Ikea HEMNES Bed Frame Impressions: Single Bed Version

Am I in the market for a bed? Absolutely not, but it felt like a good idea to check another one out from Ikea. Going to look at the Ikea HEMNES twin bed frame this time around. Last one I checked out was the Ikea MALM twin bed frame about a month ago. You can definitely sense my enthusiasm...

An Ikea FJELLSE bed frame from years back

Disclaimer: I had not had any firsthand experience with any HEMNES bed products when I wrote this piece. Details were quoted from the Ikea United States website or Canada website in May 2017. Details on this page are NOT guaranteed for accuracy.

Ikea HEMNES Single Bed First Impressions
To be specific, it was the Ikea HEMNES "Bed frame, black-brown, Luröy" (290.116.73) that I found under the "Single beds" category on the Ikea.ca website. I saw a "white stain" version of it available under the product page's "Similar products" section as well. The "black-brown" version was what I focused on though, and it was going for CA$ 186.00 at the time due to a sale -- the regular price was CA$ 219.00. And to emphasize, this was the cheaper version with the Luroy slatted bed base. Words that got my attention under the "Product description" were "Solid pine," "Stain," and "lacquer" for the "Bed frame" portion.

Going by the product photos for the Ikea HEMNES bed frame, I saw a bed that looked like a cross between the Ikea MALM and Ikea FJELLSE single beds. On the website, the MALM appeared to use big panels at the ends while the FJELLSE seemed to go with a fairly open front and a low-profile rear. Cross these two and you'd have a bed on four legs with big panels at the ends but also an opening at the front. And that would be my description for the Ikea HEMNES bed frame. One of the things that bugged me about the Ikea MALM was that it looked like the front and rear panels blocked access to the bed's underside -- a cleaning, storage, and cable routing consideration. This did not seem like a problem with the HEMNES.

Random comic I forgot I had concerning my music listening habits.

Out of the three beds I mentioned above, I found the HEMNES the most attractive and complete. In comparison, the MALM looked more modern with the big panels and the FJELLSE more barebones with the lower profile parts. Kind of a too much, too little, and just right situation to me. Aesthetics are, of course, a personal preference. Speaking of, I bought an Ikea FJELLSE twin-sized bed frame a while back that looked similar to the one on the website when I wrote this. My biggest considerations were price and material when it came to the FJELLSE. Can't beat a CA$ 60-ish bed  with no stain or paint to wear off when all you want is something to work and last.

Back to the Ikea HEMNES single bed frame: I took a look at the "Assembly instruction" document and found two sets when the window popped up. The major difference between the two, which I could find, appeared to be the use of four vertical slats versus three vertical slats at the front of the frame -- I didn't go through each page carefully. The product photos on the HEMNES page had four slats so I focused on that one. I didn't see any surprises and the hardware looked fairly typical for Ikea furniture to me. What got my attention was that the bed frame seemed to use a metal rail to support the slatted bed base. Not remotely a surprise but I've mentioned in other write ups how I don't care for it -- due to ease of assembly and disassembly. And it looked like the metal rail system could be installed at different heights. This detail was mentioned under "Key features" on the product page as "adjustable bed sides."

Final Thoughts
Gotta admit that I really liked what I saw in the Ikea HEMNES single bed from an aesthetic standpoint. What I would have loved to see was a bare wood, solid pine version with no stain or lacquer. My problem with the HEMNES, however, was the price at CA$ 219.00 for the Luroy bed base version. This was a CA$ 25 premium over the MALM single bed at the time. If it were a choice between the MALM and HEMNES, I'd go HEMNES without hesitation. But there were also the Ikea FJELLSE and TARVA single beds available for CA$ 99.00 and under. Either of these two beds were more my thing, but I could see the appeal of the HEMNES.


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Ikea FJELLSE Bed Frame Review