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Today’s review is about one of the biggest furniture purchases I’ve made in years: my bed. When I moved across the country recently, I decided not to take the Ikea bed frame that I’d been using for the past decade. It had served me well, but at some point I shoved some wood beneath the center metal beam because I worried about its ability to support the mattress.

I used the move as an opportunity to upgrade to something of higher quality. And I knew exactly what I wanted because Instagram had been bombarding me with ads for a particular bed frame. I’m sorry to say this, but the ads worked. How did Instagram know that I wanted a Thuma bed frame?

Why I Bought the Thuma Bed

Thuma The Bed – $1,095 for a queen

The things that sold me on Thuma?

First, it’s solid wood (or maybe not — see the update below). Thuma says it uses wood from rubber tree plantations that are located close to their factories in Vietnam. “By doing so, we’re repurposing trees that have already reached the end of their latex producing life-cycles and are otherwise discarded. This process also minimizes our carbon footprint by vastly reducing transportation emissions compared to other companies who import materials located much farther away.” OK, that all sounds excellent.

Second, I appreciate the design: It’s a simple platform bed with clean lines. This fits right in with my decor aesthetic, which favors the minimalist and modern.

The words that really got me, though, were “Japanese joinery.” The whole bed only requires two screws during assembly. The rest of the pieces lock together through joinery.

Lastly, the price seemed reasonable. A Thuma queen bed frame retails for $1,095, which is a little less than bed frames at retailers like Crate & Barrel or West Elm. The price did go up by $100 this fall from $995. (I missed out on the old price. Oh well). But, you can get $45 off the purchase price — I’ll share how at the end of this post.

UPDATE 6/23/22 – I had originally said that the bed was solid wood because it seemed that way to me, but some Redditors say that it isn’t! I wrote to Thuma to ask if their bed was solid wood or composite, and if they used other materials in addition to wood. They replied, “We use upcycled rubberwood” and unsatisfyingly referred me to their About page, which says the bed is GREENGUARD Gold certified but doesn’t detail what exactly goes into their products. The description for the bed says there are no MDF or veneers, but I’m still not sure what “handcrafted, repurposed wood” means exactly. But I take it if it were solid wood, it would say solid wood.

Ordering Experience

I ordered the queen bed frame in the walnut finish with a light linen headboard on a Thursday night. Originally, the whole bed frame, which ships in three boxes, was to arrive on Tuesday, but only the headboard arrived on time. The rest of it arrived on Wednesday. Still, that’s pretty fast. But then again, I live in NYC and the boxes shipped from Maryland. Depending on where you live, it could take longer. Thuma is based in San Francisco, so I assume they have a West Coast warehouse as well.

Assembly

The assembly process was a breeze. Compared to assembling an Ikea bed, it’s way easier. It took me and my partner about 35 minutes — and that includes the time it took to unbox everything and lay out the pieces.

Speaking of unboxing, shoutout to whoever designed the packaging. Each box was clearly labeled so you know what it contains. Heck, even the empty boxes that are just there to take up space and keep things from shifting around are labeled so that you know what their purpose is. And there was not a piece of styrofoam in sight! (Styrofoam isn’t commonly recycled, so it almost always ends up in the landfill.)

Thumbs up for the packaging. Everything was well labeled, and most of it was cardboard, and thus could be recycled.

One of the Thuma bed frame legs.

To set up the bed, first lay the sides of the frame and the legs out:

I think I ended up turning one of these side pieces the other way, but no big deal. It was easy to figure out.

Then, like a puzzle, put the pieces of the frames into one leg, then another and another.

Japanese joinery!

Once you have all four sides locked into place, it’s time to add the center beam and post.

The center post screws right into the center beam.

And then two large screws secure the center beam, one of each end of the bed. Those are the only screws involved in the whole assembly. No tools needed.

Next, unroll the slats.

The felt wrapped around the slats at the edges and center is a nice touch

In my case, I also needed to add some plywood because the new mattress I bought (the Saatva HD, which I’m reviewing in another post) is heavy and requires a solid surface. I had some quarter inch plywood cut to fit on top of the slats.

Added a layer of plywood to support my heavy mattress.

How the Thuma Bed Has Fared

First off, it is just a wonderfully solid bed. No shifting, no creaking, no noise, none of that. Apparently it has a weight capacity of 1,500 lbs. At 13″ height, it’s a bit taller than other platform beds I’ve owned. (The 13″ is the distance from the floor to the top of frame. The clearance underneath the bed is 9″). Before it arrived, I was afraid that the frame combined with my taller-than-average mattress would be too tall for petite me. But it worked out fine. I like the height now.

If there are any complaints about the Thuma bed, it’s usually about the headboard. The headboard does not attach to the frame. They call it a pillowboard because it is literally a big firm cushion that just rests on the frame against the wall. This might be a problem if you don’t want your bed right against the wall. But the nice thing about the pillowboard is that the cover is removable and washable.

Also, if you have a deeper mattress like I do (my mattress is 15.5″ tall), the pillowboard looks woefully short. (Thuma uses mattress of 10 to 11 inches for their own photos.)

The Thuma pillowboard with a 15.5″ height mattress.

I prefer my headboard to be higher so I can rest against it to read in bed. Thuma sells a pair of bolsters for $45, which comes wrapped in the same linen weave fabric as the pillowboard. My solution was to use 6″ styrofoam blocks that came from another furniture order to raise the headboard. Other people have tried yoga blocks for this same purpose.

Much cheaper, though less attractive, than the Thuma bolster: a styrofoam block. But, who is going to see it?

A more visible Thuma pillowboard after propping it up on styrofoam blocks.

Other complaints I’ve seen on Reddit concern color. One Reddit user said that the natural finish for the bed frame was more yellow in person than it appeared online. Others wish the walnut stain was richer and darker.

Then, there are the color options for the pillowboard, which comes in linen (what I have) and charcoal. Thuma released new pillowboard covers in a light gray (fog gray) or green (spruce). But that costs extra. ($75 for a queen cover.) You can’t initially buy the bed with a pillowboard in one of these alternate colors. I do think it’s silly that they offer these other pillowboard colors, but don’t let you choose them in the initial bed frame purchase without paying extra to add it.

Overall, though, I’m really happy with this purchase. The bed is sturdy, seems well made, and has a lifetime warranty. The pillowboard is comfy and conducive to reading in bed. Thuma has a 100 day trial period. If you decide not to keep it during that time, they’ll set up a complimentary return. I wouldn’t know how that process works, though, because I’m definitely keeping this bed.

The Thuma queen bed in my small NYC bedroom.

As I get older, sleeping has become increasingly important. I’m really glad I upgraded my bed. I consider it a good investment in my well-being.

If you’re interested in Thuma, you can save $45 through a referral code. Here’s mine. If you use this code, it will also generate a coupon for me, but it’s off a $100 purchase, and I’m not planning on buying anything else from Thuma. (Actually, I unsubscribed from their emails, so I don’t even receive the coupons anymore.)

UPDATE 6/21/22 – In May Thuma reduced the referral code to $25.

UPDATE 8/1/22 – It looks like the referral link no longer generates a code. Instead, the referrer must enter your email. But you can use the coupon code FORBEDTIME to get $25 off of a first-time purchase of the bed. (If you have found my review useful, please consider clicking through to Thuma from my blog.)

UPDATE 9/23/22 – At the end of August, Thuma added a wood headboard option, which costs $600 more than the pillowboard.