A bed frame is perhaps the most important piece of furniture in the bedroom and it provides the base on which the mattress can be fitted and used for sleep. It holds the mattress and gives the firm support needed. Also referred to as bedsteads, they include the headboard, footboard, side rails and occasionally a center support rail. The most commonly used materials are wood and metal.

Bed frames were first carved out of wood some four thousand years ago and used by the Egyptians, Romans and Etruscans. With four legs, a headboard and a solid base, they became ornamental and stone studded according to affordability. As carpentry became more refined, better quality bed frames were made. The 17th century saw the bed frame evolve into a four-poster bed.

The next two hundred years saw variations according to taste and place in the basic bed frame that comprised of a headboard, footboard, rails supported on four legs. Sometimes made into admiral frames on a raised platform, at others into a canopy, they matched all furniture styles from Renaissance to Victorian. Heavy wood came to be substituted for lighter varieties, and in tropical areas, bamboo became the material to be used. Wrought iron followed and soon began to be used for bed frames as well. Painted, stained and upholstered headboards and footboards have come into vogue, though many prefer carved wooden embellishments. All bed frames come in king, queen, twin or single sizes.
The divan is a bed whose frame includes just side rails and four legs with the head and footboards absent.

The bed frames in vogue now includes rounded or straight lined headboards covered in synthetic leather with cushion paddings to enhance comfort and threading for aesthetic purpose . See Synthetic Leather Bedframes

Comfort on the bed and the quality of sleep is attributed more to the mattress than to the bed frame. Yet it is essential as a piece of furniture without which a mattress will remain incomplete and inadequate.