How to measure a bed for a custom mattress
Measure the space the mattress will sit in, not the old mattress. Old mattresses shrink, bulge and lie.
Step one — width, inside the rails
Run the tape from the inside face of one side rail to the inside face of the other. Do it at the head and again at the foot; frames are rarely perfectly square, and you want the smaller of the two numbers.
If the bed has a platform with a lip, measure between the lips. If there is no lip, measure the platform and decide how much overhang you can live with.
Step two — length, head board to foot board
Same rule: inside face to inside face, on the left and on the right, keep the smaller number. A head board that leans or a foot board with trim can take an inch you did not expect.
No foot board? Measure to the end of the platform and note that the mattress may overhang.
Step three — the thickness that clears
Anything that closes over the bed — a cabinet door, a slide-out, a bunk above, a hatch — sets the maximum thickness. Measure from the platform to the lowest thing above it, then take an inch off for bedding.
For a Murphy bed the makers' own limits apply; see the Murphy bed page.
Step four — every corner that is not square
A cut corner is two numbers: how far the cut runs along the width, and how far along the length. A rounded corner is one number, the radius — hold a round object (a plate, a lid) in the corner until it matches and measure its radius.
A notch for a post or a cabinet is a small rectangle: its width and its depth, and which corner. Draw all of it on a template or in the sizing tool.
Inches or centimetres?
Either, but pick one and write it on the sheet. Canadian makers work in inches; every drawing on this site shows both.
Write the numbers down as you take them. Then take them again.
Want it made in Canada? Matelas Personnel makes odd shapes in Montréal →