With an already small guest room needing to house a workspace, an additional closet space, and usually two guests at a time, this spare room needed thoughtful space planning and a sprinkle of creative fairy dust.
Photo by Caroline Sharpnack
The armoire, bedside table, and secretary on either side of the bed made it difficult to house anything larger than a full bedframe, however, we love having guests and a full-size mattress can get pretty tight, pretty quickly for two people.
I started thinking about how I could get a queen mattress in there without making the room feel cramped. After exhausting my second-hand options that fit the criteria I needed to meet, I found a low-profile, newly made queen bed (to be carbon offset.) Unfortunately, the price tag at approximately $1500 was WAY out of my budget. Insert a makeshift, slipcovered platform bed for the win.
First:
I found an inexpensive, clean-lined, upholstered bed that as a full, had the potential to house a queen mattress (with the few extra bed frame inches included). Because just about everything else in the room is second-hand/vintage, I felt less bad about needing to purchase this new bed, although I did make sure to carbon offset it (post coming soon on the methods I use.)
Next:
I had to fill the full mattress opening, creating a platform large enough to hold a queen size. The distance from the base of the bed to the top of the support planks is approximately 2". I was able to find a 2" Bunkie Board (low foam mattress boxspring) like this to fill this gap and to support my environmentally conscious Casper mattress.
Last:
I needed linen slipcovers to complete the look. When I can't shop second-hand, I always look locally and at small businesses next. Etsy has amazing upholsters and seamstresses who can make beautifully tailored, eco-friendly linen and custom-looking slipcovers. I purchased the headboard cover and bed skirt from here, and LOVE them!
There are smaller mattress options, but I wasn't willing to compromise comfort. The base of the mattress does hang slightly over the edge of the bed frame, but when the fluffy sheets and comforter are on, it is unnoticeable (as seen below.)
The final cost came to roughly $800 (including tax and shipping), a little more than half the cost of my first choice, and about 7" of space was saved.
Photo by Caroline Sharpnack
Photo by Caroline Sharpnack