I will always love an antique bed frame and the character that it adds to a bedroom. But unfortunately, many antique beds are sitting in storage because they’re made for smaller mattresses. With queen mattresses being the new standard, I was on a mission to find a way to make a full size antique bed fit a queen mattress. Good news, I discovered a hack that costs around $25 and requires only an hour of your time!
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After months of searching for an antique 4 Poster Pinneaple Bed frame, I found the perfect one on Facebook Marketplace. While it’s meant for a full size mattress, I knew I could make some adjustments to it so that it would fit our queen mattress. After some research, I found several unfavorable solutions that involved either drilling holes into the headboard, purchasing expensive conversion kits, or building complicated custom clamps. Then I found the perfect solution: adapter brackets.
Essentially, with adapter brackets, you use the headboard and footboard with a separate queen bed frame. These brackets hook onto the headboard and footboard where the side rails normally go. And then they extend out so that you can bolt the brackets to a separate queen bed frame. See below for a step-by-step tutorial or watch this video tutorial.
How To Use Adapter Brackets To Make A Full Size Bed Fit A Queen Mattress
HOOK THE BRACKETS ONTO THE HEADBOARD & FOOTBOARD
If your headboard and footboard utilize a hook-on method to attach the side rails, then these adapter brackets will work with your bed.
Simply hook the brackets into both the headboard and footboard. You’ll need 4 brackets total.
DRILL HOLES INTO THE QUEEN BED FRAME (IF NEEDED)
In order for the brackets to work, you’ll need to purchase a queen bed frame. We have this metal bed frame which already comes with a couple of holes in the legs where the headboard attaches, but we needed to drill a couple more holes in the metal bed frame to ensure the bracket would be securely attached in multiple spots.
To do so, you’ll need a drill and a drill bit intended for metal. Mark where the holes in the bracket align with the legs on the metal bed and drill the additional holes. We ensured that each leg had two holes so that we could use two bolts in each leg.
BOLT THE BRACKETS TO THE BED FRAME
As mentioned, we used two bolts per leg to ensure that the headboard and footboard were secure. The bolts aren’t included with the brackets so you’ll need to purchase eight 1/4″ x 2″ bolts along with 8 washers and 8 nuts.
While a ratchet set is not required, it is very helpful in making sure the bolts are tight.
COVER THE BED FRAME WITH A BED SKIRT
Since the bed frame is exposed, you’ll want to cover it with a bed skirt. I used this one!
And that’s it! It’s incredibly simple, costs around $25 total, and does not require you to put any holes in the antique headboard or footboard. It’s the perfect solution that gives full size antique beds a purpose again!
WILL THIS WORK TO CONVERT A QUEEN BED FRAME TO A KING MATTRESS?
Unfortunately no. The size difference between a full bed and a queen bed is only 6″ while the size difference between a queen bed and king bed is 16″. These brackets do not extend out far enough for that large of a gap. Additionally, because the size difference between a queen and king is so large, a queen headboard would look too narrow for a king mattress.
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