Beds

Choosing a bed frame

A bed frame sets the look of the whole bedroom and decides how well you sleep for the next decade, so it is worth getting three things right: the size, the base, and the headboard you will lean against every night.

Queen, king or super king

Australian mattress sizes are standard, so match the frame to the mattress you have or plan to buy. A queen bed takes a 153 x 203 cm mattress and is the most popular size for couples and the easiest to fit in a standard bedroom. A king bed takes 183 x 203 cm, 30 cm wider than a queen, and is the size to choose if two of you share with children or pets on weekend mornings. A super king, 203 x 203 cm, is for a master bedroom with room to spare. Single and double beds suit children's rooms and guest rooms. Then measure the room: allow at least 60 cm either side of the bed to get in and out, and more at the foot if a wardrobe or drawers open into the space. A bed frame adds 10 to 30 cm to the mattress width and length, more with a tall bedhead or a footboard. See our queen beds and king beds.

Upholstered or timber

Upholstered beds, with a padded bedhead and often padded sides, are soft to lean against for reading and the most popular look in modern bedrooms, in linen-look fabric, boucle and velvet, with channel-stitched, tufted and curved bedheads. Timber beds, in solid Marri, oak and other hardwoods, bring warmth and grain into the room, pair with timber bedsides and chests, and will outlast several mattresses. Most are built on slatted bases that support the mattress without a separate ensemble; the product page says if a base is needed.

Storage beds, drawers and gas lift

If the bedroom is short on cupboards, the space under the bed is the biggest storage you are not using. Storage beds come two ways: beds with drawers in the base, which open from the sides or the foot and suit linen and out-of-season clothes you reach for regularly, and gas-lift beds, where the whole mattress platform lifts to reveal the full base. A gas-lift bed holds far more and keeps the sides clean, but needs the mattress lifted to get at it, so it suits things you store rather than use.

Bedheads, bases and height

A tall bedhead makes a bed the focal point of the room and suits high ceilings; a low bedhead keeps a small room feeling open and sits under a window. Check the height of the bed as a whole: a low platform bed with a deep mattress looks modern but is harder to get out of, while a bed that sits higher is easier on knees and gives you more storage underneath. Allow 5 to 10 cm of bedhead showing above the pillows when the bed is made.

Completing the bedroom

Bedside tables should sit within a few centimetres of the top of the mattress so a glass and a lamp are easy to reach. A chest of drawers or dressing table in the same timber or tone as the bed keeps the room calm, and a bedroom suite takes the guesswork out of matching. A mattress chosen for the frame, and bed linen in a tone that lifts the bedhead, finish the room.

See them in a Perth showroom

The Furniture Gallery is WA owned and family run, with showrooms across Perth and regional WA. Lie on the beds, feel the bedhead fabrics, open the storage, and talk sizes with an interior stylist. When you have chosen, add the bed to your cart and enter your postcode for a delivery price; our white-glove delivery team will unpack it, assemble it and take the packaging away.