Many of the links on this site are “affiliate” links. If you use the links provided to purchase the recommended items, or to navigate to the web retailer site to purchase anything at all, I may receive a small commission. These commissions will help me expand this site and provide you with additional recommendations. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you!
After dorking it up for some time, I recommend:
Zinus Wood Platform Bed Frame with Headboard:
- Perfect match for the Addable mattress recommended here, or any bed-in-a-box mattress. Fine for a traditional spring mattress too, but true box springs do provide some additional benefit for a spring mattress.
- Quality. Solid real wood construction.
- Stylish. Zinus makes several different styles, with different materials, finishes, colors, height of headboard, etc. Most have great reviews on Amazon, and I would expect them to be as high quality as the one I have.
- Easy assembly.
- Affordable.
- Free shipping to your door with Amazon Prime, better than hauling something home from Ikea or elsewhere.
Need a mattress too? See my recommendation here.
Keep reading to Dork It Up!
I needed a bed frame for the guest room, to go with the Addable mattress I just purchased. So time to shop around and Dork It Up. To be honest though, this purchase didn’t need nearly as much dorkiness as buying the mattress. It basically needs to function and look nice.
Functional Requirements (in order of importance, for me):
- Physically compatible with the bed-in-a-box I just purchased, and the room it would go in.
- Affordable.
- Attractive.
- Quality and durability.
- Easy assembly, if required.
- Ease of getting it home.
Compatibility
The Addable Mattress (and most bed-in-a-box mattresses) are best supported by a slatted foundation, with slats a few inches apart. The slats support the mattress, while the air gaps allow the mattress to breathe. Given that they don’t need a box spring, it’s helpful if the bed frame is tall enough to put the sleeping surface of the mattress at a good height without one. A platform bed like the Zinus is the perfect match.
My guest room is a bit narrow, so I wanted the bed frame to be as narrow as possible to allow guests easy access to both sides of the bed. This Zinus platform bed has no side boards and no foot board that sticks out to the side, so it doesn’t add any additional width beyond that of the mattress. If you prefer, other Zinus bed frames have foot boards and different looks.
Affordable
This was for a guest room, not my own room. It will get used maybe 10 times a year, so I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on it. The Zinus is about as cheap as it gets for a new and nice wood bed frame. To go cheaper would mean going with a metal bed frame with no headboard, or something used on Craigslist.
Attractiveness
The Zinus frame is made of real wood, with a very nice finish. I like the simplicity of the mission style headboard, although I may have gotten one with a taller headboard if this was for my own bedroom, and I wasn’t as focused on affordability. If you prefer something different, check out the other Zinus frames with different materials and styles. I’m confident that their other products would be great also.
Quality and Durability
The Zinus bed frame has real wood construction, and seems very solid when assembled. It doesn’t creek or shift under the weight of the mattress or people moving around on it. It has a nice wood finish and fasteners. It is of better quality and feel than most Ikea furniture. For self assembled furniture, this is about as good as it gets. Something significantly better would cost three or four times as much from a nice furniture store.
Ease of Assembly
My wife put this bed frame together in less than an hour. Directions were clear, all the parts were there, pieces and holes lined up fine. The slats in particular are designed for ease of installation. They come on a roll with predefined spacing – just put the roll in place on the frame and unroll it, no fasteners required. It attaches with velcro!
Ease of getting it home
As an Amazon Prime member, Amazon is the first place I check when buying anything. The frame shipped to my door for free in a few days (a bit longer than the typical 2 day shipping due to size and weight). Amazon has easy and free returns if the product is defective or doesn’t work properly.
Any local store would require significantly more time for me to go pick something out, load it into my Subaru, and get it home. I like going to Ikea, but getting through the store is a time drain. Craigslist is hit or miss on convenience, depending on how close the seller is.
Options Considered
Ikea has some similar options like the Malm, Hemnes, Songesand, Tyssedal, and Tarva. Several of these have footboards that add width, which I didn’t want. Some are more expensive than the Zinus. Some are made of poorer materials (fiberboard vs. real wood). I was also feeling lazy, and didn’t want to pick something up from Ikea vs. having it shipped free to my door.
I actually have an Ikea Hemnes bed frame in my own bedroom, and it has held up well for many years and looks nice. I see now though that there are numerous bad reviews on Ikea’s website for this model, and it appears it has some quality issues. I would stay away until the design is fixed.
Recommendation
I highly recommend this Zinus bed frame. I’ve had it in the guest room for 2 years, and am very pleased with it. It fits the room, does its job, and looks nice.
I chose this Zinus bed frame based on my own independent research, purchased it with my own money, and am sharing my personal experience with the product.
Many of the links on this site are “affiliate” links. If you use the links provided to purchase the recommended items, or to navigate to the web retailer site to purchase anything at all, I may receive a small commission. These commissions will help me expand this site and provide you with additional recommendations. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you!
Alternatives to Consider
I didn’t look into a gazillion alternatives and brands for my bed frame, and I didn’t need to. The functional requirements were simple, and I found what I needed quickly with pretty minimal dorkiness.
If you prefer another style, consider:
Taller headboard: Zinus Deluxe Model
No headboard (cheaper): Zinus Essential
Even cheaper: Zinus Van Metal frame.
If you want to be really, really cheap, start looking at Craigslist. There are always lots and lots of bed frames for sale there.
Dork It Up Yourself
I haven’t found a great independent web resource on bed frames. If you find one, please let me know!
If you want to dig in more, I suggest rooting around the Zinus and Ikea web sites.