King or Queen bed?

[modhatter]

I recently moved into a house where the master bedroom is only about 13 x 14', at best. Problem is I have a California King bed with matching nightstand, which when I measured it before leaving Phoenix, it measures 7' wide by 7' long (frame) There is only one wall to put bed, and one wall to put dresser. Getting a dresser in there with night stand and bed will fill the room without any walking room to speak of. I also have a small three shelf book case next to bed where I have a printer on, as I use bed as a make shift office as well. (long story) As it is only me, a Queen size bed would suffice just fine.

But as the bed, mattress, and night stand that I have is fairly new, I would have to spend at least $2,500-$3,000 to replace. So, I am trying to decide what to do. Have a bedroom that is wall to wall furniture, or spend another $3,000 on top of everything else I am having to spend (way over budget) and get a Queen bed, mattress, night stand and dresser.

Actually, as the dresser I have will not work, I need to buy a new dresser anyway, but then have to try and match pieces so it doesn't look like a mish mosh. Yes, I have been looking on Craigs list, but find mostly dealers selling really cheap junky furniture, or private people trying to sell really cheap dated furniture.

I'm also considering how it might hurt the resale of the house when I move if I have this over sized furniture in the room. Make room look even smaller than it is. Just out of curiosity. What size beds do you guys sleep on? (one or two of you) Also, what do you think best solution is?

 

[freebird5825]

How many built-in closets are there in the master bedroom? Is one large enough to house the dresser?

Do you own the house or renting ?

Think out of the box...if it is just you living there, use the living room or dining room (if there is one) as your bedroom. Go with an open look and arrange things so you can sleep and do functional things. Use the master bedroom as your dressing room.

Have fun!

I own a CA king (waterbed frame with Sealy pillow top mattress) in a slightly larger master bedroom. I have 3 dressers arranged around the perimeter. There is a narrow walkway around the bed, but it w*rks.

 

[W2R]

Isn't there someplace else you could put a small dresser or bookshelf? I think the bed is essential and the prime priority in a bedroom.

I live alone and sleep on a king sized bed. When I bought the house, the daughters of the deceased prior owner sold me her very nice complete bedroom set for $400 total, and the headboard and frame were king sized. I love it, and would hate to go back to queen sized.

The importance of sleep just cannot be over-emphasized. If it would improve your sleep even slightly, KEEP the king sized bed. You have to be able to walk without skinning your shins, though. Maybe a small dresser would fit in a closet, in the hallway, dressing room, or someplace.

 

[Dreamer]

We have a queen size bed. There have been 2 of us in it for over 40 years. However, when we spend the night at a hotel, we always get a king size bed, if one is available. It is a treat.

I think that I would make do with the furniture that you have, especially since you stated that you are way over budget. Could you move your dresser into one of the other bedrooms, for the time being. You could make do and keep looking for a nice queen size bedroom outfit on craigslist or on sale at a furniture store.

 

[Koogie]

King all the way, love the space (so does DW) They've really come down in price in recent years.

Now, do you have the nerve to follow me on the next part of my secret guide to a good nights sleep and wedded bliss ?

Two words: seperate comforters !

She fought the idea tooth and nail for a year. But to me, what is the point of a nice big bed when you still wake each other up fighting over the duvet or letting cold air in when you roll over ? Anyway, long story short, we were at Home Sense one day and I saw two designer, high thread count comforters in single bed size that she loved. My heart skipped a beat when I saw the prices but hey, winning battles can get expensive ! Lol

Got them. She likes the nice looking matchy, matchy-ness and I love sleeping through the night !

 

[Meadbh]

My master bedroom is 10.6' x 13' and I have a Queen size bed, a dresser and two night stands in it, as well as a comfy armchair.

I looked up the dimensions on Wikipedia Bed size - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. I would not be able to fit the longer California King size bed in my master bedroom without putting the head of the bed against the window, and I still couldn't fit the dresser in because the opposite wall has two doors. Admittedly your bedroom is bigger than mine, but it seems that something's gotta give.

Surely you can find somewhere else for the bookcase and printer. Do you have a walk in closet where you could organize the stuff you have in the dresser, or even have the dresser inside the closet? Would the bathroom suffice for grooming? Perhaps you could put the dresser in another room. If you take off the mirror it can double as a chest. Another solution may be to find out whether your particular bedroom suite has a Queen size bed and just exchange the bed. A third solution might be to move your bedroom to another, larger bedroom (assuming there is one).

Did you anticipate this before you moved?

 

[Moscyn]

If you are used to king-sized, then getting used to queen-sized may affect your sleep and quality of sleep can never be over-stated. Is there another room or other space in the house where you can convert a corner to locate yourb dresser etc? My current room has only space for a 6.5 ft bed (made up of two 3 ft and 3.5 ft beds (king size not enough for us) and built in cupboards and window bay. I have no nightstand or dresser in the room but have converted another room for such purposes and also as work space area as well.

 

[freebird5825]

Some of the images as this site may give you ideas of using one of your larger rooms as an open look bedroom. Just make sure you make your bed every day.

using living room as bedroom - Bing Images

 

[UserRequested]

Mirrors on the ceiling always make a room look bigger

 

[CoolChange]

...
I'm also considering how it might hurt the resale of the house when I move if I have this over sized furniture in the room. Make room look even smaller than it is. Just out of curiosity. What size beds do you guys sleep on? (one or two of you) Also, what do you think best solution is?

My answers which might actually be worth less than what you paid for them:

• Deal with resale of house when/if it happens. Current furniture may be worn out by then; temporary rental of staging furniture might be cost effective. You may never sell; I almost always stay longer than originally anticipated, at least since leaving my early 20's.
• Two of us sleep in a queen when I am home.
• Best solution for me is exactly what you have: Alone in Cal. King!

 

[modhatter]

Actually, I have thought about all of those things. I bought the house sight unseen (don't ask me to explain that one) and the bedroom was stated as a larger size than it was (surprise, surprise)

Didn't want to get into writing a novel here so I left out some key points.
I have some serious back issues which prevents me from sitting up in a chair for more than a few minutes without a lot of pain. I still need to do a lot of work on the computer so what I have rigged up is using one of these hospital bed tables which can go across my bed, with a laptop and scanner on it. Then I have my printer next to my bed on the one side of the bed on the three shelf bookcase along with some supplies.

I can lay in bed shifting my weight to one side or the other- elevating the pain in my back. So my bedroom is a bedroom/office. But wait, I'm not finished. As I am most comfortable in this position, I prefer to watch most of my TV from my bed. so if I use a long dresser, I can mount my TV about 6" above it on the wall, and use the top of the dresser for all the components (as well as hiding wires - TV, HTPC, Dvd, Roku and HD HomeRun Tuner) So now I have a dresser/media cabinet.

If it were not for the TV problem, I would put a chest type dresser in one of the closets, as there are two (but not walk in) So now my bedroom is a bedroom/office/tv room. A lot going on in one room.

If I were a normal functioning human being, this would not be an issue obviously. Just curious what size bedrooms and beds you guys are working with.

 

[W2R]

Just curious what size bedrooms and beds you guys are working with.

My bedroom is 14.4' x 13.3'. There is a pair of French doors on one of the longer sides, opening onto the patio, and no other windows in the room.

My bed is a conventional king sized bed, not a California king. I have a large triple dresser with two mirrors, two matching bedside tables, and a matching armoire in that room, and there is plenty of room for me to walk around easily in there.

Try getting out some graph paper and plotting possible furniture layouts on it. That might help.

 

[modhatter]

I think room layout is a big factor. I really only have two usable walls - L shaped. One wall has a huge picture window. Another wall is a long closet and entry to bathroom area. This really limits the placement of furniture.

If I could use the wall where the long closet is for furniture, it would work much better. I think architects should be forced to draw a furniture layout to scale before their plans are approved by builders.

 

[Meadbh]

Maybe you could remove the closet and use another bedroom as your dressing room? Or, if you don't want to remove the closet (might be an issue for resale value), just camouflage it with drapes and put the bed there.

Or, you could consult an interior designer.

 

[imoldernu]

Sounds to me as if you have most of the problem solved, especially the rolling table.
Since comfort is always a compromise between appearance and space, adjusting the location can often result in more working room.
In our camp, we were faced with a very small room 8'6'X9'7' into which we wanted to place a king sized bed. (no closet). Appearance says "center the bed". Instead we left a 6" space on one side. Next to the other side, stacked plastic drawer sets... our night table... Built ceiling to floor triangular shelving in the dead corner. for misc. and electronics. Wall mounted smaller TV. Underbed slide out storage. We've stopped using top sheets, and opt for light silky dusters, which eliminates the nuisance of "making the bed".
Not really pretty, but we don't entertain the Queen, and it works for us.

Here's a pretty good site that has some insights into furniture and space. In particular, the idea of vertical storage appealed to me.
How to Measure Your Space Before Buying Furniture

 

[Rambler]

The two of us sleep on a regular King. Used to have a CA King. Both are just fine for the two of us. I snore when I get over-tired and she sends me to the guest room, where we have a Queen. For me by myself the Queen is sufficient, and honestly speaking I sometimes get better sleep there than together in the King. The King is kind of a pillow top, the Queen had a memory foam topper.

R

 

[Bestwifeever]

We've shared a queen the past 34 years and find it just fine; we had a regular double bed the first 6 years of our marriage, so that's our only comparison (would probably get used to a king real fast!, but our bedroom is not huge so the king would overwhelm it for me). Sometimes I miss the double bed .

I like the single-size comforters idea (no more hogging the covers)--we tried that when traveling in Germany, but when we got home, I bought way too puffy versions and they were like wrestling with air mattresses all night long.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

We've shared a queen the past 34 years and find it just fine; we had a regular double bed the first 6 years of our marriage, so that's our only comparison (would probably get used to a king real fast!, but our bedroom is not huge so the king would overwhelm it for me). Sometimes I miss the double bed .

I like the single-size comforters idea (no more hogging the covers)--we tried that when traveling in Germany, but when we got home, I bought way too puffy versions and they were like wrestling with air mattresses all night long.

Love our king size setup except for two things: when traveling it's difficult to get used to the typical queen-size bed, and it can be a pain to make it up, rotate, etc.

 

[GolfingDuo]

King all the way, love the space (so does DW) They've really come down in price in recent years.

Now, do you have the nerve to follow me on the next part of my secret guide to a good nights sleep and wedded bliss ?

Two words: seperate comforters !

She fought the idea tooth and nail for a year. But to me, what is the point of a nice big bed when you still wake each other up fighting over the duvet or letting cold air in when you roll over ? Anyway, long story short, we were at Home Sense one day and I saw two designer, high thread count comforters in single bed size that she loved. My heart skipped a beat when I saw the prices but hey, winning battles can get expensive ! Lol

Got them. She likes the nice looking matchy, matchy-ness and I love sleeping through the night !

How does that work? I get the demensions but when making the bed does one have to lay over the edge of the other?

 

[FUEGO]

13'x15' master bedroom. King size bed, two small (18"x18" roughly) nightstands, 2 dressers (with 42" tv on top of one), 1 really wide but shallow closet (~8-9' wide closet), 1 desk used for make up application (mostly by DW). 1 more small dresser in closet (underneath DW's shirts on the closet rod).

Plenty of space to walk around 3 sides of the bed, and to the dressers and to the bathroom and closet. We don't have any sitting or lounge areas in the bedroom (beside the 1 desk with 1 desk chair). It doesn't feel cramped at all. We don't have a bed frame (grad school style with bed on the floor!) so maybe that helps the room feel more open since the vertical space above the bed is all open and there are no large bannisters extending vertically from the foot of the bed.

 

[Sarah in SC]

I like Mead's idea about eliminating clothing from the room completely and devoting all the space to your unique needs. Making another room the dressing room would work really well, I think.

We have a completely separate closet room next to our bedroom (and a king bed) so our bedroom only contains the bed, a couple of side tables, and two dog beds on the floor. Spare and plenty of room to walk around.

We also have French doors on one side, a long window on one side, and as single door to the hall on the other, so just one wall that would work for the bed. I drew the house so I knew exactly what I wanted and it works great for us.