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ilovecookie

Help choose a bed frame -- Durham vs. Gat Creek

ILoveCookie
10 years ago

Husband and I are moving to a new house, and want to get a high quality solid wooden bed frame for the master bedroom.

We've narrowed down to three beds (king size). We haven't seen any of them in real life, but like them all in the pictures and have trouble picking one. Could you please take a look, and help us narrow down further?

The details and pictures of the beds are below. I also attached a picture of the master bedroom the bed will be in. The decor is not ours, and we can change out the artwork and the lighting fixture.

Which bed would you choose if it were your bedroom? So far, we think that bed #2 will be the easiest for us to change out sheets and box spring cover, and that bed #1 will be more dent/scratch resistant because it's made of maple rather than cherry or red oak.

Btw, our mattress and box spring together is 22.5" high. If the slats are 8" high, the mattress top will be 30.5" from the floor. Do you think that will overwhelm any of the following bed frames?

Thank you very much!



1. Durham Solid Choices Cannon Ball Bed

Made of solid maple.
Made in Canada.
W81" x L88"
Headboard: H58"
Footboard: H39"
Slat: H9.5"


2. Gat Creek Woodland Turned Post Bed

Available in solid red oak, or solid cherry.
Made in US.
W82" x L88"
Headboard: H62"
Footboard: H32"
Slat: H7"
{{!gwi}}


3. Gat Creek St Lawrence Cannon Ball Bed

Available in solid red oak, or solid cherry.
Made in US.
W80" x L86 1/2"
Headboard: H60"
Footboard: H36"
Slat: H8"

{{!gwi}}

This post was edited by ILoveCookie on Mon, Nov 18, 13 at 23:09

Comments (28)

  • Karenseb
    10 years ago

    I love your master bedroom. Very pretty. I think your room looks very mid century or more modern and it would be fun to look at styles with more simple lines.

    I checked the Gat Creek web site and the Allison, Eveyln, Chelsea or Pencil Post bed would look really nice in your space.

  • TxMarti
    10 years ago

    I agree with Karenseb even though those are some great beds you found. I especially like the 2nd one. Any of them look to have a headboard tall enough to fit a tall mattress.

  • gsciencechick
    10 years ago

    Of the ones you chose, I think I like #3 a little more than #2, but they are both nice. I also think the Evelyn would look great in the room.

  • amykath
    10 years ago

    Hands down #2. Especially for the architecture of the room. I think some straighter lines will work better in the room.

  • k9arlene
    10 years ago

    If i had to choose, it would be #2 . However, they all read colonial to me and I don't see your home having a colonial vibe. Seems a little incongruous.

  • msrose
    10 years ago

    You may not like the style, but I can see the Evelyn from the Gat Creek website in your room.

    {{!gwi}}

  • joaniepoanie
    10 years ago

    I agree something more modern and simple would look better. I like the Evelyn above, but lots of dusting of those slats.

  • Gracie
    10 years ago

    The Evelyn has those sharp corners on the footboard. Your thighs will hate you!

    I have a cannonball bed in a guest room that I bought in 1978, and I do get tired of dusting all the curves. I prefer beds without footboards now.

  • ILoveCookie
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks everyone!

    Husband and I prefer traditional/ transitional furniture. We like the contemporary look of the house, but don't want to get ultra-modern furniture to go with it. So Evelyn is probably out.

    I looked at Gat Creek's and Durham's website again, and found two transitional beds. Husband likes them a little more than the Alison bed. They both have a solid, low footboard, so changing sheets and dusting should be fairly easy.

    What do you think? The headboard of bed #4 might be a little low...the mattress top will be 32" from the floor, and the headboard is only 53" tall.

    4. Gat Creek Franklin Bed

    Made in US.
    Available in solid cherry and solid maple.
    W79.5" x L85.5"
    Headboard: H53"
    Footboard: H19.5"
    Slat: H9.5" (the mattress top will be 32" from the floor.)

    {{!gwi}}

    5. Durham Harbor Loft High Panel Bed

    Made in Canada.
    Two-tone, not sure what wood it's made of.
    Headboard: H56"
    Footboard: H17.25"
    Slat height: H9.75" (the mattress top will be 32.25" from the floor.)

    {{!gwi}}

  • carriem25
    10 years ago

    I like bed #3 the best, personally.

    However, I will ask what kind of bedding that you plan on using. I have a huge, country style king sized bed, and finding bedding large enough to fit is difficult, especially if you want to tuck it in on the sides and end.

    Carrie

  • k9arlene
    10 years ago

    I think either of those beds will work. They will be easier to coordinate other pieces with. Are you starting from scratch or do you already have your other pieces?

  • Gracie
    10 years ago

    My mattress top is 32" from the ground. I've never taken the footboard off mine, but I see what you mean about the mattress possibly looking tall on some bed styles. I think the Franklin is better because it covers some of the mattress. It's a little more Craftsman style though. I would think about doing it in cherry to make it a little more traditional. I love it.

  • cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
    10 years ago

    I am confused about your calculations for the height of the beds. Are you referring to the side rails when you say slats? Slats are the flatter cross pieces of wood that support the mattress. They usually rest on a ledge at the bottom of the side rail. As the Franklin bed picture shows, a good part of the box spring sits below the rail.

    I like either the Woodland turned post (#2) or the Franklin. I also love the juxtaposition of contemporary architecture with antiques or reproductions. Can't wait to see your room finished!

  • joaniepoanie
    10 years ago

    I like 4 or 5....still more traditional/transitional like you want but not as fussy as the cannonball beds...I think you won't tire of them because they are more simple and clean and can blend more easily with different styles.

  • ILoveCookie
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thank you all for your thoughts!

    Arlene - we are starting from scratch for the master bedroom. Our current master bedroom set is gigantic and extremely ornate. It won't fit well in the new bedroom, so we plan to sell it and get something simpler. But we will re-use our existing furniture in the other rooms, and those pieces are all traditional/ transitional.

    Carrie - good question about the bedding! My initial plan is to get a large bedspread to cover up the sides and the end, but now if we go with a more transitional bed (e.g. the Franklin, bed #4), I don't know if it will look right.

    May Flowers - when it comes to low footboard (e.g. #4 Franklin), I am not exactly sure if I should tuck in the bedding, or just let it cover up the footboard. I guess I can figure it out when the bed arrives. :)

    Cyn - I am referring to the horizontal pieces that support the box spring as "slats". I think my height calculation is okay. :)

    Joanie - I totally get what you mean. I am tired of our existing ornate bedroom set. I wish we had got something simpler. Well, lesson learned! We are trying to make it right this time.

    This post was edited by ILoveCookie on Sun, Nov 10, 13 at 14:46

  • cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
    10 years ago

    Just figured out you mean the slats are 8" or more off the floor, not that they themselves are that height. Sorry.

  • Karenseb
    10 years ago

    I vote for the Franklin. I like the simple lines and it still has a traditional look to me. I don't think of Craftsman when I look at it. I like the rounded headboard, and the foot board would allow you to tuck in the bedspread more easily.
    You show beds in a dark cherry stain, but with your lighter colored woodwork, I would consider the natural cherry or the lightest stain possible. Cherry naturally darkens with age and the darker the furniture, the more quickly you see the dust!

  • juliekcmo
    10 years ago

    last one, because the geometry of the headboard reinforces the window in the room.

  • ILoveCookie
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Cyn - that's no problem at all. Actually I wasn't sure initially what those things are called (slats? rails?), so I looked them up. :)

    Karen - yeah, there is nothing to dislike about the Franklin bed. We really like it. For the stain, we will probably go with natural or golden cherry, but we haven't ruled out natural maple, because we prefer its hardness over cherry. Anyway, these are the lightest stains available at Gat Creek.

    Julie - I didn't notice bed #5's similarity to the windows. What a great observation!

  • msrose
    10 years ago

    I can't decide between #4 and #5. I think either one will look great in your room though.

  • cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
    10 years ago

    At first, I thought you were mixing up rails and slats! :)

    Maple or the natural cherry would be my choices. Maple is wonderful, I agree on that.

  • gsciencechick
    10 years ago

    Really like #5, then #4. Nice choices here!

  • kiki_thinking
    10 years ago

    I've been to the gat creek workshop, their wood and craftsmanship are very very nice!

  • Karenseb
    10 years ago

    I have had natural maple and natural cherry and some lightly stained cherry and some dark stained cherry. I think light maple would look great in your room.

  • Baroo2u
    10 years ago

    Absolutely #5, I'm with Julie, it matches the room better. Are your doors etc really stsined wood? I f you plan on keeping them that way, you should probably keep their color in mind when choosing a stain.

    I'd definitely go very low/no footboard--even with a king size, I somehow managed to migrate down the mattress at night in our old bed and wakeup with my feet jammed against the footboard. Plus, our older dog objected...the younger one seemed to like the challenge of clearing the footboard when jumping on the bed, but even he had some spectacular crashes...

  • Karenseb
    10 years ago

    I forgot about your original question concerning overall height of your mattress on the bed We just purchased a new king sized bed frame and are also considering if the mattress will be the right height, only we had to buy a new mattress too. If you have nightstands, you might want to keep the mattress height close to the height of the nightstand. If you find a 32 inch mattress height too tall, consider buying a low profile box spring. They are inexpensive and could save 4 to 5 inches of height. Our last bed had one and allowed more of the headboard to show, plus we did not have to "climb" into bed.

    Is it possible your mattress is so tall and the bed is a platform bed and then no box spring is needed. That is what we are doing. Our headboard is 52" and the slats are 16 inches off the ground and we will have a ten inch mattress only for a total of 26 inches. With a mattress pad and comforter it will probably look a bit taller.

  • ILoveCookie
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thank you again, everyone!

    Kiki - What a wonderful experience you've had! I wish we could visit their workshop sometime down the road.

    Baroo - LOL re: migrate down the mattress at night. I do the same thing, and my feet usually end up in the comfortable 3" (or so) gap between the mattress and the sleigh footboard. Also good point about taking the door color into consideration...we don't plan to replace the doors anytime soon.

    Karen - Our mattress is 8.5" tall, box spring 14" tall. We had the box spring custom made so the whole package (mattress + box spring) is high enough and proportionate to the current bed frame (a sleigh w/ 36" footboard, 77" headboard), as well as the current nightstands (34" tall).

    In hindsight, that was not a smart move, even though we do enjoy climbing into the bed (32" off the floor). Replacing the box spring is probably not an option now, as it was quite expensive, and is supposed to last another 20+ years.