Attic, Loft and Odd-Shaped Mattresses

In a loft the constraint is rarely the floor — it is the ceiling. A bed that fits the floor plan perfectly can still be unusable if you cannot sit up in it.

Measure the height, not just the footprint

Start here, because it decides everything else. Stand a tape vertically where your shoulders will be when you sit up in bed, and measure from the floor to the slope. Then subtract the height of the bed base and the depth of the mattress. What is left is your sitting-up headroom.

Under about 90 cm of headroom you will hit your head every morning. That is the number to protect, and the cheapest way to protect it is a shallower mattress: a 16 cm build buys you 22 cm of headroom over a 38 cm one.

Working out the shape

A sloping wall along the length

The mattress meets the slope along one long edge. You need the height of the vertical wall at mattress level and how far the slope cuts in. Usually the answer is a long chamfer down one side rather than a corner cut.

A dormer

The bed sits in a rectangular alcove with full height, and the slope only bites outside it. Measure the dormer opening — that is usually the real limit.

A chimney breast

A cut-out in one edge, not a corner. Give us how far in and how far along, and which side.

A door that swings over the bed

A corner cut. Open the door fully, mark the arc on the floor with tape, and measure the two legs of the triangle it takes out.

Draw it and photograph it

Sketch the outline on paper, write your millimetres on each edge, and photograph the sketch. Every made-to-measure order that goes wrong goes wrong because a shape was described in words instead of drawn.

Mark which corner is which as you would see it standing at the foot of the bed looking towards the pillows. "Top left" means nothing without a viewpoint.

Getting it up the stairs

Loft stairs are usually the tightest in the house. Measure the narrowest turn before you order. A rolled mattress solves it; a hand-tufted 40 cm build will not go up a loft stair at all, and no delivery driver will attempt it. If the stair is tight, choose a build we can roll.

Ventilation under a solid floor

Loft rooms are often built with a solid platform bed rather than a slatted frame, because of the height. On a solid base there is no airflow under the mattress. Stand it on edge for an hour a few times a year, or fit a spacer mat if the room runs humid.

Common questions

Can you cut a curve?

Yes — give us the radius, or a template if it is not a simple arc.

How shallow can you go?

10 cm on a custom build. Below that a mattress stops being a mattress.

Is a shallow mattress less comfortable?

Not necessarily, but it changes what it can be made of. At 16 cm, latex over a dense base gives more comfort per centimetre than springs, because there is no room for a spring unit worth having.

See how to measure, then price the shape.