to completely disguise a 11-12" boxspring. If you are conveniently situated w/r/t the closest IKEA, you can always go out and measure. If you're not, IKEA Fans is a great place to go and ask "what's the distance between the slats and the top of the side rail on the Flarkegsnicken queen bed?"
posted by drlith at 9:14 AM on June 13, 2010
It appears that other beds in their current lineup may operate on similar principles, though I suspect none of them are sunken enough to completely disguise a 11-12" boxspring. If you are conveniently situated w/r/t the closest IKEA, you can always go out and measure. If you're not, IKEA Fans is a great place to go and ask "what's the distance between the slats and the top of the side rail on the Flarkegsnicken queen bed?"
posted by drlith at 9:14 AM on June 13, 2010
Best answer: Most slat beds have the slats resting on a rail that bolts/screws to the bed rails (the vertical boards on the sides). Remove that rail from each side and the box spring will slide right through the frame and rest on the floor. You probably don't want your boxspring resting directly on the floor; the bottoms tend to be pokey. You can build a platform out of dimension lumber in 2" increments starting at 1 1/2" deep to set the box spring on with nothing more than a saw and a drill.
To build a platform you need enough 2XFOO material (where FOO is the desired height of the bottom of the box spring) to go the width of your bed half a dozen times and two lengths of 1XFOO. Cut the 2XFOO to the exact width of your minus 1 1/2". Cut the 1XFOO to the length of your bed. Lay the 2XFOO out equally spaced on edge and then screw the 1XFOO to the sides. You now have a box FOO high to rest your box spring on. You can now paint it or hide it with a dust ruffle and then use it instead of the slats on your bed.
posted by Mitheral at 9:39 AM on June 13, 2010
To build a platform you need enough 2XFOO material (where FOO is the desired height of the bottom of the box spring) to go the width of your bed half a dozen times and two lengths of 1XFOO. Cut the 2XFOO to the exact width of your minus 1 1/2". Cut the 1XFOO to the length of your bed. Lay the 2XFOO out equally spaced on edge and then screw the 1XFOO to the sides. You now have a box FOO high to rest your box spring on. You can now paint it or hide it with a dust ruffle and then use it instead of the slats on your bed.
posted by Mitheral at 9:39 AM on June 13, 2010
If you got the no storage version of the bed you link to, I think you could modify it to do exactly what you wanted pretty easily.
Of course, for that price it would be easier for you to just hire me to make you something custom out of whatever domestic hardwood you liked.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 9:47 AM on June 13, 2010
Of course, for that price it would be easier for you to just hire me to make you something custom out of whatever domestic hardwood you liked.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 9:47 AM on June 13, 2010
Not exactly what you're asking, but I had the same issue. I put a fitted sheet that matched my comforter cover on the box spring.
posted by i_like_camels at 11:13 AM on June 13, 2010
posted by i_like_camels at 11:13 AM on June 13, 2010
Seconding the fitted sheet over the box spring. That's what I've done for all of our beds. Our bed (a king) came from a high-end furniture store, but the two fulls (guest rooms) came from Ikea. None of the frames were large enough to hide the box springs. The high-end store said there's something called a "low-profile" box spring, but I didn't want to spring for it, and the fitted sheets have worked beautifully.
posted by Edelweiss at 12:11 PM on June 13, 2010
posted by Edelweiss at 12:11 PM on June 13, 2010
Best answer: We've got an IKEA Malm and have a box spring in it - it doesn't completely hide the box spring and I keep intending to, Any Day Now, go buy a fitted sheet in a neutral color to put over it so we don't get it any more dirty than it already is (which isn't much, really).
posted by telophase at 4:59 PM on June 13, 2010
posted by telophase at 4:59 PM on June 13, 2010
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posted by Dick Paris at 7:43 AM on June 13, 2010