This can be a meandering journey of a put up, so make your self comfy. We talked about in this facet desk put up that we traded our queen-size mattress for an even bigger king-size one. The rationale may appear apparent – as a result of it’s larger, duh! – however as for why we fortunately sailed by over 17 years collectively with out wanting one – after which out of the blue pulled an about-face final fall… properly, it basically boiled all the way down to: “the issues we do for our canine” (extra on that in a second).
We additionally needed to rigorously plan how we’d squeeze the largest mattress we’ve ever owned into our smaller bed room. And we had an enormous realization about bigger furnishings in a smaller home (it’s most likely not what you assume!). Plus we had some enjoyable with photoshop.
Once we instructed certainly one of our pals concerning the change, they have been shocked – neigh, SHOCKED – to listen to we didn’t have already got a king mattress. In reality, we’ve heard this sentiment a number of instances over our decade and a half of running a blog. As if two adults sleeping in a queen was akin to sharing bunk beds or one thing. We by no means actually understood that response as a result of we have been at all times completely content material in our queen mattress – particularly as a result of we shared many smaller beds in our earlier days collectively.
You see, a queen was an enormous enchancment from the place we began our relationship – with me sleeping on a futon in the lounge of a one-bedroom residence that I shared with 2 different guys in Queens. For those who do the maths, that meant 1 particular person was within the bed room and a pair of of us slept in the lounge on futons, therefore my Pinterest-worthy setup under. Sure, I gained Sherry’s coronary heart regardless of this “bed room” state of affairs:
Fairly quickly after that I moved to a distinct residence on the Higher West Aspect the place I used to be lastly in a position to improve to a full-size mattress. You may watch a video tour of that residence and see Sherry’s NYC residence in The Village (which additionally sported a full-size mattress).
Buying and selling as much as a queen-size mattress in our first Richmond residence collectively (proven under) was fairly a luxurious as a result of we had been sharing full-size beds for a yr or so at that time. These facet tables and $5 Ikea lamps, although? Not fairly luxurious.
Over many (many) years we by no means actually felt cramped sleeping in a queen-size mattress. So though a few of our pals and a big portion of the web have been like “I can not dwell with out my king mattress”, it appeared pointless to us to spend the additional cash on an even bigger mattress/sheets/cover since we have been completely proud of our queen. It was frugality meets a basic case of “If it ain’t broke…”
Then once we moved right here a sequence of issues began to slowly change our minds. The primary one wasn’t a width problem that was bothering us – it was a top problem. And never for us, however for our previous canine, Burger.
Like most ageing canine, leaping up and down turned more durable for him as he bought older (he was 15 when he handed in 2021). He beloved being on the mattress however was typically too cussed to make use of a bench or different “helper surfaces” to stand up and down (we had a flooring pouf + bench model of Doggy Steps happening however about half the time he ignored them in favor of the kamikaze technique).
In true “small-dog-who-thinks-he’s large” trend, he’d try and spring from the ground to the facet of the mattress in a single chaotic soar – and most well-liked to get down the identical method. He’d at all times make it (though getting up typically took just a few tries), and we might fortunately raise him up and down every time he’d allow us to – however we frightened concerning the toll it was taking up his legs and again.
At first we simply thought of getting a decrease mattress body (like a platform) to shorten the gap for him since we had made different Burger-mobility modifications to the home already (like putting in a stair runner over our wooden steps) however he sadly left us out of the blue within the fall of 2021 attributable to a longstanding coronary heart situation.
The entire bed-height consideration turned high of thoughts once more when Penny entered our lives final yr. She fancies herself some mixture of a cat / ninja / mountain goat / daredevil and leaps up & down from the chairs, couches, and – specifically – our mattress with absolute reckless abandon.
She’s nonetheless younger and spry (she’s 3), however we all know that reducing our mattress will assist her legs and again over the long term. And the explanation that our brains appeared to slowly shift from “let’s simply decrease our queen mattress” to “what if we bought a decrease mattress that’s additionally king-size” = this canine sleeps like she’s impersonating that equals signal I simply used. Burger used to twist right into a small ball and tuck in behind Sherry’s legs or up on my pillow by my head, however Penny likes to stretch out horizontally like she’s impersonating a twizzler, and since our mattress isn’t additional huge, meaning she fairly usually smashes into each of us within the course of. Primarily all of us type the letter H. Sherry and I are the edges of the H and Penny is the center sprint if you happen to can image it.
It out of the blue made a queen mattress really feel… not so roomy. And typically her arms poke out in entrance of her like this, and her face rests between them, leading to some claws and a chilly nostril to whoever is the fortunate facet of the H at that second.
Then this previous summer season we went to Mexico. Every time we go on an enormous journey, we at all times appear to take some kind of home or way of life inspiration again with us. We will pinpoint the spring break journey that began our minimizing efforts, our Costa Rica journey kicked our Florida transfer into gear – and properly, our Mexico journey made us desire a king-size mattress.
One way or the other we managed to take zero images of the particular mattress that wooed us, however right here it’s under from the Airbnb itemizing. It doesn’t look significantly spacious from this angle, but it surely was one of many first instances I keep in mind registering “so THIS is why individuals love king-sized beds.” Upon additional reflection, I’m positive the conclusion was hitting us as a result of it was the primary time in lots of months that we slept and not using a inflexible stretched-out canine poking into both sides of our our bodies. It was nice. We slept SO WELL. Penny included.
It’s also possible to see a bit extra of the area on this video tour Sherry took of the Airbnb proper after we checked in. You recognize, earlier than we had suitcases and varied trip stuff all over the place (which might be why I by no means took images of this room).
Word: It’s also possible to view this video on YouTube.
Backside line: we got here house from Mexico with an especially sturdy need to determine a technique to make a king-size mattress work in our bed room, though we frightened that we didn’t even have the room (particulars, particulars). A king mattress is 16″ wider than a queen, which felt like area we didn’t have – particularly contemplating that we wanted to depart room to entry our closets alongside that left wall. That is the room with a queen mattress under:
As an alternative of instantly giving up, we determined to do some cautious measuring and planning – even turning our queen mattress sideways at one level to visualise the broader king mattress – which helped us decide that we might truly make it work! Extra on that in a second.
The King Mattress We Selected
We thought of a number of choices for our decrease wider bedframe and ended up with this Tessu upholstered platform mattress body from Article. We actually like how strong a mattress feels when the headboard and body are constructed as one, particularly since each Burger and Penny like to hang around below the mattress typically too – in order that additionally makes you need one thing that doesn’t really feel rickety. Are we too obsessive about our canine? The reply is: that’s not attainable and canine are the very best. And sure, though this mattress is a lot decrease than our final one, Penny likes to military crawl below it and assume her Twizzler-like sleeping place.
Seems/function-wise we additionally preferred that the legs of this mattress have been inset from the corners so that they mainly disappear with the cover on the mattress (particularly because the walnut end didn’t match our room). Plus, they don’t develop into a toe-stubbing hazard!
We bought it within the Taupe Clay shade, which is a pleasant medium heat grey (it additionally is available in navy and deeper grey). We’ve been actually, actually proud of it! Principally goes with all the pieces.
How We Received A Larger Mattress To Match Into Our Smaller Room
We coated a few of this in our put up about our DIY wooden nightstands, however I wished to reiterate it right here as a result of the “match” of this mattress was actually essential to us. Even I, who was essentially the most frightened about cramping this bed room with an even bigger mattress, am thrilled with the outcome. And sure, we positively nonetheless have room to get into our closets with out problem. We’re in them a number of instances a day, so I used to be unwavering in my dedication to creating that not-annoying.
Primarily the important thing was that we needed to shift the mattress over and construct smaller nightstands (and the one on Sherry’s facet needed to be even smaller than mine). That concession purchased us sufficient area to make the closet entry fully workable – and it was properly value it to have such an enormous mattress, which makes this room really feel prefer it lives rather a lot bigger than it did earlier than!
I can also’t say sufficient about utilizing no matter you could have in artistic methods to assist “really feel” what a room would possibly really feel like with that new bigger merchandise. Once we realized {that a} king mattress’s width (76″) was much like the size of a queen mattress (80″), we knew that turning our queen mattress sideways was an effective way to experiene how it might really feel to entry our closets with one thing that huge within the room.
You may see how all the pieces suits collectively within the video under that we made for the nightstand put up.
Word: It’s also possible to watch this video on YouTube.
Not solely does it match logistically, we each really feel prefer it aesthetically suits higher as properly. You could have heard that typically the trick to creating small areas look larger is to make use of bigger furnishings. It appears counterintuitive, however typically small-scale furnishings can emphasize the smallness of a room. Plus, within the case of our mattress, the decrease top makes the room really feel taller and airier.
I imply actually – look how the queen-size mattress simply made the entire room really feel smaller and fewer ethereal. I want this was taken from the very same POV, however you get the concept:
As for the way it feels to lastly be a part of the king mattress membership, it positively feels straight-up luxurious. The 5 of us (children and canine included) can all discover a spot on weekend mornings. Penny can transfer round at evening with out waking us up (and vice versa). We’re not a human-dog-human conga line. Besides apparently for this photograph:
And in case you’re frightened concerning the destiny of our previous mattress, all the pieces lives on (we bought the body and headboard on a neighborhood buy-sell-trade board and donated the mattress there too). Inside at some point of itemizing it, all the pieces was picked up!
Now that the brand new mattress is in place, we’ve been considering a bit of little bit of shade or texture on the wall behind it – particularly since extra of it’s uncovered now with the lower-lying headboard.
We love how gentle and shiny this room is, so we don’t assume we need to paint the entire thing, however we’re debating doing one thing with that wall behind the mattress. These are simply photoshop renderings, however we considered perhaps utilizing a muted pink…
…or a mushy blue-green to enhance the entire greenery we now have outdoors the wall of glass doorways.
We’ve even debated doing one thing extra textured, like grasscloth wallpaper or a wooden slat wall. This was our greatest approximation of 1 the place we’d stain the wooden a mushy tone. Once more: that is photoshop so all the pieces appears jarring. Please squint A LOT.
Actually, some days we simply love how easy and expansive the white wall with the brilliant artwork feels. There’s a reasonably nice view out your complete wall of glass doorways to the best of the mattress, so typically we predict: that’s the accent. Sorry, partitions – you possibly can’t compete.
So who is aware of! We’ll positively share if and once we do one thing. And within the meantime, we’ve already made one other useful improve to the room that we’ll share in a future put up. Spoiler: it includes incomes much more storage! Like AS MUCH STORGE AS OUR LAST HOUSE’S HUGE WALK-IN CLOSET.
For those who take one factor from this put up I hope it’s: “don’t hand over if you happen to assume one thing gained’t slot in a smaller room.” If we hadn’t turned our queen mattress sideways and experimented with how it might work if we shifted the mattress over and gave Sherry a smaller facet desk, properly, our king mattress desires would have been simply that – a dream that by no means turned actuality.
And your complete idea that bigger objects of furnishings in smaller rooms can typically make them really feel larger is TRULY WILD. In reality, this mattress change impressed an upcoming sitting room change that we’re making based mostly on that discovering – so keep tuned (furnishings takes like 15+ weeks currently, however as quickly as we now have one thing to point out you I’m positive Sherry will probably be on IG tales sharing all of it).
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