We Did It Our Way

These readers tell us how they got exactly what they wanted by customising their furniture.

Gabriella Still, and Max and Axel, Finnish

We were replacing our queen-sized bed to fit our growing family. Our main requirement was a bed big enough for two adults, two kids and, potentially, two dogs (when we get them, that is – I’m still trying to convince my husband!). My husband is tall, so the bed had to be at least two metres by two metres. I would have loved an even bigger bed, but then we would have to look at getting custom bed sheets too, and since we use bamboo bed sheets, which we find the coolest for this climate, this would be difficult and expensive. Also, having suffered with soft mattresses in the past, we wanted a firm one.

IKEA was my first choice for getting a bed system. We’ve had IKEA mattresses in all three of our homes and loved them, however they couldn’t help with our requirements this time. I’d read about latex mattresses and had thought they would be too soft, but then my youngest boy got a bed with a latex mattress, and I noticed it was quite firm.