Back in college, I purchased a utilitarian black metal bed frame and memory foam mattress from Wayfair. It was a solid bed: It served its purpose and followed me from apartment to apartment for (probably too many) years. Unfortunately, the black metal didn’t mesh with the midcentury modern vibe I was aiming for with the rest of my current apartment. So, I needed a change.
Luckily, I came across Silk & Snow. Their Platform bed uses Japanese wooden joinery similar to the popular Thuma frame—but for literally half the price. They also offer a series of mattresses to compliment the frame. Here’s my Silk & Snow bed frame review, along with my take on the mattress, the assembly process, and whether it’s the right choice for anyone looking to upgrade their sleep situation.
Heavy-Duty Design, Heavier-Duty Boxes
I opted for the Platform bed with a wooden upholstered headboard and the S&S Memory Foam Mattress, both in size full. It arrived in a total of five boxes. Three large boxes held the bulk of the bed, another large box held the mattress, and a fifth smaller box held the headboard cover. A huge benefit of wooden-joinery-style beds is their ease of assembly—and we’ll discuss that in a bit—but one thing to note about the S&S bed’s solid wooden construction is its weight. This thing is heavy, which is great, since premium acacia wood will likely last for many years to come. The only problem is you need to get the boxes into your bedroom, and when you live in a third-floor walkup like myself, that can present an issue. (However, in the age of pressed plywood furniture, a heavy-duty design is worth the struggle, IMO.) All that’s to say, you’ll likely need an extra set of hands to get this thing up stairs. The headboard box in particular is rather unwieldy and would be hard to carry solo, no matter how much you bench. Once inside, everything you need for the bed is in the boxes and with very clear instructions. These beds famously don’t require screws or any tools for assembly, either—just a touch of elbow grease.
Setup Was a Breeze
The actual build process of the S&S bed frame was really easy. The hardest part is definitely getting the boxes inside—and opening up the meticulously sealed packaging. But once the pieces are laid out, it all starts to click. There are a couple of legs for the central support beam that have to be twisted on, but every other piece just fits together like an incredibly solvable wooden jigsaw puzzle.
Kevin Ford
You can also do the whole thing pretty much by yourself, with the exception of the headboard attachment, which does require an extra person to make sure it’s lined up with the joinery of the bed platform. They recommend you lay all the pieces out in their intended location first, which makes the process smoother and helps determine if you are missing anything. From there, it’s as simple as following the step-by-step instructions. The whole process, from laying out the pieces to putting on the headboard cover, took me less than 10 minutes.
Kevin Ford
Kevin Ford
Once done with the frame, you can remove the mattress from its box. It comes rolled up in plastic, so you’ll want to be careful when removing the cover so as to not puncture the fabric. (They provide a plastic tool to help with this.) Once unrolled, S&S recommend laying it out on the frame and then cracking the vacuum-seal, after which the mattress literally springs to life. Heads up: It can take up to 72 hours to fully fill out, but you can sleep on it immediately—and anecdotally, mine appeared to be mostly decompressed within a few minutes.
It Turned Out Great
After assembly, the Silk & Snow bed looked and felt great. All of the joinery pieces fit together very snugly, which did require a bit of extra force to push them together, but it also means the bed feels very solid. You won’t have to worry about a shaky frame that requires periodic screw-tightening, since this thing is not moving. There are about 8 inches of clearance beneath the bed, which is slightly higher than my previous setup and lends itself to improved under-bed storage capability. However, it’s still low enough to maintain an air of minimalism and avoid having your bed become the main fixture in the room.
I will point out that Silk & Snow does not currently offer dedicated under-bed storage drawers for this wooden platform bed. They do sell this upholstered bed frame with built-in storage, though, if you want to go that route. After a little over a week of sleeping on this thing, I genuinely have zero complaints. The bed looks great and its minimalist, mid century vibe acts as a wonderful compliment to my room. I don’t think I fully grasped how worn out my old mattress was until I switched to this one, either—it’s extremely comfortable. The only downside is that it’s made getting up for work noticeably harder. And, in an era where any furniture purchase—particularly a solid wood joinery furniture purchase—seems to require a second mortgage, the Silk & Snow bed feels like a steal at it’s current price point.
My TL;DR? This thing rocks, and if you’re looking for a new mattress that looks terrific, feels sturdy, and won’t break the bank, you can’t go wrong with Silk & Snow.
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