Minimalist bed furniture for pea princess

February 17, 2025 1:40 AM

I may have to furnish a bedroom again soon, just for myself. I really don't want the typical Western Big Honking Bed Furniture with mattress, boxspring, bla bla bla. Tell me of your inexpensive, space-saving, and above all sleep-encouraging bed arrangements.

Snowflakes include advanced middle age with some hip cricks.

I also have sleep difficulties due to autism, and for me that means extreme sensitivity to mattress and pillow firmness. For example, I have never met an air mattress I liked. Foam toppers are also a big NO. I like firm mattresses, but if I sense an unyielding floor underneath me I'll be awake all night.

This may be a quixotic quest I'm on, but we have a lot of neurospicy older folks here, so I'd rather hear from y'all before I sigh heavily and go with the usual Western setup.

posted by rabia.elizabeth to Home & Garden (8 answers total)

I have a single-sized daybed that has high sides on three sides. It’s super comfy and almost like an adult crib! It’s definitely furniture, but it’s not a giant boat-like bed. The mattress I got cheaply on 1-800-Mattress but it’s the most comfy one in the house - medium firm.

The other thing is that I swear feng shui works for bedrooms.
posted by haptic_avenger at 3:48 AM on February 17 [1 favorite]

I think the meaning of "futon" may have changed over the years since my parents had a futon on a frame in their TV room / guest bedroom.


You may be able to find an armoire-type cabinet that could present a different look from the usual dresser.
posted by SemiSalt at 5:04 AM on February 17

I found my sleep happiness by looking for beds marketed for their silence. This means their manufacturing attributes emphasize solidity of joints and a minimum of moving parts decorative elements that need to be affixed and, hence, can squeak, rattle, creak, or otherwise be audible.

In the same quest, I arrived at an awareness that a bed frame should only be a bedframe. No storage options (within or under), no extreme height metrics, no, no, no. I was surprised, in the end, that this also meant no box spring. Instead I have a very plain wooden frame with solid joints that include securely screwed-in-place slats to carry a mattress. I opted for a model with a headboard, but one at a slight backward tilt so I can lean back onto it when reading (it's the Shoreditch model on this page of space-saving frames).

Otherwise, I went to a showroom and tried a lot of mattresses. That was a key experience. I sleep hot and needed to maximize airflow so my sweat would evaporate easily and quickly. And I found it! But I'm glad I got to lie on it before I bought it for its specs alone. I would think you can do the same!
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 7:16 AM on February 17 [1 favorite]

Modern bed frames generally don't require boxsprings, so you can cross that one off your western decadence checklist. You can a simple bed frame (IKEA or whatever) with wooden slats, or just put a mattress straight on the floor.
posted by umwelt at 9:07 AM on February 17

Have you explored Japanese-style bed setups
They're often quite firm, and I've seen "futon" bedframes that sit fairly low, but up off the floor
posted by DebetEsse at 10:54 AM on February 17

I'm very happy sleeping on straw tatami with a shikibuton (futon) on top, in a simple wooden bed frame. It's not bouncy at all, but is firmly supportive. My back causes me problems every time I have to travel and sleep on a "normal" bed.

You can choose futons with different amounts of squoosh, depending on your preferences.
posted by Mournful Bagel Song at 10:59 AM on February 17 [1 favorite]

I happily slept in a giant woven hammock for a year which I hung up on on one side every morning, and am now on a thin basic Ikea mattress directly on the floor (there’s a Japanese humidifier sheet underneath, designed for this kind of thing). Advantage of the floor bed is the minimalism, and extremely happy elderly dogs who sprawl on it with me. If I had the permanent space, I would do the hammock and the mattress both, but only the cats and toddler dared snuggle in the hammock, it freaked out the dogs.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 2:02 PM on February 18

This might be more bed than you are thinking of, but if you have an IKEA near you, the LYNGOR bed base can be put on the floor, with a hybrid, pocket spring mattress similar to this on top. For me, the hybrid mattress is cooler and more resilient than just foam.

It's not necessarily space saving if you'd like to store things under the bed, but lately I've been enjoying sleeping closer to the floor while not having the mattress directly on it.
posted by oneirodynia at 4:59 PM on February 19