apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Sorry but beds should be off the ground.

I lived in Japan for a while. I think a bed mattress on the floor, without any kind of frame, is perfectly normal, no? Just joking. But that's the way of sleeping that feels most comfortable and peaceful to me.

I have a bed frame now - or rather my fiance does, and he bought it before we even met - and I don't like it at all.

I guess either the fiance or the bed frame will just have to go...

Beds on the floor remind me of the original water bed style in the 70's-80's. I think it's a great look and saves under-bed cleaning.

I cant remember where I first saw this but have been doing it for years, i think it even came up on AT once but anyway if you have a box spring you can simply cover that in a fitted sheet. It really improves the look and is less fussy than a bed skirt or a loose duvet for those of us who like a nicely made and tucked in bed

Its incredibly easy to find a misc. fitted sheet at a thrift store or retail store clearance bin for next to nothing. Most people probably have an old extra fitted sheet somewhere in their linen closet they don't use anymore.

Having the bed on the floor is great if you have back problems. I discovered this as I was moving and had to sleep with just the mattress on the floor. Box springs are specifically made for each mattress. The lower part supports the springs in the mattress at speific points. If you have two different pieces or the box spring has given out, then the springs are probably out of line and are not getting proper support. When the mattress is on the floor or an evenly flat surface, it gets even pressure and proper support. I've been sleeping "on the floor" for years and love it.

An added bonus is that it makes a small room look much larger.

ive got a king sized bed in a queen sized room so it being on the floor is a must in order to keep the room from feeling "all bed". the only thing i can say i dont like about it is stubbing my toes on the box spring every once and a while.

another plus, no dusty under the bed mess!

Was very tempted to do this until we found out we had bed bugs.

It can be a nice, sleek look, but I'm not sure how it saves space unless the frame is massive? And then you lose all the storage space underneath? Colour me confused.

I switched to a high quality futon after being unable to find a firm enough mattress. It lays on tatami mats on the floor.
The smell of the grass mats is great and I love how easy it is to air the whole thing out. Definitely makes the tiny bedroom feel much larger.

When I first moved into my apartment 16 years ago after moving back to the states from Tokyo, I tossed the department store rails that came with my bed and put the mattress and boxspring on the floor - just covered the boxspring with a fitted sheet and called it sleeping "Japanese Style"

(Of course it isn't really - They keep their futons rolled up in cabinets and unfurl them on the floor before bed)

IMO, I'd rather see a mattress and boxspring on the floor than on a metal frame with no headboard or bedskirt.

Wow! I lived with a bed on the floor for years but it never looked this good. Great tips about keeping things low and clean!

I upholstered my boxspring in Pollack mohair that I bought on eBay for $30/yd. The upholsterer charged me $125 to do the upholstering. I added a wall mounted headboard done in the same fabric. It sounds like it would look cheesy, but it's really pretty cheap and easy to make a bed on the floor look decent. Here's mine:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28955208@N05/3454478351/

had my boxspring on the floor too for a few months. after some urging from my parents, i got a frame... i am dismanteling the frame because it looked better on the floor. going to buy a few pieces of plywood to lift it just a bit.

Richard, that looks really nice!

That does look really nice RichardinLA -- I love it. I have my bed on the floor right now, even though I have a bedstead that was given to me. The day I was moving into my apartment I was too tired to try to break out the tools to put my bed together, so I plopped the mattress and boxspring on the floor, with just the headboard propped up behind it. A week later I went back and assembled the bed, but ended up taking it all apart again because with the bedstead everything was too tall for me to sit on without jumping, and too big in proportion to the rest of the room and furniture. This bed pictured is great – definitely one for the clip file.

Wow Richard, great job. I might try that.

its funny....my husband and i are approaching 2 years of marriage and STILL haven't bought our self a bed frame. lol for the first year it was out of necessity but now its just plain out of laziness....although i think the 'low to the ground' look, if pulled off right, can look kinda chic and cool....our lack of bedroom space needs some under the bed storage...considering we dont have enough room in our bedroom to have a dresser comfortably...

i'm with gmtruman...this is a cute look and is tempting to do, but not for me. having had bed bugs once, i'd be scared to have the mattress on the floor (or even have a bedskirt that touches the floor).

love the look, and would do it if i had the space for it - i am sleeping on a loft bed, which is the other extreme, i guess …

There's something kind of romantic and bohemian about this picture. I do think setting has something to do with making the bed on the floor thing work. I can see this look working well in an airy, modern, blank palette sort of place, but looking 'off' in a more traditional home.

Nice for those who are comfortable with it. With my back and leg problems, getting up off a floor mattress would be cruel and unusual self-punishement. And I like having the underbed storage, too.

There is a thin line, though, between classy and tacky. On the wrong side of that line, "cheesy" bed frames are better than "dorm living" floor mattresses.

I think a lot of self-respecting adults do bed frames - especially any who might have any lower back pain or leg problems. With the slipped disc in my back, I would shoot myself before putting my bed on the floor. Way too easy to get bedbugs though or even ants since I have yet to see any place that never gets them. I hate loft beds but I prefer them to this.

A word of advice for those thinking of putting the mattress box spring on the floor: get some sort of yoga mat to put underneath the box spring to keep the bed in place, otherwise "getting busy" will cause you to travel halfway across the room.

also, who makes that print?

I love the look, but we need the underbed storage. So we won't be losing the frame anytime soon.

We're in the opposite camp, we finally bought a real bed (Anthropologie campaign canopy bed... overpriced I know, but I've been hopelessly in love with it for years) this week after years of college beds/mattress on the floor misery, and we're soooooo excited. It is a king size and will take up most of our bedroom, but now that we finally have an apartment with a second room to use as an office we're happy enough to devote the bedroom to sleeping. It hasn't arrived yet, but I think it will make our bedroom feel more put-together, adult and serene. While I really love Richard's bed, I think that the look is better with a very minimalist bed like his rather than the rumpled, textured one in the photo... and since we like sleeping with a ton of blankets, etc., we wanted a clean-lined frame to contain it all and give it a little more structure.

I love bed frames. To me, they make a bedroom feel polished. I love the bohemian/industrial aesthetic, but I have always preferred my bedroom to be more on the feminine side. I am a petite woman, so the tall bed gives me a "Princess and the Pea" feeling. I love it.

Does anyone have any idea where the bedding in the banner photo is from? The duvet looks like a modern version of a matelasse quilt. In other words - exactly what I have been looking for!

I do appreciate the look in certain spaces, particularly large rooms with hard floors and hefty baseboards. Having just moved to NYC I cannot imagine not having a little air between myself and the floor as I have the imagine in my head of the entire city being awash in nocturnal pests of all sorts. Another check for the 'con' column is the fact that the space beneath the bed often provides space for much needed storage, especially in the city where storage space is at a premium.

I grew up with European slat beds, and so abhor "high" beds. Just feel so much better lower to the ground. I also hate the thought of having storage under my bed (and fortunately, I've never needed it) -- bad Feng Shui sort of vibes. Plus, I find lower beds so much sexier (high beds feel uptight to me).

Love everything about this picture except that it doesn't have a headboard, which feels a little too "raw" to me. We have been wondering what to do next in our own bedroom with a new mattress and box spring we are planning on buying; I had always been under the impression that you had to raise the box spring, at least a few inches, for air circulation (which is why we have been looking into getting a "thin" version of a traditional box spring).

does anyone recognize the floor lamp in the photo?

Richard, the room looks amazing! I'm moving to New York in a few months, and these are big ideas that I'll be adopting for my very small room.

Only question for those whose bed is on the floor - why waste all the storage space you would get with a bed frame? There goes a category of people who should stop whining about a small place or ask for any ideas on storage since they just gave up the most.

I'm a minimalist, so I don’t need the extra storage under my bed. I have big hallway storage spaces for sheets, etc.

I have a high-quality futon and I'm on the lookout for some tatami mats, or I was going to use the wooden decking they sell in squares from IKEA.

I have the same aesthetic as the photo, I keep everything on the floor. I have books in piles and a big wall hanging behind my bed, it works as a headboard to the eye.

It gives my room more calm. The only thing I do in my room is read and sleep, so I keep everything else out and all my clothes in the closet.

I have floor to floor carpets in my rental bedroom. I prefer this look with hardwoods. Its a nice contrast.