A low bed surface lends itself to a simpler, less cluttered room design. You don't have to follow any rules in the bedroom except your own, so it's as OK to leave your box spring and mattress on the floor as it is to mount your bedding into a conventional bed frame. Before you decide which choice best suits your preferences, consider the advantages of each. Argument for Bed Frames Bed frames raise your box spring and mattress away from the floor, which better isolates your sleeping surface from cold drafts in the winter. That elevation also can protect your bedding from moisture, mold, bedbugs and other vermin. The empty space it creates under your box spring can serve as storage space for out-of-season bed coverings or slippers. But most importantly, the bed frame and its support slats add another layer of resiliency to the bed. Argument for Flooring It A conventional bed frame with a pillow-top mattress set may force you to climb 39 inches off the ground at nap time. By comparison, a standard box spring and mattress elevates the mattress a mere 16 to 18 inches off the floor -- a little beneath the height of a chair seat.
Homeowners who enjoy visits from children or pets at night may find that height more accessible. The lower sleeping surface stays cooler during the summer months, which may allow you to save on your air conditioning bill. Kids on the Floor Devotees of attachment parenting sleep with their infants, which means the parents and baby should share a sleeping space close to the floor for the first months of a child's life. After a few months, the baby transitions to a regular mattress in the parent's bedroom -- ideally, at the same floor height as Mom and Dad. As a similar school of thought, the Montessori method recommends allowing children to sleep as close to the floor as possible to encourage safe freedom of movement. Designing a Lower Bedroom Minimalist decorating schemes embrace the notion of designing a bedroom around a bed that's close to the floor. Other furnishings such as nightstands and dressers should match that low profile with a low horizontal shape, and long vertical wall hangings help emphasize the room's spacious visual contours.
In keeping with a minimalist theme, avoid cluttering the room with excess furnishings -- which means leaving the box spring and mattress on the floor is a good fit for young people who are just starting out. References City of Portland Health & Human Services Department: Bed Bugs: Guidelines for Best Practices in Prevention and TreatmentNest Bedding: Can I Put My Mattress on the Floor?STL Beds: What Is the Typical Bed Height?The Baby Sleep Site: Are Montessori Floor Beds Bad for Your Baby? Photo Credits Digital Vision./Photodisc/Getty Images Suggest a CorrectionBox spring or wood slats? March 14, 2014 Subscribe We just got a nice new mattress. It came with a box spring. We were using our old mattress on an IKEA bed (the Redalen, which I guess they don't sell anymore) with their cheap wooden slats, the Sultan Lade, as support. All things being equal, we'd stick with the IKEA bed and slats. But are all things equal? Are there advantages to using the box spring instead of the slats?
Bedrails for a bed without a box spring Bed rails for toddler's new twin bed Rails to keep baby in our queen-sized bed More Advice about Beds & Bedding Bedrails for a bed without a box spring June 2006 We recently bought the Thomas bed from Pottery Barn kids for my son. It requires no box spring, the mattress sits directly on the bed frame, which I thought was fine until I realized that all of the bedrails out there require a box spring in order to install. Has anyone run into this problem before and have any suggestions??? milla Try Safety 1st. /product.asp?productID=892 cozy kid Bed rails for toddler's new twin bed Oct 2003 In a few months we'll be transitioning our toddler from a crib to a twin-sized bed. What type of bed rail should we buy? Any advice about features to consider or brands that are good/bad would be appreciated. You probably don't actually need a bed rail at all; we never used one and our son's bed is rather tall. Besides the fact that our boxspring-less captain's style beds won't really accept one, I was more concerned about the danger of a baby getting trapped between the rail and the mattress than the possible risks of a baby falling out of bed.
If you are worried about falls, try putting the twin size mattress on the floor at first, so that if he (she?) does roll out he will only fall a few inches. But even if he does fall out of a standard height bed, he isn't likely to hurt himself. It's happened to most kids I know, including my own, and none are any worse for wear. Just make sure there's a well padded carpet or mat next to the bed, and that the wooden blocks and other hard toys get put away or moved away from the bedside before bedtime. Holly We like our Evenflo soft bed rail. It folds down so the kid can get in and is easy to put back up. It has a mesh center stretched around a metal rail. We got it at ToysRus. jennifer Rails to keep baby in our queen-sized bed Aug 2003 Our *very* active 6 mo. old has recently waged a strike on the crib and will only fall asleep in our queen bed (I used to leave him in the crib for naps & early eves and then bring him to bed later). I'm looking for some bedrails that will keep him in the bed while he rolls & crawls before he conks out (supervised, of course) and then sleeps by himself.
I think our mattress is extra thick, so I'm looking for some that are pretty high. It would also be great if they flipped down when not in use. I just checked the archives but didn't see any specific brand recommendations -- I know that there are several companies that make them. I'd love your suggestions on which ones to get and where to get them. wish they made family cribs One Step Ahead sells the ''Smart Guard Ultra Bed Rail'' which it bills as the longest and highest bed rail made. ''Large enough for a queen-sized mattress''. You would need two, just be sure to keep them firmly against the mattress. Also, I saw a double bed rail at ToysRUs a bit back which had straps under the mattress to keep the two rails firmly affixed. Here's how it works: Anybody can ask a question The best answers are voted up and rise to the top I've moved into a smaller room and would like to maximize my space. I've decided to build a new bed frame, but for that to work how I would like I would need to eliminate my box-spring as it would make the bed too high.
I currently have a standard mattress, with a box-spring, on a metal frame. If the new bed frame has a solid enough foundation, could I eliminate the box-spring?You can use slats instead of a box-spring. It will be a LITTLE bit stiffer, but it's perfectly fine and you'll love how your bed squeaks less. Here's a pic from an Ikea bed frame assembly guide - just as an example: Box springs help evenly distribute pressure on the mattress not just while laying but also when you're getting on/off the bed resulting in concentrated pressure points. They are for the most part, very firm and yield only the slightest bit. Most box strings don't even consist of springs at all. They normally consist of cheap flexible wood, thin upholstery batting, and cardboard. Without a box spring you run a higher risk of popping a spring in your mattress. The thickness of a box spring is only for decoration while the functional properties could be reduced to a much smaller design. Slats are typically used with mattresses that don't have springs (coils).
If you want to go the slat approach and have a mattress with springs, I'd strongly suggest using a thin yet strong sheet like material over the slats. Something like plywood or faux wood paneling. Take these concepts into mind whilst building your new frame and you should be perfectly fine without a traditional box spring. No you don't need one IF you have a foundation for the mattress to lay on, a thick sheet of plywood would do, since that is basically what a box spring us though you bed will lie 4-6 inches lower if you only have a 4 inch typical mattress. I have a friend that has sold furniture for years. He has told me that box springs can change the firmness of a mattress drastically. So, if you want to buy a firmer mattress, just remove the box spring instead. No one in Europe uses box springs. They use slats or wire mesh, and lay mattress on that. Box springs are just a nest for bugs ! Go and buy a Euro bed at IKEA, less cost, less space, and no bug nest ! My opinion is the best mattress is a quality air mattress, specifically designed for a bed and not the camping-quality air mattress.