You can potentially put a mattress on the floor without problems, but there are a few considerations and recommendations you should be aware of. Here are some important things to consider: providing proper support for your mattress, making sure there is adequate ventilation (airflow), the aesthetics you desire, and the height you want your bed at.
Proper Support:
All mattresses need to be placed on a proper support as this isn’t built into the mattress itself. Proper support ranges from springs in a box spring, slats in a foundation, a rigid solid platform, or slats in a platform bed, but the common denominator is that you need something flat and rigid to support your mattress. So, good news, the floor is obviously supportive enough for a mattress as it is typically flat and rigid.
Ventilation:
Ventilation is very important to prevent mold or mildew growth, especially if you live in a humid environment. If you are in a very arid environment, you might not need ventilation, but we have found that mold or mildew can very easily form under a mattress that is placed on the floor in all environments. Perspiration from the sleeper moves into the mattress and, if there isn’t air flow, it creates a good environment for mold or mildew. A box spring, foundation, or platform bed allows for proper airflow under the mattress and thus prevents mold and mildew growth. However, there are products available that allow you to forgo a bed frame and still have proper ventilation. The two most popular products that can provide ventilation under a mattress are coconut coir bed rugs and traditional Japanese tatami mats. Coconut coir bed rugs are woven coconut fiber mats that are dipped in natural or organic rubber sap and are usually only about 1” thick. The structure is very loose and air can flow freely through it. Tatami mats are traditional woven grass mats that are usually about 2” thick, also with a loose structure that allows abundant air flow. With one of these options to create air flow under your mattress, it is no problem to place your mattress on the floor.
Aesthetics:
How do you want the room to look? If you are planning to place the mattress on the floor so that it is low to the ground for a small child but you still like the idea of a bed frame for aesthetic reasons there are bed frames you can purchase that can be customized to be very low to the ground. For example, you can purchase most of our natural wood bed frames with customized shortened legs. This would be a custom alteration, but most of our manufacturers can accommodate shortened legs, please contact us to order.
Height:
What height do you want your mattress? As an example, if you have a 12” mattress that you place directly on the floor, your mattress height will be at 12”. If you want it higher for ease of getting in and out of bed, you can also place your mattress on top of a foundation or boxspring that is placed directly on the floor. A foundation or box spring will give you both the proper support and ventilation to place your mattress on and they usually come in heights ranging from 2” to 12”. We even offer bed frames that, similarly to a foundation or box spring, do not extend past the footprint of the mattress. The Organic Upholstered Platform Bed frames can be used with or without legs.
Some foundations come with legs, that could be used with or without the legs if you don’t like the aesthetic of a bed frame but want your mattress to be at a greater height.
As long as your mattress has ventilation, you can place it on the floor with no concerns other than your own preferences in how the room looks and height you want the mattress to sit at.