Mattress On The Floor

First off, I’m not taking a stance on a male living space with a single mattress on the floor. Controversial on the Internet to not pick a side, I know. Say you want to cast judgment aside — and why wouldn’t you? — in pursuit the most minimal setup optimized for comfort.

What are the functional problems of a floor bound mattress? It implies you likely forgot crucial necessities in a living space and more importantly, skipped over comfort. That might be an afterthought as your sleep is fine. You’re admirable to live as Spartan as possible and embody simplicity. But simplicity doesn’t mean a lack of things or living rugged. Simplicity means just enough of the best thing.

Applying order and sanity to this equation means where this mattress exists, it’s going be a focal point whether we want that or not. Anything else is vying for that attention but not adequately diverting it. Therefore, almost everything else needs to go. We’ll get to what should stay and what makes sense later. Let’s make this intentional and only have a bed in the bedroom — a startling revelation I know.

We’re trying to invoke the specter of minimalism into something practical. You can’t go wrong with white sheets. Stay with neutrals if you need to deviate and stay far way from patterns or bold / bright colors. Since we’re only doing a bed, placement is paramount. Don’t stuff it too far in the corner as if you only get out of bed on one side. You need back support so lets center this in a room (within reason) having the short side against a wall. Your setup is going to command attention anyways, why not make it make it stand out intentionally.

Let’s figure out functionality. No bed frame means no air flow under your mattress meaning heat becomes a consideration. Do you sleep warm? Great, continue on. If not, consider the most breathable mattress you can get. Now space is up for grabs. Go with the chunkiest mattress — between 10 to 15” in height — you can get adding extra support for sleeping and extra circular activities.

In this exercise let’s assume you’d likely someone to join you at some point. Or you just like sleeping diagonally. Both are fine but why not size up? Mattresses range from Twin, Full, Queen, King and California King. Texas King is somehow an option. A Twin works for one person, but a Full or Queen gives you much more room for one or two people. Or fuck it, get a King because you are one. Don’t forget you need to size up sheets. A Full mattress requires the next size in sheets - a Queen so on and so forth.

Something that’s overlooked is maintenance and for that we can rely on a trusty top sheet. Unless you really like washing your comforter and duvet insert. Speaking of duvets you can indulge in a cold and warm set adjusted to the weather changes in your area.

Now that our parameters are defined, what does this setup actually look like? At minimum the absolute thickest Full sized mattress you can find with crisp white sheets, a top sheet and oversized duvet with comforter all in a matching color set positioned as close to the center as comfortable with a wall for back support. Oh, don’t forget pillows. If you don’t know what pillow type works for you, try a few between firm and plush. You can be ambitious and have multiple pillows with varying levels of support but please, at least have two.

“Great” you might be saying but we’re not done yet. We need to add everything back in. Because your bedroom is now just a bed we can add some flourishes to make it look like you care about that extra 1%.

Here’s where I’d get opinionated. You’re free to deviate from here and find what excites you in a sleeping space. Forget the nightstand(s) and toss floor level orbs for lighting. We’re skipping waist level storage since everything is floor level now. Want to add some grip between the floor to prevent excess movement? Throw a tatami mat underneath if you’re on hardwood floor. If you have carpet, I’m sorry. Everything else is a flourish that depends on taste like a leaning picture frame, jacket rack or a ridiculously oversized plant you’re capable of caring for.

There you go, now you’ve got your very own dignified mattress on floor that will hopefully surprise in its audacity against the status quo and be just comfortable enough for you to snooze through the howls of negative opinion about your too close to ground sleeping habit.