Thuma bed frame review: Is the DTC furniture worth it?

Whether you're a recent college grad with a starter apartment full of IKEA, or someone who just can't be bothered to shop for new furniture, you've probably slept on some pretty rickety bed frames.

I had exclusively slept on a $100 metal bed frame from my broke college student days for over six years until testing Thuma's TikTok-favorite platform bed frame(opens in a new tab), and it convinced me that you actually should invest in some pieces of furniture.

Thuma's "The Bed" is an elevated wood bed frame designed with quick, easy assembly in mind. Japanese joinery makes the frame wildly simple to put together (no tools required), and ensures a quiet, sturdy platform for your mattress — even during intense adult activities.

Every detail of the Thuma bed has been thought out, from the rounded corners to protect your shins to the super supportive bed slats that keep your mattress in place.

To be frank, I'm not good at following assembly directions. I'm the kind of person who takes one look at an instruction sheet, yells "wtf?" and convinces someone else to put together the furniture for me. The Bed(opens in a new tab) is probably the fastest and easiest piece of furniture I've ever assembled — and I even did it wrong at first because I didn't fully read the instructions.

Including my not-reading-the-instructions hiccup, the bed assembly took me about 20 minutes from start to finish. If you read the instructions properly the first time, I can see it taking no more than 15 minutes to assemble. I'm not strong by any means, and each of the pieces was light enough that I didn't struggle to move them. All that was required to put the frame together was lining up each piece into its dedicated hole, and hand-tightening two thick screws. You won't need a box spring for this bed frame — the included wood slats offer all the support your mattress needs. Even without a ton of bolts, nails, and screws, the Japanese joinery construction makes the frame sturdier than traditional heavy wooden bed frames.

I also received the PillowBoard with my review unit, and while I don't love that it's not attached to the bed frame, it's not a huge deal. The PillowBoard is held in place by the wall and the weight of your mattress, so it mostly stays in place, but will sometimes shift. Every now and then, it'll slip slightly off-center and needs to be pushed back into place.

Note that the PillowBoard and HeadBoard are both add-on products to The Bed. The PillowBoard will run you an extra $200 on top of the cost of the bed frame, while the HeadBoard will tack on an extra $600 to $900 depending on the bed frame size you choose. Even though it's solid wood, the price of the headboard is pretty extravagant, so we don't recommend it unless you have a ton of money to blow.

Even though the Thuma bed(opens in a new tab) is mostly held together just from wood fitting into joints, it's exceptionally sturdy. I'm talking about the kind of sturdy that your downstairs neighbors won't ever hear your bed frame creaking during certain late-night activities. Trust me, all your neighbors will thank you for this one.

Though I tested The Bed in a bedroom with carpet (which likely helped reduce any wobbling), the bottom of The Bed's legs also come complete with cork-padded bottoms for extra cushion, stability, and floor protection.

As someone who slept on a mattress on the floor for much of my young adult life, I really can't complain about the height of the Thuma bed frame. It boasts nine inches of under-bed clearance for storage, so thin under-bed storage boxes are ideal here. Some of my larger check-in suitcases don't fit underneath the bed, but I've had minimal problems storing other items underneath.

I find the height of the bed frame especially nice. If you have a thick mattress (think: anything with a pillow top) your bed will be at a good height. If you're rocking with something on the thinner side though, like a lower-cost memory foam mattress, you might find that the bed sits a little lower than you're used to.

The Thuma bed frame(opens in a new tab) starts at $895 for a twin and goes up to $1,095 for a California King, with other bed sizes sitting in between. This isn't including the cost of a headboard, either, so it's a big investment. While you might be able to find a solid wood platform bed option for a few hundred bucks, Thuma's pricing is pretty on-par for solid wood bed frames from other major brands.

The Thuma bed frame isn't a direct substitute for your old Target or IKEA bed frame that you paid $200 for straight out of college. Shelling out $1K+ on a bed frame is extravagant for a lot of people, and we get that. On the flip side, the Thuma bed frame is a purchase that'll likely last you the rest of your life.

The solid, dependable construction, easy assembly, and simple timeless design mean that it'll last through many (if not all) phases of your life. It's easy to take apart, move, and put back together for folks who move frequently, and because the color scheme is so simple, it'll go with any home aesthetic you choose (even if you switch it up regularly).

Thuma's eye on sustainability is also something to keep in mind. Low-cost, mass-produced "Fast Furniture(opens in a new tab)" from large retailers like Wayfair, IKEA, and Target is starting to fill up landfills. Opting for a well-made bed frame made of real wood (instead of particle board and cheap veneers) ensures it'll last longer and keep more furniture out of the trash.

If you're switching from fast fashion to slow fashion, consider doing the same thing with your furniture.