"Cut the footboard in half"? Pls don't even THINK about that. This is Heywood-Wakefield--that's the impressive focal point itself--which I'm sure you recognize.

Just try living with a full-size mattress and bed for a bit--you might find that it's not so bad after all.

Buy the set then sell the headboard/footboard.

: )

Is there a guest room that you can use it in? I know it's something that you really want, but I just don't see your bed working with it, unfortunately.

You could just use the headboard behind a queen mattress and standard metal frame and store the footboard and rails under the bed. I have a Heywood Wakefield bed and I thought about converting it, but I didn't want to drill/bolt the extender plates into the frame and I still didn't know what to do about the rails being too short. I ended up keeping mine in its original condition as a guest room bed.

Maybe do as modtramp suggests and buy the set and sell the bed. I'm sure someone will buy it.

I think you could just not use the rails and attach the headboard and footboard to your own frame. Or just buy the whole set and re-sell the bed.

It is cheaper to buy a new mattress.

If you're not concerned with getting money for the full size mattress, you can also Freecycle it - someone who wants/needs it will almost certainly offer to come pick it up from you in a couple of days! I just got rid of some boxsprings that way.

As someone who is temporarily sleeping on a full sized bed in a queen sized frame, the opposite situation from your own with an interesting set of issues, I suggest that you pass on the full sized bed unless you are willing to downsize. It is simply not possible to make a queen sized mattress fit properly on a smaller full sized bed frame. Given that you are proposing to buy an antique, modifying the bed will only serve to compromise the bed's value, structural integrity and design. Let the bed go to someone who can utilize it best as it is and wait for the opportunity to buy a queen sized Heywood-Wakefield bed.

Even as a lover of MCM, bromelia has a good point :)

Buy the whole set and sell the bed...simple. The only other sensible option is to get a smaller mattress and deal.

With vintage bed frames the issue is really the length. If the side rails aren't standard you may need to have them cut and welded. I recently did this with my full sized antique iron bed and it works great!

John H-
I may be mistaken, but I don't think Heywood-Wakefield made queen size beds in the 40s/50s.

Also, there's an interesting dichotomy among people responding to this question. Half of us refer to the mattress options as queen or full "size" and the other half chooses "sized." Which is correct? I think it's "size."

I know this is too late to help the original poster, but for anyone checking this from here on out there are full to queen converter rails that allow one to use a queen size mattress on a full size bed. Just search for "full to queen converter rails". One company even has a Youtube video to show you how it works. After watching it I'm thinking one could probably buy some L brackets at your local hardware store along with some nuts and bolts and make your own for a lot less money. Just make sure your bed frame rails have holes to attach the brackets too and a center bar for the added support you'll need for the queen size mattress.