Kitka
Living in Brooklyn my bed was always a mattress directly on the floor.
I have nothing against bed frames, and always planned to buy one once I was done buying vintage lamps (HA! NEVER!) and felt up to renting a car, picking it up, hauling it up a five-story walkup, and then enduring the near-guaranteed argument that develops while assembling any sort of furniture with your spouse.
When we made our recent move to Australia we went to buy a bed and I learned that having a bed directly on the floor was my husband’s preference and not just something done out of laziness.
I should have known, the man is allergic to lazy.
Having a spouse that actually gives a crap about interior details is totally awesome in some respects as he totally supports the purchase of artworks and beautifully designed objects, but kinda sucks because he also has his own taste which much to my dismay, does not always match mine. Husbands these days!
Although having my bed directly on the floor isn’t what I prefer to do, it’s a small concession to make in the name of love and I’ve built an inspiration file chock full of floor beds done well.
These are some of my favorites.
Kitka (holy crap do I love a good wool blanket!)
Obviously the key to having a really beautiful floorbed is to have pretty much no stuff.
This will certainly be a challenge as our apartment doesn’t have a single closet and my husband has a huge art book collection, but I’m sure we can work something out.
Afterall, It’s not exactly the worst kind of collection to endure in terms of decor.
What do you think? Can you sleep directly on the floor?
Do think it looks minimal and graceful or is it more early-brokeass?
I think floor beds can look awesome with the right decor – after all, that’s what they have in Japan, right?
The shelving you’ve described to me should look fine, and then with some other cute stuff (vintage lamp, chair/stool, small rug, maybe even a little bedside table – like a packing crate) it would look great. I particularly like the second picture – it makes me want a floor bed!
Hey thanks for your comment on my blog!
re: mattresses on the floor – I love how all these look – really simple and beautiful… but… I think apparently it is not good to have a spring mattress on the floor with no air circulating under it. I have heard that it is better to have a very low futon base under it with some slats so it doesn’t get too musty under there!
How about the cute budget idea of using packing palettes – see this post (but you gotta scroll down – it’s at the bottom -
http://www.thedesignfiles.net/2009/07/interview-jason-grant-style-director-of.html
Lucy – YES. I adore the pallet idea, I’ve seen quite a few examples of it around ye olde blogosphere.
I share your concerns for mattress breathing issues; although our bed in Brooklyn was on the floor, I had slats under it and it sat on a boxspring.
I suggested the pallet idea to the Mister when we first moved countries and he supports it, but I don’t know if we’re going to be in Brisbane long enough to warrant the manufacture of furniture, even furniture made from street wood.
Blarg on life in between.
I love the idea & look of mattresses on the floor, I wish we could do that because the bed that the boyfriend bought is super high– it’s on metal stilts we’ve got all sorts of extra padding stuff. The only thing is we need the extra “storage” space that the bed makes when it’s on the stilts. So. Blah. But anyway, I do love the look. I never heard about the whole musty factor.
I feel you on the need to use the under-bed storage space. Personally I’m advocating for an upgrade to the Ikea Mandal