Our bed groans louder than we ever could

When I was married, we had a frame with slats and simply turning over in bed would make them squeak. I used to wake myself frustrated and angry and almost in tears over this. So when I got divorced, my biggest priority was a SILENT bedframe. I found a vintage double (they didn't make queen/king until recently) frame with a beautiful headboard & footboard of cherry & burl wood, with a heavy metal underframe. The place I bought it built out the metal frame to hold a queen mattress and when I told them my issues with noise, created a thick plywood platform sized to the built-out frame. That was 18 years ago. About 3 years ago, I had a handyman come in and shore up the platform with cross braces underneath. Now, nothing will move that frame and it's dead silent. And because the platform was built out to be queen size on what was originally a double frame, it actually sits a bit higher than normal. With a pillow top mattress and no springs, I have to climb slightly to get into bed. (I.e., when I sit on the edge of the mattress, my feet don't reach the floor). I fucking love this bed.

I have http://www.roomandboard.com/rnb/product/detail.do?productGroup=19613, and it never makes any noise at all, whatsoever.

Not slats. Ours creak all the time too. I think the wood rubbing on wood as the slats shift when people roll over causes it.

I have a Nyvoll bed from Ikea, which has a headboard so you're not interested in that probably. But it's remarkably solid (especially considering I put it together myself) and I've been surprised at how non-melodic it is when I move around. Especially compared to a plain metal frame which is what I had before. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S69902945/ is in about the same price class (so I would imagine it's similarly solid), higher off the ground than most Ikea frames, and headboardless. It might be worth taking a trip to the store to give it a bounce test.

Agree with tylerkaraszewski on the platform bed. Ours is quiet as a mouse, even when we are not!

http://www.jkulstad.com/content/storage-bed/ http://ana-white.com/2013/03/our-king-bed-open-storage-and-bolted-frame http://qallari.com/benefits-of-a-platform-bed/platform-bed-frame-with-storage/ http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/how-to/overview/0,,20598149,00.html, once bolted together, are noise free. You can use a piece of sheet material instead of the centre slats. Your current head board can be bolted to the cabinet. These style of beds are very strong, even when constructed out of cheap MDF (it's how water bed pedestals were made back in the day). So your budget is more limited by aesthetics and durability of the materials. And as you can see they lend themselves to DIY if you are so inclined. Their only drawback is ease of moving. What with the three big boxes, your head board and box spring and mattress a bed ends up being a pickup load all by itself. http://ask.metafilter.com/256121/Our-bed-groans-louder-than-we-ever-could#3722081: "Not slats. Ours creak all the time too. " If you have a problem with slats squeeking rubbing the mating surfaces with paraffin or bees wax will likely abate the problem.