How Much Should I Reasonably Spend on a Bed Frame?

Q: My recently married husband and I are apartment dwellers and we have slept on a $100 king-size collapsible metal Walmart bed frame for the last 3 years. It squeaks, the pillows fall through the gap by the wall, and I stub my toe once a week on the middle leg that supports the cheap metal.

Now that we have a little money from the wedding we are ready to make a purchase. My husband wants a $250 Ikea Malm bed because it is cheap, the design is nice, and he once owned this bed and it was quite sturdy. We could also furnish the rest of the room, nice sheets, a rug, better lighting, a new dresser, with the rest of the money. However, I foresee tiring of the Ikea bed once the excitement of have something new wears off. So I looked into other options and went down the rabbit hole:

It started with West Elm, but their beds are not well regarded by many. So I started looking into nice and nicer beds… $500, $1000…. Now I’m looking at a $2,500 bespoke Italian leather bed, Sirio by Sangiacomo, and I’m in love. I think that a lifetime of crappy, pokey, noisy, uncomfortable beds has caught up me with and I’ve finally snapped. I want a soft, sexy bed frame that hugs me when I go to sleep, and I want to do it in style, damnit. I’m married now, so we could keep this frame forever. We spend 1/3 of our lives in bed. Once we have kids a purchase like this will be out of the question. I was 20 before my parents got rid of their MDF bedroom furniture. Plus, $2,500 for a bespoke Italian leather bed? I would have expected it to be double and the average bed seems to be $1,500, for questionable quality. It would be tough for a couple of months but I don’t think we would ever regret it, what do you think?

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