Double bed height: frame, mattress and bedside table

The most common reference is knee height. Sit on the edge of the bed with your feet on the floor. If your knees form a right angle, level with your hips, the bed is the right height for you. For most adults, that means 50 to 60 cm from the floor to the top of the mattress.

Below that height, sitting down and getting up asks more of your legs and back. Above it, your feet no longer rest flat on the floor and you have to climb into bed. Anyone with knee or back pain should avoid both extremes.

• Frame: the base of the bed, with or without legs. It is the starting point.
• Slatted base: the slats the mattress rests on. It can sit inside the frame or on top of it, and that changes the final height.
• Mattress: thickness varies from model to model. A few extra centimetres are enough to change the sitting height and the bedside table that suits it.

Our bed frames are 30 cm high (29 cm on the ECHO). In the technical drawings, with a 28 cm mattress, the top of the mattress sits 55 cm from the floor, in the middle of the recommended range. In our shop, the simple slatted base, the Lift Storage Bed Base and the Maxi Confort and Sense Gel mattresses come in 160 × 200 and 180 × 200 cm.

The height can be the same and the effect different. On a bed with legs, you see the floor underneath and the bed looks lighter. On a divan base, the base goes down to the floor and the bed reads as a single volume.

On the AURA, FRAME, WILLOW, ECHO and BREEZE beds, the upholstered base rests on legs of about 15 cm. In the divan versions, such as the ECHO SOMMIER, the base is 30 cm high and reaches the floor. Both sit at the same height: the choice is about design, not measurements.

• Low bed: the top of the mattress is below 50 cm. It suits rooms for young children. Getting up takes more effort, so it is not the best choice for anyone with knee or back pain.
• High bed: the top of the mattress is above 60 cm. It gains storage space underneath, but you have to climb into bed and it calls for a taller bedside table.
• In between: 50 to 60 cm suits most adults and most bedside tables.

A headboard is measured from the floor, so the height of the bed changes how much of it stays in view. To lean back and read, the headboard should rise at least 40 cm above the mattress, and most are between 100 and 120 cm.

The headboards of our beds are 100 cm high (99 cm on the HALO). With the top of the mattress at 55 cm, 45 cm stay in view. Width, fabric and proportion with the room are in the guide Headboards: height, width and proportion.

The top of the bedside table should be level with the top of the mattress, up to 5 cm above or below. So choose the bed and the mattress first, and the table afterwards.

All our bedside tables are 45 cm high, from the VOID, 46 cm wide, to the MUSE, 54 cm wide. With a thinner mattress, the top of the mattress gets closer to the tabletop; with a thicker one, it moves away. Widths, clearances and the choice between drawer and open shelf are in the guide Bedside tables: what height and what measurements to choose.

• Your right height: sitting, with your feet on the floor and your knee at a right angle, measure from the floor to the top of your knee. That is the height you want for the top of the mattress.
• The mattress: check the thickness of the mattress you will use and measure with it on the slatted base, with the topper, if you use one.
• The bedside table: compare the top of the mattress with the tabletop.

To see the beds in a furnished room, visit the Bedroom page.