Solid Wood Bed Frames and Upholstered Headboards

How to Choose a Bed Frame and Headboard

Start with support. A solid wood platform frame with a slatted deck is designed to hold a mattress directly, which is why it removes the need for a box spring: the slats spread the load the way a foundation would. What matters is the gap between the slats. Closely spaced slats carry foam and hybrid mattresses properly, while wide gaps let the foam settle into the spaces and are a common cause of premature dipping. The NM platform frame sets its slats two inches apart. Then fix the size, because everything downstream follows from it. A frame is cut to one mattress footprint, headboards are sold to match a size band rather than a single size, and fitted sheets are cut to a depth as well as a width, so check the mattress size chart before you order anything else.

Then the pieces around the bed. Headboard height is the measurement to get right: work from the floor to the top of your mattress, then add however much headboard you want visible above the pillows, remembering that a taller mattress or a thicker box spring raises the mattress line and hides more of it. Both headboards here are upholstered rather than bare wood, and each is finished one way only. The George pairs a channel tufted charcoal panel with a walnut finish frame and carries a fifty inch profile, while the Layla sets a curved white boucle panel on a natural finish frame. So this is not really a finish decision. It is a decision about texture, colour and height, and about whether you would rather have the frame, a headboard, a mattress and the bedding arrive together as a bundle.