European bed sizes: specify the mattress before the steel frame
The mistake that ruins a made to measure bed is ordering by a name such as double, king or European king. Those labels change meaning across borders, while a welded steel frame cannot. The short answer is to choose or measure the mattress first, give its exact width, length and depth in millimetres, and ask the workshop to confirm both the clear opening inside the frame and the finished size outside it.
This matters even when a mattress carries a familiar nominal size. A nominal 1600 x 2000 mm mattress is not a precision steel component. Its real dimensions, edge shape and compression can vary, and it still needs enough clearance to make the bed without allowing a visible trench around it. A custom frame solves an unusual size only when the interface between mattress, slats and steel is specified.
Selected common European bed-size examples
Continental European sellers usually describe mattresses directly in centimetres, such as 90 x 200 or 160 x 200. That is safer than a name, but national habits still differ. A standard UK double is commonly 135 x 190 cm, while a French double is often 140 x 190 cm, a Spanish matrimonial mattress may be 135 or 150 cm wide, and Italian buyers often distinguish a 120 cm piazza e mezza from a 160 cm matrimoniale. Germany and Poland commonly work around 200 cm lengths. None of these conventions is a regulation, and none should replace the product label or a tape measure.
| Market | Common descriptions | Typical nominal mattress sizes | Specification risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Continental EU | Single, double, queen, king | 90 x 200, 140 x 200, 160 x 200, 180 x 200 cm | Retail names vary between sellers |
| United Kingdom and Ireland | Single, double, king, super king | 90 x 190, 135 x 190, 150 x 200, 180 x 200 cm | A UK king is not a 180 cm continental king |
| France | Une place, deux places, queen, king | 90 x 190, 140 x 190, 160 x 200, 180 x 200 cm | Both 190 and 200 cm lengths are encountered |
| Italy | Singolo, piazza e mezza, matrimoniale | 80 or 90 x 190, 120 x 190, 160 x 190 cm | Length and intermediate width need stating |
| Spain | Individual, matrimonio | 90 x 190, 135 x 190, 150 x 190 cm | Matrimonio can mean more than one width |
Order in millimetres: convert only for the drawing, then record the actual mattress width, length and depth in mm. The selected examples above are not fabrication dimensions.
Use the table for orientation, never as an order sheet. If you are bringing a mattress from another country, have an antique base, use an extra-long mattress or are planning a custom mattress, the number printed on that specific product wins.
From mattress label to workshop drawing
Use names and centimetre sizes only for orientation. The order chain is: nominal label, actual measured width, length and depth in millimetres, approved clear internal opening, support ledge and centre support, overall external footprint, largest welded delivery section, room access and chosen RAL colour. Confirm the unloading method and every limiting access dimension for direct heavy-goods delivery to the site.
Measure the mattress, not the old bed
Strip the bed and measure the mattress without compressing it. Take width and length across the broad faces, then depth from the underside to the highest point of the cover. Repeat width and length at more than one place. A soft edge can bow, and an old mattress may no longer be square.
Do not measure the outside of the existing frame and assume its internal allowance. Upholstery, timber rails, brackets and decorative caps all disguise the working size. For a new steel bed frame made to measure, send the mattress dimensions and let the drawing state the designed clearance separately. That makes responsibility visible: the mattress dimension is your input, while the allowance is a design decision to approve.
Internal size and external footprint are different questions
The internal opening controls whether the mattress fits. The external footprint controls whether the bed fits the room. Between them sit the side rails, headboard posts, corner joints and any projecting feet. A slim visual profile can still have wide feet at floor level, exactly where a skirting board or radiator pipe steals space.
Measure the room at floor level and mattress level. Record skirting depth, socket positions, radiator valves, window openings and the clear path needed for drawers or cupboards. Then mark the proposed outer rectangle with masking tape. Many buyers discover that the mattress fits comfortably but the frame blocks a door by 30 mm. Made to measure should resolve that conflict before steel is cut, not merely reproduce a non-standard mattress size.
The support system decides more than the frame style
A mattress does not normally lie directly on a few steel crossbars. It needs a support system compatible with its manufacturer instructions: timber slats, a ventilated platform, a sprung base or a separate foundation. The drawing should show what bears on the steel, where it bears, and the height of that bearing ledge.
- Slat length: specify whether slats sit inside side rails or span onto welded ledges.
- Centre support: wider beds commonly need a centre rail and intermediate floor support, but the mattress and slat supplier's requirements govern.
- Ventilation: a closed platform changes airflow below the mattress, so do not choose it only because it looks simple.
- Retaining depth: a deep recess holds the mattress visually but makes fitted sheets harder to change.
- Finished mattress height: the rail, base and mattress depths together decide how high you sit, not the steel rail alone.
If storage is planned underneath, specify the actual box or drawer height plus hand clearance. Raising the bed to gain storage changes sitting height and can make a thick mattress awkward, so those goals compete.
Access sets the largest welded section
Measure the complete carry-in route before the construction is fixed. Door openings, tight landings, ceiling slopes and turning space determine the largest rigid welded section that can reach the room. The design should preserve as much shop-welded stiffness as the route permits.
A site-bolted joint is not a standard flat-pack promise. It is an engineered exception only where the workshop confirms it is offered and the joint, fasteners, access and visible line appear on the approved drawing. Before direct delivery, confirm package dimensions, mass, unloading and the route described in the heavy steel delivery guidance.
What to put on the order drawing
- Actual mattress width, length and depth, with its manufacturer and nominal label if known.
- Clear internal frame dimensions and the intended allowance around the mattress.
- Overall external width and length, including headboard, feet and projections.
- Top height of the mattress support and predicted finished mattress height.
- Type, quantity and bearing arrangement of slats or other support.
- Centre support and floor contact arrangement.
- Headboard height and its relationship to the mattress top.
- Whether welded sections must come apart for access.
- Floor type, so feet and protectors can be selected.
- RAL colour and surface finish.
The useful question is not whether you need a European king frame. It is whether a specific mattress, support and room have been turned into one approved set of dimensions. That is where made to measure interior steelwork earns its place: not by changing the label, but by resolving all the interfaces the label conceals.