Sleeping on a Dog Bed for a Year

From October 2022 to July 2023, I slept on a bed that I made myself by hand. It’s basically a giant rectangular pillow, made of a length of velvety, navy blue synthetic fabric and filled with synthetic pillow stuffing.

I jokingly call it a dog bed in the title of this post because while it’s human length, the thickness and construction has more in common with a dog bed that a typical human bed in the U.S. And I thought it might get your attention.

The idea properly began after I signed my first lease in the Boston area. I had been subletting a room the first few months after I moved here, and it came furnished. The room I would be moving into would not be furnished. The prospect of hauling a twin mattress up the stairs was unappealing. So unappealing that I started thinking of ways to get around the hassle of putting a bed in the room. Could I get away with a less massive, cumbersome bed?

I did some thinking and internet searching, and I got interested in minimalist bed options. One piece of inspiration was the traditional Japanese shikibuton (not to be confused with the Westernized futon that resembles a sofa), which is the sleeping surface of the Japanese futon bedding setup. A shikibuton is a rectangular sleeping pad made of a textile case stuffed with plant fiber, typically cotton nowadays. It is traditionally laid on top of a tatami mat for insulation, softness, and airflow. Then on top of the shikibuton goes the person, and on top of the person, the kakebuton (like a duvet).

I first experimented with sleeping on the ground using what I already had. I folded my winter duvet in half and laid it on top of a yoga mat, laid down with my blanket (acutally a duvet cover, also this was summer) and pillow and slept for several nights. It was fine. Although it was much harder than the mattress, it didn’t stop me from falling asleep, and I slept normally. Although I did notice at first some rear end discomfort from the harder surface, this very rapidly disappeared in just the first few nights. This showed me that I didn’t need a full on regular mattress to sleep. But I’d need that duvet back in use as a duvet when it got colder, so I got interested in making a shikibuton.

Sure, I could buy a cheap shikibuton online. But I came to prefer the idea of making one myself with salvaged materials. I saw how much stuff got jettisoned on the regular by the rapidly turning over population of this dense, college-heavy area. Poly fill wouldn’t be hard to find.

After I moved into my new room, I continued sleeping on the duvet-yoga mat combo while I embarked on my plan to sew a shikibuton. I ended up buying a couple yards of durable fabric from the nearby discount fabric store (in retrospect, I may have been able to salvage unwanted bedding for this). For the filling, I picked up several couch cushions put out on the curb just a few houses down the street. I experimented with sleeping on the cushions lined up, but they tended to slide apart. I cut open the cushions and pulled out the fluffy sheets of filling, which were, like the rest of the cushions, in pristine condition. I did some measuring and math, and then got started.

To make the bed, I folded the fabric in half and hand-sewed, with big, fast, whipstitches, closed a short edge and a long edge. Then I flipped it inside out and started filling it with the polyester fill. I carefully assembled stacks of filling that would evenly fill the bed, and shoved them in. It was basically like making a giant pillow.

When the bed was done, I started sleeping on it. Then I added one final detail: tufting, which made it look a little nicer, with the benefit of helping hold the filling in place and prevent it from shifting. The tufting is simply a stitch sewn through the entire thickness of the cushion, pulled taut to make a slight indentation on either side, and then tied off.

I estimate it took me about ten hours, spread across maybe two weeks. With the leftover fabric, I made a really long pillow, tufted to match, more for fun than for utility.

I slept on this bed for ten months and here is my review:

I found it completely adequate. There was no difference in my sleep quality. It didn’t affect how I felt in the daytime, as far as I could tell. It was slightly easier to get up in the morning and avoid dawdling because it did not lend itself to as comfortable phone scrolling posture. But I want to emphasize that it didn’t feel like an uncomfortable bed. I got in at night feeling comfortable and cozy, and woke up with no back pain or whatever you might fear. It’s not too different from an inflatable sleeping pad for camping, which I also sleep fine on, except it’s much wider and a bit firmer since it compresses, unlike the inflatable.

Also, once a side sleeper, always a side sleeper. I expected this thin bed to turn me into a back sleeper, but no, I still found myself on my side. And surprisingly, it was fine.

There was also the benefit of being able to stand it up against the wall to make floor space in my tiny room. With a regular immobile mattress, I wouldn’t have had enough space to do many types of exercises.

That being said, I don’t sleep on it any more. I moved into a much larger room, and a friend who was moving offered to sell me his bed and mattress, delivery and moving up the stairs included, at a nice price, so I bought it. Now I have a normal bed and mattress. I sleep fine in it as well. This one I can keep as a backup. Maybe I’ll give it away if someone wants it.

Overall, I liked this experiment and I was happy to discover that I don’t need a foot-thick slab of various petroleum-based foams, springs and whatnot to sleep well at night. Just a few inches of cushioning did the job as well as any, for maybe $30.

Dozens, maybe even hundreds of mattresses are thrown away every year in Greater Boston alone, just because people are moving out. This helped me realize that not only do we not needed that many brand new mattresses, we don’t need mattresses to all* have that much stuff in them either.

Cringe disclaimer: this blog post is about my experience and does not constitute health advice to the world at large.