How do I extend my bed?

November 4, 2005 9:04 AM

How do I make a bigger bed? I'm moving in with the girlfriend and we want/need to sleep in a bed that's bigger than her twin now. If it comes to it, we'll buy a double mattress, but I'm feeling all MacGuyver and want to build something myself....

Being a kind of studio apt, we want to save the little space we have that'd we'd lose if we got a double. And a twin is just that much too small--another foot or so wider would be fine. So I'm thinking of nailing together a frame, but one that could be folded down, say on hinges. Put in down in the morning and then up at night. The bigger problem is where can I find a foot-wide mattress? Obviously I'll have to compensate with something similar, something that will fit, like an oversized coushin. Anyone attempted anything like this before?

posted by zardoz to Home & Garden (16 answers total)

Why not just put some hay down on the floor and curl up there every night? If it's good enough for the baby Jesus....!

In all seriousness, are you out of your gourd? You're courting back problems, waking up with a horribly stiff neck, and general grumpiness. As soon as I could, I went out and got a nice big bed. It makes a world of difference.

That being said, you've got two options here -- futon or Murphy Bed. If you feel like being daring and different, then build yourself a Murphy Bed. But for the love of Pete, do it with a larger matress. A double (full) at least, if not a Queen. It makes a difference. It really does. Also possible to get a sofa bed, but those are miserable too...
posted by incessant at 9:17 AM on November 4, 2005

Make a memory foam bed. I made a queen sized mattress for about $250, and it's the most comfortable bed I've ever slept in.

A Tempurpedic mattress is made of the following layers:

Top: 3" thick Memory foam pad, 5lb density
Bottom: Cheap polyurethane foam.
Base: Wooden boxspring (A boxspring without springs, and just a wood top)

The top layer you can get on ebay. Due to a supply shortage (probably due to the gas/oil issues), all the prices have increased by 50% this last month. While that sucks, the prices are still far cheaper than you'd need for any other decent mattress. I got mine from an ebay seller called foambymail, and was very satisfied. ($130+30 shipping for 3" queen pad)

The bottom layer you can buy from jcpenney.com. Go there and search for 'topper'. Then go to the polyurethane toppers. You need about 5". I found a 10% off, free shipping coupon at fatwallet.com at the time, and so I decided to order 3" of extra firm and 3" of firm. Why? Memory foam takes on the characteristics of whatever is beneath it. If you stick it on top of a really thin foam, it will not be firm enough. If you stick it directly on top of wood, it will be really hard (and not thick enough). With my two polyurethane pads, I could pick which one goes in the middle, and thereby have a little more control over my mattress firmness. I think the firm one is in the middle.

Base: You don't actually need a wooden boxspring. I got one from craigslist and it squeaked like crazy, so I dumped it and got a normal boxspring and couldnt be happier. If you really want to work, you can build a platform bed for this mattress.

Cheers!
posted by sirion at 9:51 AM on November 4, 2005 [1 favorite]

Wow, I managed to read all of that without really reading the post. The foam beds can be cut, but incessant is right; you need a much bigger bed. Make a murphy-bed type rig; if you just set up some pulleys or anything you could easily keep the mattress against a wall and lower it for sleeping.
posted by sirion at 9:54 AM on November 4, 2005

Two words: California King.
It's like each of you is sleeping in a different zip code. Or area code.
Cozy when you need it to be, spacious when you need your, um, space.
posted by willmize at 9:57 AM on November 4, 2005

sirion: Are you sure about that? I've laid down on a 'real' tempurpedic and an $800 (lebeda) generic made from a couple different layers and you could really tell the difference. The "true" tempurpedic had almost no rebound at all, while the generic did.

I was under the impression that the tempurpedic was pure memory foam.
posted by delmoi at 10:55 AM on November 4, 2005

Also, what about building a loft? That's what everybody used in the dorms, and you can put a couch/desk underneith it.
posted by delmoi at 10:56 AM on November 4, 2005

I'd have to agree with incessant. While I understand your desire to conserve floor space, a bed is just one of those things you shouldn't compromise on. You may think an extra foot added to the width of a twin is enough but trust me when I say you really don't want to be packed in like sardines night after night. Spring for the double and save space elsewhere (night stand, dressers, tables, etc).
posted by junesix at 11:06 AM on November 4, 2005

I have actually heard of people building small extensions on their beds (like the one you're describing) with great success - using regular cheapo-matress foam. However, I'm most concerned with your plan to make it fold-able. It seems to me like you'll lose 50-75% of the space "savings" to the extra framing and mechanism to make it foldable.

Why not buy or build a bigger bed and make the whole thing foldable? If you can't actually fold it into the wall hide-a-bed style, you could at least make it pivot up against the wall.
posted by aquafiend at 11:29 AM on November 4, 2005

If you and your girlfriend are ok with a futon, most shops custom build. I'd try callng a few and seeing what they say.
Finding a fitted bedsheet on will be tricky, but going a size up and using hospital corners with an unfitted sheet would probably work fine.
posted by bonehead at 11:39 AM on November 4, 2005

Murphy bed kit
posted by adamrice at 11:49 AM on November 4, 2005

Nyxie and I moved from a double bed to a queen when we found out that the per-person width in a double is about equal to a baby's crib. Seriously. Queen size at least. You won't always want to sleep snuggling.

Good sofabeds and futons will come in handy. Just remember that you'll be spending more of your life motionless on that bed than in any other single place.
posted by mendel at 12:42 PM on November 4, 2005

A good quality double hammock could fulfill your needs and pack away quickly. The trick is to sleep on it diagonally with respect to the two anchor points so that your backs stay straight. Novices sleep straight on with their backs like bananas.
posted by rongorongo at 12:50 PM on November 4, 2005

I'd caution against sleeping in a bed that's two small. After my parents got married, my father develoepd acute bursitis of the trapezoid, all because the bed was too narrow.
posted by acoutu at 5:01 PM on November 4, 2005

Response by poster: Thanks, everyone for the good advice!
posted by zardoz at 6:36 PM on November 4, 2005

Buy another twin bed and put it up next to it, so you won't have this twin bed to do something with if you got a new one. Just make a frame that holds twin-size box/mattresses..
posted by vanoakenfold at 8:26 PM on November 4, 2005

I second delmoi's suggestion of building a loft bed. That way you save even more space than before, plus its kinda cool to sleep in a loft bed (I'm a kid at heart). They're pretty easy to build with some basic woodworking skills, one of my college friends made his own.
posted by Joh at 10:57 PM on November 4, 2005