Tips on buying a new bed

want2bmortgage3

Need a couple of beds for my flat. Not sure what type to go for, wooden, metal, divan?? Dont like having hard things to hit your head on when half asleep! Want a decent mattress. Any ideas?

want2bmortgage3

are ikea any good? i like their L-shaped sofas with changable covers!

TomsMom

Search the board for other posts about beds - Tim Deegan has lots of good advice on buying beds.

ETA: The "I Wanna Buy It" board is best.

want2bmortgage3

i wonder why ikea dont sell divan beds , are they seen as old fashioned? with a valance sheet i dont think they look too bad. although with this sheet then any drawers are awkward to access.

TomsMom

I've got a divan base with drawers and use a valance although mine is not a valance sheet, but a valance that covers the base only. Access is easy enough - just lift the valance. If you need two hands to rummage through the drawer then just tuck that bit of the valance under the mattress a bit, or under the duvet.

dreamypuma

want2bmortgage3 wrote: »

are ikea any good? i like their L-shaped sofas with changable covers!

Ikea beds are non-standard sizes. Meaning that the mattress is non-standard, and the linen to go with them. All these are rather convieniently sold at Ikea. Although there are ways and means around buying the linen it's something I have avoided.

I personally don't like Ikea quality. But that's not to say they are not popular.

vansboy

Ikea fan here, of most their stuff!

Didn't get beds there, though, but they do seem to have improved range/quality. Offer a looooooooooooong warranty (with lots clauses) so worth checking out.

Do think of Homebase & Argos, currently some 1/2price deals. Plus you can return if you don't like.

Don't forget to order in Homebase on a 10% weekend, so even better value, if you use their Spend n Save card,too.

We bought 2 Slumberland divans for just over £200 each, with cusion top & are fine.

But bed pricing is confusing, with so many inflated £$£ just to show a not quite so genuine a discount, as there might have been!

VB

KellyWelly

I couldn't recommend Ikea for beds highly enough. I bought my double bed and mattress there five years ago and it's still like new. The mattress had a ten or twenty year guarantee on it against defects and it literally is the most comfortable bed I've ever laid in. My mum and a friend of mine both liked it so much they went and bought their own. I bought a mid-range mattress and a top-range mattress pad (these are really worth getting - make all the difference) along with a metal frame bed and it cost less than £500 which included £75 delivery. I also bought my daughter a bed there with a mid-range mattress this year and including delivery it was about £150 (£15 delivery - on-line order) and it is a lovely comfortable bed and very pretty.

I used to buy lots of Ikea in my poorer days and the stuff hasn't lasted at all but their beds really are excellent quality and very cheap, I don't see myself having to replace these beds for years.

One other thing that I really liked about the Ikea beds is that you can buy the parts to make up the bed, ie the frame, the struts, the beam, all separately, so if something breaks then you can replace the individual part. I once paid £600 for a Silent Night divan and a piece of wood in the base broke when my husband sat on the end of the bed one morning - the whole bed had to be replaced (and it was only 1 year old!) because it wasn't under warranty any longer and you couldn't just repair or replace the one bit.

The thing about the sheets/bedding not being standard hasn't ever been a problem for me, I picked up some sheets from Ikea at the time I bought the bed and I've since bought one or two when I've been back - it's not like you have to replace them monthly or anything. Ikea beds are European sizes - 140cmx200cm whereas standard UK doubles are 135cmx190cm. I know my mum has bought standard sheets and used them on her bed but I don't know how well they fit.

Ikea also do narrow single beds if you are tight on space, my daughter's bed is 10cm narrower than standard which is perfect because she is in a box bedroom and needs all the space she can get.

Tim_Deegan

Some of Ikeas items are ok, but their beds, and especially mattresses are terrible quality. There have actually been a number of threads on here complaining about their beds collapsing.

As far as Argos and Homebase go, the only time you will find a bargain there is when the item has been discontinued, and is reduced to clear. The rest of the time they are actually quite expensive. An example of this is a brass finish bed that they used to sell. They charged £299 for the double, and £349 for the king size. You could actually buy them on line at the time (not in a sale), for £170 for the double, and £190 for the king size.

Sorry to have to tell you this VB, but cusion tops are just a sales gimmick that would actually make the life of your mattress shorter.

Tim_Deegan

KellyWelly wrote: »

One other thing that I really liked about the Ikea beds is that you can buy the parts to make up the bed, ie the frame, the struts, the beam, all separately, so if something breaks then you can replace the individual part.

That's good, because they do break quite often.

KellyWelly wrote: »

I once paid £600 for a Silent Night divan and a piece of wood in the base broke when my husband sat on the end of the bed one morning - the whole bed had to be replaced (and it was only 1 year old!) because it wasn't under warranty any longer and you couldn't just repair or replace the one bit.

One to two years is about average for a Silentnight. However because a bed should last longer than a year, then even though the guarantee had expired you should have still tried to claim through the guarantee. If it had gone to a small claims court you would have won.

KellyWelly wrote: »

Ikea also do narrow single beds if you are tight on space, my daughter's bed is 10cm narrower than standard which is perfect because she is in a box bedroom and needs all the space she can get.

Most manufacturers do small single beds which are 2'6" wide rather than 3'.

KellyWelly

I agree Ikea don't generally sell very good quality pieces of furniture but I have to disagree with you about the beds, Tim. Our bed hasn't broken despite being jumped up and down on regularly by two children and the mattresses we've got are very good quality. In ten years my husband and I have had to buy five beds, the Ikea one was the cheapest and has lasted the longest. We had two beds from Argos that were completely rubbish (one I just sent back it was so bad, the other broke) and the other two we bought from independent furniture shops (and paid a lot of money for them) and they were also terrible.

My husband is disabled and has a lot of problems with his back which improved a lot when he started sleeping on this Ikea mattress and pad, the mattress is very firm and provides a lot of support while the pad on top gives a little bit of comfort and cushioning.

The only other bed we've bought that we've been impressed with has been my son's Stompa, and although they are stupid money tbph they are good quality and last years and years.

Each to their own, but I really really like the beds we've bought there and I would definitely look there again if I was buying another.

That being said, I hate shopping in Ikea!