First flat: the bed and mattress checklist, in the order to buy things

A first flat comes with a lot of purchases and one of them is a bed, which is the most expensive thing you will buy and the one you have thought about least. This is the checklist we would give a friend: what to spend, what to skip, and the order.

1. Measure the room, then the route

The bed has to fit the room with space to walk round it, and it has to get through the front door, up the stairs and through the bedroom door. A double (135 × 190 cm) fits almost any bedroom and almost any stairs; a king (150 × 200 cm) needs a room over about 3 metres wide to have bedside tables, and a staircase that turns generously. See will the mattress fit up the stairs.

2. Decide the size

• Single or small double: only if the room is tiny, or it is genuinely a study bedroom.
• Double: the default for one person who likes room or a couple in a small flat.
• King: the size most couples should buy if the room allows. Ten centimetres longer than a double, which matters over 6ft.

If a partner is a possibility in the life of this flat, buy the double at least.

3. Frame or divan

• A divan base (a fabric-covered box, sprung or platform-top) is the cheapest, most supportive base, takes drawers, and is what most mattress guarantees assume. Not pretty.
• A slatted frame looks better, is lighter to move, and is fine for a mattress if the slats are no more than 7 cm apart and there is a centre rail on a king. Cheap frames with wide slats or thin centre supports dish a mattress.
• An ottoman (lifting storage bed) is the best use of a small flat's space; the base is a solid platform, which makes a mattress feel firmer.

A flat you might leave in a year: a divan or a cheap solid frame. A flat you will stay in: a frame you like.

4. The mattress: the one thing to spend on

The frame can be cheap; the mattress cannot. You sleep on it every night, and a good one moves to the next flat and the one after that. What matters:

• Pocket springs, not open coil, if anyone will ever share it.
• Medium or medium-firm with a real comfort layer (4 cm or more of memory foam or latex). Not firm, not soft.
• Foam densities you can see: 50 kg/m³ memory foam and up, 35 kg/m³ support foam and up. This is what decides whether it is still level in five years.
• A firm edge if it will be sat on.
• Delivered how? Rolled means you carry it up; flat means two people do.

Budget: £400 to £650 for a double that will last eight to ten years. Under £250 buys a mattress that is replaced in three. See how to read a spec sheet.

5. The things that go on it

• A breathable protector from day one (it is also what keeps the guarantee valid).
• Two sets of fitted sheets in the right size and depth.
• A duvet for the season (4.5 tog summer, 10.5 or 13.5 winter, or a 4.5 and a 9 that clip together).
• Two decent pillows per sleeper.

6. Before the van arrives

• Book the mattress delivery for a day you are in, after the frame is built.
• If the old flat had a mattress you are leaving, tell the landlord; if you own it, arrange disposal, not the alley. See old mattress disposal.
• Assemble the frame first; a mattress on the floor is fine for a night, not a month.

What to skip

• The "bed in a bag" set with everything in polyester.
• A mattress topper on a new mattress; if it needs one, it was the wrong mattress.
• A memory foam mattress if either of you sleeps hot.
• A super king in a first flat. Where would it go.

How we fit in

The Single Life is built for the first proper bed: a medium-feel double with gel memory foam over three-zone pocket springs, Medium or Firm tension, foam densities listed, delivered flat by two people who carry it up. It is the everyday mattress, and it is the one that goes to the next flat.

The short version

• Measure the room and the stairs; buy a double unless the room says otherwise.
• Cheap frame, good mattress. Pocket springs, medium, real comfort layer, densities you can see.
• Protector, two sets of sheets, a seasonal duvet, real pillows.
• Frame built before the mattress arrives; old mattress disposed of properly.