Do you have a deep mattress? We understand that purchasing your bed is a big decision, one that we’re always happy to help with. When it comes to pairing our bed bases with a deep mattress, there are a few factors to consider, and certain customisations you may want to add to allow the best fit possible.
Sometimes, deeper mattresses can swallow up a headboard, leaving their proportions looking slightly different to the bed pictured online. In this blog, I’ll go through our core range of designs and noting the most common alterations our workshop do for deep mattresses.
Please note that any of the mattresses we stock are perfectly fine to use on any of our bed bases – structurally there would be no compromise in using an extra deep mattress on any NBC bed. However, we want you to be 100% happy with your new bed base. To us, that means getting a good nights sleep and loving the way it looks! Please also keep in mind that there are no exact rules on the depths of the mattresses suitable for these alterations. E.g. if we say ideally 25cm and your mattress is 26cm – keep in mind this is only 1cm difference and would likely look extremely similar! The only exception to this being the upholstered beds, see below…
If you’ve been looking at our upholstered beds, you may have noticed that we ask customers to confirm the depth of their mattress when placing an order. Upholstered beds have a plush, padded headboard for extra comfort when sitting in bed. If the mattress gap is not altered to suit your mattress, an upholstered headboard can prevent the mattress from sitting snuggly at the very top of the frame, pushing the mattress off the foot-end of the bed.
The mattress gap is altered by making the headboard legs slightly longer, this allows us to attach the headboard panel higher up and making the mattress gap larger.
As mentioned online, our beds are designed with a mattress gap of approx. 20cm as standard. For example, if you were to place a mattress of 25cm deep on an upholstered bed, there would be 5cm of mattress above the mattress gap. This would cause the padded headboard to push the mattress off the end of the bed slightly. This is usually only a few centimetres, so not the end of the world by any means, but if you want that flush fit pictured above, we would really recommend making this adjustment!
We believe this is the most important bed range to pay particular attention to your mattress depth. We’ve even made a full in depth post about it – check out our What is a Mattress Gap? for further details.
One of our most popular and iconic design styles, we have been making Japanese style beds for nearly 50 years! In that time, futon mattresses have changed to foam and sprung, getting deeper as the years have gone on.
If you’re looking at a Kyoto, Kumo, Kobe or Oregon bed and your mattress is much taller than 20cm, you may wish to increase the headboard height. We can add a maximum of 5cm to their headboard panels, which would then work well with a mattress around 25cm deep. The Oregon can have an additional 10cm to the headboard if placed straight up rather than the standard slight recline.
If these options still aren’t giving you the look you’re after or your mattress is extra deep, you may want to consider a custom headboard panel to mount to the wall (rather than to the bed as standard). This enables us to make a large panel and you can mount this at whatever height best suits you. Please note, we would not be able to advise on attaching the panel to the wall as this would vary greatly depending on the walls structure and strength. We would recommend speaking to a local professional if you are at all unsure yourself.
Most of our bed designs fall into this category. The headboard attaches to the straight legs with a fairly simple join, allowing more flexibility for design alterations. As your mattress will overlap the bottom of the flat headboard panel, most beds will comfortably fit a mattress depth between 20-25cm. Anything much deeper than this, you may want to consider moving the headboard up.
For these style beds, there are two methods of creating a higher headboard. Firstly, we can make the headboard legs longer, moving the headboard panel up (as described in the upholstered bed section above). This is often the most cost effective and simplest method. At the time of writing this post, customisations up to 5cm are free of charge, for between 6-10cm (for 26-30cm deep mattresses) we charge a flat fee of £50.00. For 11cm+ (31cm+ deep mattress) we would need to provide a quote. Please note, this method will increase your mattress gap, meaning you will need to ensure that your future mattresses are always a similar depth, this avoids the gap becoming visible over the surface of your mattress.
Secondly, we can increase the headboard legs and add extra timber to the headboard panel, making the panel itself larger. This is great for people who simply prefer a larger headboard or who have a very deep mattress now but may not have a deep mattress in future. This method keeps your mattress gap the same (at around 18-20cm), but increases the height from the top of the headboard panel. Prices for this would vary significantly depending on how much you would like to add, timber, size, bed design etc. Customers requiring this alteration would need to get in touch for a custom quote.
This section refers to the Camden, Hoxton (including special editions), Pimlico and Carnaby beds. Although Camden style beds technically fall under the Nevada style designs above, their structure is slightly different due to their curved legs. This limits us slightly on what can be altered!
At the time of writing this blog, we can adjust the mattress gap by 5cm only. We find that deep mattresses in the 25-30 depth range would suite this customisation. Anything much deeper would simply cover up a little bit more of that headboard panel than you have seen pictured online.
If you wish to keep the mattress gap as it is (18-20cm), we can add 5cm to the headboard panel instead. However, as mentioned in the previous section, adding timber to the panel does cost extra! This extra cost will vary depending on the design, size and timber you choose, so you’ll need to get in touch for a quote. Please note, you can add 5cm to the gap or the panel, not 5cm to each. Due to this, we’d usually recommend opting for the mattress gap alteration as it’s free of charge!
The Camden, Hoxton and Carnaby all have a slightly larger headboard panel. Whereas the Pimlico has a much smaller headboard panel (pictured above with a deep mattress – approximately 25-27cm), so you may find the mattress gap alteration most impactful with this design. If you love the Pimlico but require a much larger headboard, the Carnaby is exactly that!
If you would like a much larger headboard than the Camden/Hoxton, but love the retro curves, we would recommend looking at the Highbury and the Chiswick! As these fit together in much simpler way (Nevada style above), the mattress gap can be increased to almost any depth required.
Our Four Poster beds are usually fairly simple in terms of altering the headboard height. In most of the designs, the headboard panel can be moved up on the headboard posts without incurring any extra cost as no additional timber is required. If you would prefer a larger headboard panel rather than moving it up, a custom quote can be provided for the extra timber and labour required.
The only designs where there is a small complication are any beds with a taper to the legs. E.g. the Hatfield, Rajasthan, Canterbury and Harrow beds. The panel cannot attached there the post is tapered, so the taper would need to begin higher up the posts, which will change the angle of this taper slightly.
Of course, there will always be a matter of personal opinion and preferences, so take our advice with that in mind! We’re always happy to discuss customisations further. Please do not hesitate to Contact Us with any further questions you may have.
If you’re looking for more interior design inspiration, why not take a look at our Pinterest boards for heaps of ideas! You can also find us over on Facebook & Instagram to keep up to date with all of our latest news, products and styling ideas.