This can be a meandering journey of a publish, so make your self comfy. We talked about in this side table post that we traded our queen-size mattress for an even bigger king-size one. The explanation might sound apparent – as a result of it’s greater, duh! However we fortunately sailed by over 17 years collectively with out ever wanting one. So why the sudden about-face final fall? Effectively, it primarily boiled all the way down to: “the issues we do for our canine” (extra on that in a second).
We additionally needed to fastidiously plan how we’d squeeze the most important mattress we’ve ever owned into our smaller bed room. And we had an enormous realization about bigger furnishings in a smaller home within the course of (it’s most likely not what you assume!). Plus we had some enjoyable with photoshop.
After we instructed one among our mates in regards to the mattress change, they have been surprised – nay, SHOCKED – to listen to we didn’t have already got a king mattress. Actually, we’ve heard this sentiment a number of occasions 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 all the time 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 house that I shared with 2 different guys in Queens. When you do the mathematics, that meant 1 individual was within the bed room and a couple of of us slept in the lounge on futons, therefore my Pinterest-worthy setup beneath. Sure, I received Sherry’s coronary heart regardless of this “bed room” state of affairs:
Fairly quickly after that I moved to a special house on the Higher West Facet the place I used to be lastly in a position to improve to a full-size mattress. You’ll be able to watch a video tour of that apartment and see Sherry’s NYC apartment in The Village (which additionally sported a full-size mattress).
Buying and selling as much as a queen-size mattress in our first Richmond apartment together (proven beneath) was fairly a luxurious as a result of we had been sharing full-size beds for a 12 months or so at that time. These aspect 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 mates and a big portion of the web have been like “I can’t 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 pleased with our queen. It was frugality meets a basic case of “If it ain’t broke…”
Then once we moved right here a collection of issues began to slowly change our minds. The primary one wasn’t a width challenge that was bothering us – it was a top challenge. And never for us, however for our outdated canine, Burger.
Like most getting older canine, leaping up and down turned tougher for him as he received older (he was 15 when he passed in 2021). He beloved being on the mattress however was usually too cussed to make use of a bench or different “helper surfaces” to stand up and down (we had a ground pouf + bench model of Doggy Steps occurring however about half the time he ignored them in favor of the kamikaze methodology).
In true “small-dog-who-thinks-he’s huge” trend, he’d try to spring from the ground to the aspect of the mattress in a single chaotic soar – and most well-liked to get down the identical method. He’d all the time make it (though getting up typically took a couple of tries), and we’d fortunately raise him up and down at any time when he’d allow us to – however we anxious in regards to the toll it was taking up his legs and again.
At first we simply thought-about 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 installing a stair runner over our wooden steps) however he sadly left us suddenly in 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 12 months. 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 decreasing 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 received 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 further broad, meaning she fairly often 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 all of the sudden 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 aspect of the H at that second.
Then this previous summer time we went to Mexico. Every time we go on an enormous journey, we all the time appear to take some type of home or life-style inspiration again with us. We are able to pinpoint the spring break trip that began our minimizing efforts, our Costa Rica trip kicked our Florida transfer into gear – and nicely, our Mexico trip made us desire a king-size mattress.
In some way we managed to take zero pictures of the precise mattress that wooed us, however right here it’s beneath from the Airbnb listing. It doesn’t look notably spacious from this angle, nevertheless it was one of many first occasions I bear 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.
You may also see a bit extra of the house on this video tour Sherry took of the Airbnb proper after we checked in. You realize, earlier than we had suitcases and numerous trip stuff in every single place (which might be why I by no means took pictures of this room).
Word: You may also view this video on YouTube.
Backside line: we got here dwelling from Mexico with a particularly robust need to determine a option to make a king-size mattress work in our bed room, although we anxious that we didn’t even have the room (particulars, particulars). A king mattress is 16″ wider than a queen, which felt like house we didn’t have – particularly contemplating that we wanted to go away room to entry our closets alongside that left wall. That is the room with a queen mattress beneath:
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 may truly make it work! Extra on that in a second.
The King Mattress We Selected
We thought-about lots of choices for our decrease wider bedframe and ended up with this Tessu upholstered platform bed frame 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 beneath 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 doable and canine are the perfect. And sure, although this mattress is a lot decrease than our final one, Penny likes to military crawl beneath it and assume her Twizzler-like sleeping place.
Appears/function-wise we additionally preferred that the legs of this mattress have been inset from the corners so that they principally disappear with the cover on the mattress (particularly for the reason that walnut end didn’t match our room). Plus, they don’t develop into a toe-stubbing hazard!
We received it within the Taupe Clay colour, which is a pleasant medium heat grey (it additionally is available in navy and deeper grey). We’ve been actually, actually pleased with it! Principally goes with all the pieces.
How We Received A Larger Mattress To Match Into Our Smaller Room
We lined a few of this in our publish about our DIY wood nightstands, however I needed to reiterate it right here as a result of the “match” of this mattress was actually vital to us. Even I, who was essentially the most anxious about cramping this bed room with an even bigger mattress, am thrilled with the consequence. And sure, we undoubtedly nonetheless have room to get into our closets with out challenge. We’re in them a number of occasions 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 aspect needed to be even smaller than mine). That concession purchased us sufficient house to make the closet entry fully workable – and it was nicely price it to have such a large mattress, which makes this room really feel prefer it lives lots bigger than it did earlier than!
I can also’t say sufficient about utilizing no matter you’ve gotten in inventive methods to assist “really feel” what a room would possibly really feel like with that new bigger merchandise. After 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 a good way to expertise how it will really feel to entry our closets with one thing that broad within the room.
You’ll be able to see how all the pieces matches collectively within the video beneath that we made for the nightstand publish.
Word: You may also watch this video on YouTube.
Not solely does it match logistically, we each really feel prefer it aesthetically matches higher as nicely. You could have heard that typically the trick to creating small areas look greater 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 undoubtedly 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 night time with out waking us up (and vice versa). We’re now not a human-dog-human conga line. Besides apparently for this photograph:
And in case you’re anxious in regards to the destiny of our outdated 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 in the future of itemizing it, all the pieces was picked up!
Now that the brand new mattress is in place, we’ve been considering a bit little bit of colour 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 wish 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 possibly utilizing a muted pink…
…or a tender blue-green to enrich all the greenery we’ve 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 would stain the wooden a tender tone. Once more: that is photoshop so all the pieces seems to be jarring. Please squint A LOT.
Truthfully, some days we simply love how easy and expansive the white wall with the brilliant artwork feels. There’s a fairly nice view out the complete wall of glass doorways to the fitting of the mattress, so typically we expect: that’s the accent. Sorry, partitions – you may’t compete.
So who is aware of! We’ll undoubtedly share if and once we do one thing. And within the meantime, we’ve already made one other practical improve to the room that we’ll share in a future publish. Spoiler: it entails incomes much more storage! Like AS MUCH STORGE AS OUR LAST HOUSE’S HUGE WALK-IN CLOSET.
When you take one factor from this publish I hope it’s: “don’t surrender if you happen to assume one thing received’t slot in a smaller room.” If we hadn’t turned our queen mattress sideways and experimented with how it will work if we shifted the mattress over and gave Sherry a smaller aspect desk, nicely, our king mattress goals would have been simply that – a dream that by no means turned actuality.
And the complete idea that bigger objects of furnishings in smaller rooms can usually make them really feel greater is TRULY WILD. Actually, 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’ve one thing to indicate you I’m positive Sherry shall be on IG tales sharing all of it).
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