ByLydia Geisel,Photography bySacha Strebe
PublishedOct 1, 2024 1:45 AM EDT
We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs.
Sign Up for Domino’s Newsletter
By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to ourTerms of Useand acknowledge the data practices in ourPrivacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.
When Sacha Strebe, editorial director at EyeSwoon, and her husband, Troy, were living in their old L.A. rental, they searched high and low for a bed frame that matched their European-meets-wabi-sabi vision for the space. Nothing felt quite right, so Troy sketched a design and handed it to their close friend, maker Omar Call, who built their dream 8-foot-5 by 8-foot-9 bed from solid birchwood.
Because the custom piece was a serious investment—it cost roughly $4,000 to make—when the couple decided to move in May 2023, there was no way they were parting with it, even if their new, narrow bedroom was nearly the exact width of the bed frame itself.
“When my husband took me to see the house, we brought a tape measure to check if the frame would fit,” Sacha recalls. “I was really nervous that it would be too big, but to our surprise, it was perfect.”
Getting it into the room was the hard part. They had designed the bed to come apart in five pieces, yet each component was still seriously heavy, requiring at least two people to arrange and assemble. “Thankfully we don’t plan to move again anytime soon,” she says.
You might assume that dropping an XL bed into a teeny bedroom would waste square footage and make the whole space feel cramped, but it had the opposite effect. “It made the room feel bigger and less awkward—it looks like it was made for the space,” Sacha admits. And because the frame’s sides are a generous 14 inches thick, the couple can walk along them when they need to get out or adjust the UV shade.
The chunky frame has also inspired Sacha to get creative with her styling: the headboard and sides double as nightstands. “Typically I have the latest book I’m reading, a fragrance—either a candle or potpourri—and a vessel,” she shares. When she wants a glass of water nearby, she sets down a coaster first, careful not to damage the wax finish on the wood. “We added a wall lamp on my side, too, so I could easily reach over and switch it on when I’m reading at night,” she adds.
Making the bed is effortless, since she’s leaned into linen covers that look best when casually draped over the mattress. She loves a heavyweight layer, rotating between options from Cultiver and Bed Threads. “There’s a nice, lived-in warmth and texture to linen that really suits the overall design of our bedroom,” Sacha says. A bedroom that’s basically all bed puts the emphasis exactly where it should be: catching z’s.
Lydia Geisel has been on the editorial team at Domino since 2017. Today, she writes and edits home and renovation stories, including house tours, before and afters, and DIYs, and leads our design news coverage. She lives in New York City.
Learn more about Domino.comEditorial Standards
