A cloud bed sits flat on the floor. No legs, no gap underneath. That detail changes more than you would think, in both directions.
The room looks bigger
This is the most immediate effect. A standard bed cuts your line of sight 50 or 60 cm above the floor. A bed on the floor lets you see the wall behind it, full height.
The gain cannot be measured in square metres, but it is real to the eye. In a small bedroom it is often what tips the decision.
What about storage?
This is the objection we hear most. A bed on the floor would mean giving up the suitcases, the winter duvets, the boxes that live under the slats.
It does not hold. The metal slatted base that comes with the bed leaves a free volume underneath, inside the foam border, and IKEA storage boxes fit in there perfectly.
So the storage does not disappear, it moves: from under the bed to inside it. And it is enclosed, instead of being an open space where dust gathers and that you clean on all fours.
It is all shown in this video: the slatted base, the space available, and the boxes in place.
One difference all the same: you do not hook a box out with your foot. This storage is meant for what you take out twice a year, not for everyday shoes.
Nothing left to knock into
A bed leg is the metal corner you find with your little toe in the dark. A bed made entirely of foam has none. The border gives under your leg instead of hitting it.
In a child's room this counts for even more. It is part of why the silhouette turns up so often in children's bedrooms.
Three objections, and the real answers
"Won't the mattress get damp that close to the floor?"
No, because the mattress does not touch the floor. It rests on a metal slatted base, included, which lets air circulate underneath exactly as on a standard bed. The foam border touches the floor, not the sleeping surface.
"Isn't it cold, that low?"
The temperature difference between 30 and 60 cm is negligible in a heated room. That said, if you sleep above an uninsulated garage or on ground-floor tiles, the question applies to any bed, not just this one.
"Is it easy to get up?"
This is the question we get most after storage, and the answer comes down to one thing: the mattress.
The foam border stands 30 cm high, and the mattress rests on the metal slatted base. Since it is not included, you set the final height yourself: a 25 cm mattress does not give the same seat as a 16 cm one.
If getting up is an effort for you, choose a thick mattress. You raise the height you sit at by exactly that much, without losing the low line of the bed or the soft border. It is the same move as on a standard bed, except that here you control it.
Who it suits
People who want a visually calm bedroom with no visible structure. Families with young children, for the absence of hard edges and the low fall height.
A little less so people who want a very high seat, though the choice of mattress makes up much of the difference.
The best way to decide is still to sit on one. The beds are on show at our depot near Brussels, by appointment.
