This post covers bed frame options for the chemically sensitive.
Metal and metal finishes, solid wood and laminated wood.
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Metal Bed Frames
A metal bed frame that is powder-coated is a very safe option.
This metal bed is inexpensive for a twin (Amazon). Also the slats are metal. Under $70.
Chrome is another benign metal as it has no coating on it.
Sometimes metal has a paint and not a powder-coated finish. Those are fairly safe as well, but for the extremely sensitive, powder-coated metal and chrome are safer.
You can paint metal with certain brands of safe paints or even seal it with shellac.
Solid Wood Bed Frames
If you do well with wood, the purest option is a solid wood bed frame, with solid slats (not laminated slats), finished with a natural finish.
Many people who are chemically sensitive do best with low-odor woods like poplar and maple.
Woods like pine are less well tolerated. My post on low-odor woods looks at more species options.
You can seal in the odor of the wood as well as any possible contaminants with shellac, polyurethane or paint.
Solid Wood Slats
1. Medley makes a solid wood bed frame that is very stylish, that comes in maple or walnut. It has a 0-VOC finish and solid wood slats.
2. Savvy Rest makes a simple wood bed frame that can be finished in natural oils or 0-VOC water-based polyurethanes or can be left unfinished. It’s $800 for a queen.
3. The Futon Shop offers a number of wooden platform bedframes, some with tatami mats some with solid wood slats. The B Flat is solid maple and comes either finished with linseed oil and beeswax or unfinished and the slats are solid wood.
4. For solid wood frames, you can also check out Organic Grace which has simple frames for $780 (queen, ships from the US).
5. Carolina Leg Co makes an affordable bed frame from poplar or oak, that was recommended by a sensitive person. It looks like the slats are solid wood.
The frame is completely unfinished. I would recommend a synthetic clear coat if you want to block the odor of the wood, but if that is not necessary, a natural oil-based sealant could be used instead. If you prefer a paint the best brands are here.
6. Avocado makes midcentury-style beds that are made of all solid wood (walnut or maple). They use ECOS 0-VOC wood stain and Titebond wood glue. The midcentury style is $2429.
Plywood Slats
Most solid wood beds are made with plywood (laminated wood) slats as it gives them stability with flex.
1. Amazon has a few options with plywood slats.
2. IKEA sells solid wood frames (pine) but the slats are laminated. They claim the glues are “non-volatile and non-polluting”. Here is a review of the very inexpensive solid pine bed NEIDEN from IKEA.
If you want to stain or paint natural raw pine, know that this is a tricky wood to stain. Painting pine also requires more steps than other woods. You can also seal in the odor of the wood. My post on staining, painting, and sealing pine goes into detail.
The post on furniture contains a longer list of companies making solid wood furniture with non-toxic finishes.
Julie
Do you recommend any of these brands? Thuma, Nectar, Birch Living, Silk & Snow.
Lindsay
I would not recommend Thuma. I realized our Thuma bed slats were moldy about 3 years into ownership, so the company sent us new ones for free. I thought WOW how great. Well the new ones were moldy right out of the box. I’m guessing their production process or warehouse storage practices are subpar. Avoid at all costs.
Corinne Segura, Building Biologist
what do you mean by moldy? visibly moldy? smells like mold to you? or caused you to have what you perceive as mold symptoms without physical sign of mold?
Lindsay
My existing bed slats have visible white and gray mold all over them. It’s fuzzy on the flat side of the slats. The new ones that just came have the same thing, just to a lesser extent. My entire family is having mold illness symptoms, and my son who sleeps in our bed often has tested positive for mold and we are trying to eliminate any potential causes.
Corinne Segura, Building Biologist
oh ok, that is good to know. (some people say things are moldy when it’s only based on symptoms so that can be confusing for people as symptoms are not reliable)
DKI
I have had an Avocado City Bed Frame (without the headboard) since around July 2024. I got the alder blonde wood one “from FSC® certified sources in North America. No MDF or veneers are used on [the city bed] platform bed frame, ensuring durability and timeless beauty for years” (https://www.avocadogreenmattress.com/products/city-bed-frame)
The only thing that I remember having an odor initially were the slats, which smelled like pine to me. After a day I don’t recall being able to smell it at all. I am not sensitive to wood smells however so there might have been a faint odor for a longer time that I just didn’t notice. There was no odor I could detect when I had to replace them a month later with a new shipment of slats (a slat was missing) — the new ones had the same strong wood odor, the original ones did not.
Arianne
Hi Corrine,
What do you think of Avacado bed frames, especially their city bed frame?
Corinne Segura, Building Biologist
they look good i just added them to the post
Arianne
How about the city bed frame? They use douglas fir slats. I was gonna get savy rest but our naturepedic matress seem slightly than thier twin bed frames.
Arianne
Our mattress are Slightly bigger than their frames (bed frames inner dimensions)*
Corinne Segura, Building Biologist
you cn look at if the slats are solid wood, wood glues used in the frame and finish used.
Arianne
Hi Corrine,
Is there an off-gassing concern for douglas fir? Since it’s softwood. Thank you.
Corinne Segura, Building Biologist
see the article on low odor woods which talks about what compounds come off of wood, all wood emits natural odorants. yes douglas fir is a higher odor wood, but that doesnt matter unless you are sensitive to it.
Hailee Goehring
Hi! I ordered a pottery barn Greenguard gold certified bed frame as I thought it would be safe. After reading your posts, you say not to do MDF. The pottery barn bed frame is made of “ Expertly crafted of kiln-dried solid pine wood, poplar wood, engineered hard wood/pine veneers and MDF. MDF is an engineered wood that lends exceptional strength and ensures the product’s structural integrity over time.”
Is this safe/non toxic? Or should I return? It is greenguard gold certified.
Corinne Segura, Building Biologist
Chemically sensitive folks usually can’t go with MDF due to the offgassing, and if there is an option between that and a lower offgassing option I would choose the lower offgassing option.
Geneen Nevens
Hi Corinne,
I just purchased a Thuma Bed frame. I felt this was a good choice for my chemical Sensitivities because they stated they don’t use MDF or Veneers and use only repurposed Solid wood. Well, I just received the bed frame and on the outside of the boxes they have a California P65 Warning due to Wood Dust and a statement on Formaldehyde Compliant. What is your feeling on the Wood Dust and Off gassing from the Formaldehyde? Have you researched the Thuma Bed frame or had any experience with it?
Corinne Segura
Wood dust warning is silly, as you are not going to be sawing a new bed frame. Slats might be plywood, and if so likely made with formaldehyde but very fast to offgas so not much worry for most people, though if very sensitive could be an issue. I would be more concerned about their darker stain colors.
Geneen
Hi Corinne,
I believe they are being very strict when it comes to making sure they label all their products incase it ships to California regarding the P65 Warning sticker on the box of my bed frame. I guess if its a wood product, there is a chance some wood dust could be in the box? You are right, I’m not sawing or building a Bed frame.
A person on the Thuma website asked about VOC’s, here is their response.
For a GREENGUARD Gold certification, our VOC levels needed to be ≤ 0.25 mg/m³. We tested at <0.004 mg/m³, which is 30 plus times under the VOC level criteria.
I will be putting together the bed frame soon, and if I have any issues with off gassing I'll let you know.
Thanks for your feedback,
Geneen
Lindsay
I would not recommend Thuma. I realized our Thuma bed slats were moldy about 3 years into ownership, so the company sent us new ones for free. I thought WOW how great. Well the new ones were moldy right out of the box. I’m guessing their production process or warehouse storage practices are subpar. Avoid at all costs.
Corinne Segura, Building Biologist
what do you mean by moldy? visibly moldy? smells like mold to you? or caused you to have what you perceive as mold symptoms without physical sign of mold?
Nunya
I just ordered the linked Amazon pine frame and I must say I’m extremely disappointed. Not only is it made in vietnam, it has a giant warning sign on it that it contains DEHP. I would definitely remove this from your clean recommendations asap so no one else succumbs to this false advertising from that company.
Corinne
Thank you. This one contains phthalates? https://www.amazon.com/eLuxurySupply-Wood-Bed-Frame-Foundation/dp/B01IFP2J9Q how bizarre. I don’t even know where phthalates would be on something wooden. Does it have any plastic parts?
Erin
Do you have recommendations for other brands of metal bed frames? The one listed is no longer available unfortunately. I’ve had poor luck trying to order a metal frame. The one I bought from Wayfair arrived and had different materials than the technical specifications listed and I was never able to tolerate it after trying to off gas it outside for two years. It’s back to the drawing board.