Have you finally added that premium and ultra comfortable mattress to your checkout cart?
A high-quality mattress that offers great lumbar support yet remains soft to the touch is a steal, but you may want a bed frame for your wishlist too. A bed and bed frame pair complete a sleeping setup designed for long, healthy z’s.
When picking out a matching bed frame for your new mattress, like how any Australian has to look at a range of beds, you’ll have to choose from a range of bed frames too.
A bed frame gives additional support and comfort to a sleeper, as well as provides protection to a new bed. The kinds of options in Australia vary, but we’re here to help you pick out the right one, a new bed frame you’ll surely give a high star rating to.
What is a Bed Frame?
A bed frame is a kind of bed foundation that styles, supports, raises, and protects your sleeping area. Although a mattress can easily be laid down on the floor and used by sleepers, yet a floor-based sleeping area poses a number of disadvantages.
First and foremost is contamination; your bed will quickly gather dust, dirt, bacteria, even mould or bed bugs. Naturally, this will also lead to heavy wear and tear, which is the second disadvantage. Lastly, even your beddings like the pillows, duvet, quilt cover, and more will themselves become dirty and sustain damage.
However, if you have a bed frame and mattress combo, you prevent mould growth, bed bug infestation, and dirt accumulation. You also protect your mattress and beddings from quick wear and tear.
So, if you plan to invest in a high-quality mattress like the Ecosa Mattress as well as additional beddings, you’ll have to invest in the right size bed frame too.
Characteristics of a Bed Frame
Bed frames commonly come with a headboard, a footboard, side railings, legs, and the bed foundation. These elements add style and aesthetic to your sleeping area. But you can find minimalist versions of the bed frame such as the Rise Bed Frame that just retains the legs, foundation and bedboard.
Materials for the frame also vary. You have wide-ranging options: wooden bed frames, metal frames, a mix of the two previous ones, upholstered frames, and more.
Depending on the material you choose for your frame, you can assemble one by slotting or latching the various pieces together like a puzzle. Others need you to screw the parts on, while some still come as a whole piece.
What is a Bed Base?
Now, you may encounter the term “bed base” as well, but a bed base is an entirely different thing.
A bed base raises, supports, and protects the sleeping area just like the bed frame. Yet style is more or less out of the picture.
It may come in a box form or with legs, but without a bedhead and footboard. It’s just the foundation itself, like a super minimalist bed frame.
A bed base may come in different styles and materials too. It can come with upholstery or storage drawers. You can find it made from wood, metal, even rattan. Assembly can be slot-, latch-, or screw-based or as a complete piece.
All in all, a bed base is the basic version of a base foundation that provides you all you need for deep, quality sleep.
Why Do I Need a Bed Foundation?
For all the reasons why you should raise your mattress. The added height to your sleeping area provides protection to your mattress from daily use, other damage, mould, bed bugs, dirt, and dust. A new mattress will only last for as long as you keep it safe. You can do that with a bed foundation like a bed frame.
A bed foundation particularly prevents mould growth. Mould thrives in moist environments. So, a new mattress on the ground can’t breathe and will accumulate moisture. And where there’s moisture, there’s mould. A bed foundation instead raises the mattress and the slats permit air circulation, keeping the mattress dry and mould-free.
A bed foundation adds support to your mattress as well, which in turn further supports your body when you sleep. Bad cushioning leads to poor quality sleep, even back pain. Over cushioning is possible too. When you place the mattress on the ground, the floor gives excessive rigidity which may also lead to back pain. A proper bed foundation, however, eliminates pain and promotes high-quality sleep.
On a lesser note, although no less important, you’ll feel more natural jumping in and out of a raised bed. You have to exert more effort in standing up if the mattress is on the floor.
Best Beds Foundations to Suit Your Bedroom Suite
For you to have the best bedroom suite designed for deep, high-quality sleep, your bed foundation must match the room’s style, taking to consideration colour, finishing, aesthetic, and area size. Your bed will be the centrepiece amid the bedside tables, dressers, tallboys, and other bedroom furniture. It must look the part, so the bed foundation choice must just be right.
Types of Bed Foundations
Box Type Bed Bases
A box type bed base is a low-profile rectangular box. It’s usually made of timber or engineered wood product, although the Breeze Bed Base comes with a fabric cover. It may have the additional feature of a trundle bed or built-in storage drawers. Some box types, called gas lift beds, even have complex mechanisms to raise the bed platform off the rest of the base. Underneath the platform will be storage space.
This plain bed base has a small footprint, perfect for tighter bedrooms. Even if you get a queen or king size mattress, a box type can contain the big size, without adding to the overall bed size.
Due to the box type’s simple but versatile material, you can easily get the bed base in various colours and finishes such as matte black or pastel. This gives it a minimal appearance fit for humble bedrooms. It may not scream high-level design, but it gets the job done with no fuss. So, a modest room will still look complete with a simple box type bed base.
Box Spring Bed Bases
A box spring bed base is a rectangular box exactly the same size as your mattress. Its cloth cover hides springs inside much like a spring mattress. These springs work to distribute weight evenly across the bed. So, this bed base best matches a spring-type mattress, although they usually go together already as part of bed frame and mattress deals.
Due to the fabric cover of the box spring bed base, it may come in white, beige, light grey, even dark grey colours. It could still match a simple bedroom, but it may also fit in a minimalist bedroom. The fabric will also look great in cottage, coastal, boho or bohemian, and art deco design styles because of their tendency to use textile for texture and contrast.
Bed Frames
Compared to a bed base, a bed frame is more than just a basic bed foundation. Since a frame gives it a skeletal structure to work with, a bed frame can come in different formats. You have the common single bed frame format for any mattress size—king size, queen size, double bed, king single or single bed. But you can also get a bed frame in a bunk bed format. The size of each level here can even be mixed and matched, so you can have a king bed or queen bed at the lower level and have a single at the upper level.
A bed frame is often made with either solid wood or metal. A hardwood frame tends to be very ornamental, since the wood can be carved and decorated. However, a skeletal metal frame can also be pretty because the metal can be bent and formed into curves, angles, or some other shape. You can even find a hard plastic frame, great as a kids bed.
A bed frame also comes as a fabric bed, where you have a solid wood as the skeleton, but it’s covered in luxe fabric like the any of the new Ecosa bed frames—Drift, Cove, Sierra and Crest.
In any case, a bed frame has a clear and specific look to it, so you don’t have to hide it under bed linen. A beautiful frame can be an ornament in itself, more than just being a bed foundation. This makes the wooden or metal bed frame perfect for home design styles like country, traditional, modern farmhouse, mediterranean, tropical, maximalist, and rustic.
Slatted Bed Bases and Frames
A bed foundation can also differ in the kind of support it provides, such as whether it uses slats or a platform. Bed slats refer to wooden planks or metal beams that run lengthwise across the bed foundation. They act to prevent mattress sagging and offer support to the sleeper’s back.
Slats add structural strength to an existing bed foundation; the rigidity increases. At the same time, stress or pressure from the weight of a sleeper will spread evenly across the surface of the slatted bed. The bed will then last longer and stay resistant to shocks or immense force.
Platform Bed Frames and Bed Bases
In contrast, a platform-type bed foundation involves one single board piece of timber that serves as the base of the mattress. Since the board is a single piece of solid wood, a platform bed frame, especially at bigger sizes like king size beds, will fetch a high price. In terms of structural strength, you’ll get around the same degree of strength as a slatted bed foundation, and slats are priced more reasonably.
So, Which Bed Frame Should You Choose?
Although the latest offers when you shop all bed foundations may seem such a steal, but the best option that you should get will always depend on your needs and preferences.
Budget will obviously be a factor. Luxe bed foundations can be found at perfect prices these days without going to extreme highs. Next, look at the space that you have available in the bedroom. Is it a tiny bedroom? Is it huge? These two practical elements will effectively narrow down your options already.
You can then look at bedroom style next and how your bed foundation choice will fit like an ensemble piece. Does your room have a rustic style? Minimalist? Maximalist? Contemporary? Look back at the matches previously mentioned to find which bed foundation looks great in particular bedroom styles.
Once you’ve got the practical and ornamental factors pegged down, you can then consider extra features. Under-bed storage are important for some, especially if the bedroom is limited in space. Gas lift storage are interesting for those who want a little pizzaz to their sleeping environment.
There’s really no definite answer for choosing the best bed frame. But as long as you know what you need for your bedroom and what features and style you prefer, you’ll find the perfect match.
