What are bed frames for?
People spend an average of a third of their life sleeping.
Therefore, a good night’s sleep is important for productivity in daily activities that one may be involved in.
One of the factors that affect a restful sleep time is how comfortable one’s bed is. A bed, therefore, needs to be as comfortable as possible.
The making of a bed frame
Over time, people have continuously worked on improving this sleeping surfaces. The journey began from sleeping on the cold, hard floor to prickly hay and to the current beds.
The beds made from hay tended to spread out as a person was sleeping and so they had to be put in a sack to contain them.
This solved the matter for a short time but not completely since the hay beds were a good place for mice and other rodents to hide in. You do not want to imagine how it is to be sharing a bed with a mouse!
A further improvement was to create bed frames on which to put the hay bed to lift it off the ground, off the path of the rodents.
Originally, a bed frame was made of only four pieces of wood fastened together to form a rectangular frame on which the sack of hay would be placed.
The problem with this frame is that it sat on the floor and so the animals could still hop on as they would desire.
Therefore, it needed to be raised off the ground to be able to keep the rodents off. However, this posed another challenge since nothing was holding the sack of hay in place.
This would cause some comical moments while sleeping because the sack of hay could collapse onto the floor, bringing sleep time to a grinding halt. This resulted in some injuries.
This called for further innovation in the creation of the bed frame by adding a place where the sacks of hay could firmly rest to guarantee a good night’s sleep.
Times have changed and the bed as we know it has also evolved therefore making it better than the initial times.
This has seen the invention of mattresses and bed toppers to replace the sacks of hay on which people slept in past times.
A bed frame, which is the place where the mattress rests on, therefore, becomes a very important factor to consider for comfortable sleep through the night.
What to consider when getting a bed frame
Are you out shopping for a bed and wondering what to consider in picking one?
Here is what to have in mind when choosing a bed size.
What is the size of the mattress?
A bed frame’s principal purpose is to hold the mattress in place. Therefore, the choice of a good bed frame is dependent on its ability to substantially support the weight of the mattress.
Today’s mattresses have continued to evolve into more layers and heavier materials thus emphasizing on the importance of sturdy bed frame.
A weak bed frame can result in instabilities or let the mattress to sag which may then require its replacement. There are two types of bed frames.
There are platform frames, which have all parts fastened into place, or one can have railings, which are simply pegs that guide thin metal railings into spaces on the bedhead and foot-board.
With the railings and frames makes a bed much easier to disassemble, they limit the amount of weight one can place on the bed frame and the mattresses that can be used.
For instance, foam mattresses require additional support along the middle so that they do not sag too much unlike memory gel foam mattresses.
The selection of a quality frame, therefore, is dependent on the bed size and the type of mattress one has.
While choosing a bed frame, it is important to choose one that is not too big or too small for the mattress.
A bed frame that is too big will cause unnecessary sliding and shifting as one moves around in bed meaning that the beddings might also slide through the cracks.
Too small a bed frame poses an unsafe scenario where the mattress hangs off the bed frame.
This can be an uncomfortable bed to sleep in since it poses the risk of falling off the bed thus making it a deterring factor to a good night’s sleep.
What is the size of your room?
While the size of the mattress matters in the choice of a mattress, some of them have some additional features which may make them occupy a lot of space.
This, therefore, means that one has to consider the size of the room in which the bed will be placed.
These measurements will determine the size of the bed and other pieces of furniture one places in the room.
It is important not only to factor in the size of the bed frame but also to make room for the bed head as well as the footboard.
Some bed frames are also designed to have room for extra storage.
This comes in handy when one has a lot of things that they would want to store in the room.
It saves one the embarrassment of having to store things under the bed so that they are easy to find.
Also the right size of bed that is well designed can be used in a teens room and still look posh.
What is the standard bed frame height?
As one thinks of the size of the room and the size of the mattress, one needs to consider the size of the bed, including its overall height.
Bed frames typically come in a variety of standard bed sizes intended to fit mattresses of the same size.
As for those who want a bulky bed frame they can go for the emperor bed size.
The height of a standard mattress and bed frame ranges from 18-36 inches from the floor.
Experts state that the average person often needs a bed height of 25 inches.
This may, however, differ from one person to another and is dependent on their age or their height.
A low bed for an old person, for example, can be a challenge for their joints as they get out of the bed whereas a bed that is too high may require one to jump as they retire for the night.
It is, therefore, the height of the bed is, therefore, an important aspect when choosing a bed.
The selection of a quality bed frame is done with the factors above in mind, it decreases the odds one will have to replace the frame soon which saves money.
