Daybed Mattress Defined

I’m thinking about getting a daybed. What kind of mattress should I buy?

Before I get further into which kind of mattress to buy, you may consider the base of the daybed. A daybed is theoretically a daybed back and two daybed sides. A fourth component, a scheme to hold the mattress up can vary. One way of doing this is to sell the consumer, you, two metal rails with the daybed that look like bed frame rails, that bolt to either end. Without a center support, your mattress will fall right through.

One solution is to buy a Bunkie board that will add at least $50 to the cost of your daybed. a Bunkie board is basically an inch or two thick wooden frame work with hard cardboard or a more durable board on the top and an inexpensive fabric cover that sits on the rails to support the mattress. The Bunkie board is also used on bunk beds for the same reason. One of the problems with the rail and bunkie board configuration is that it allows no give or spring action for the mattress sitting on it plus it can sound creaky and actually feel cheap.

Using a daybed link spring is by far the best way to support the mattress. The link spring consists of a set of metal rails with several strong metal supports and a series of approximately four inch metal links that provide some flexibility and lots of support. The proper link spring is, in my estimation, the correct way to build your daybed.

Are cheap daybeds worth the money?

You may find some down and dirty furniture stores advertising a daybed for $50 or even $100 and it seems to good to be true. Often, yes, you can buy this daybed for the price but again, they hopefully disclose that it is a three piece set. Three pieces being the back and two sides. Again, you will need to also purchase a rail set and bunkie board or a daybed linkspring to complete the basic package, plus your mattress. Sometimes they will include the two rails in the discount package, but again you still need the bunkie board.

As a brick and mortar furniture dealer, over the years, I have had several carpetbagger furniture stores move in my area, use bait and switch techniques selling discounted furniture that made my prices look too high, only for the customer to realize that she got even less then what she bargained for. These furniture stores that advertised half truths have long gone and my store is still doing business here. And yes, all of my daybeds come complete with a proper link spring and no, I don’t have the lowest price. But I do have hundreds of satisfied customers that bring their friends and family to my store.

The daybed mattress needs to be a standard twin size, not an extra long twin. The daybed mattress needs to have a good spring system to stand up to people sitting on the bed. A mattress takes a greater weight hit when someone is sitting then when someone has their weight evenly distributed when lying down. The sides of the mattress should be strongly built to deal with people sitting on the edge of the bed a lot, much more so then a normal sleeping mattress.

Another worthhile consideration is be aware of the height of the mattress. The mattress trend these days is to buy oversized puffy pillow tops models that are quite comfortable. My experience has been that these deep mattresses, often up to eighteen inches in height, can look out of place on the average daybed.