My Favorite Inexpensive Beds (That Don’t Look Cheap!)

A few weeks back we spent our first weekend in our new home in North Carolina (more on that {here} if you missed it!) with nothing but blow-up mattresses and four papasan-style dorm chairs for furniture. Furnishing this house is a little bit tricky because we need to get a few furniture basics so we can stay there comfortably, but we don’t want to spend much since we’ll eventually be moving most of the furniture from our current home down there.

The most pressing issue right now is beds and mattresses so I’ve been scouring my favorite online stores for beds for our three bedrooms that don’t break the bank. It’s easy to find cheap beds but inexpensive beds that are also stylish and don’t look cheap are harder to come by and that’s what they had to be in order to make my list!  I included a range of price points all the way down to under $200 to make sure there are several options for those on a really tight budget and divided them into my favorite metal, wood, and upholstered beds priced out in the queen size. Ready to see my favorites? (post includes affiliate links; full disclosure statement available {here}).

Inexpensive, Stylish Metal Beds That Don’t Look Cheap

Unless you want to go with a simple headboard instead of a complete bed with side rails and a footboard, metal beds are typically going to be your least expensive route to go. These are my six favorites:

Bed 1 (found {here}) is under $200 for a queen which is pretty amazing! The simple, classic design will never go out of style and it’s available in white too.

Bed 2 (found {here}) is currently under $250 for a queen – I love the unique design of it!

Bed 3 (found {here}) is my favorite pick if you’re looking for a reasonably priced brass bed (it’s available in white and black too) Update: they have raised the price on this bed a lot unfortunately

Bed 4 (found {here}) is currently under $200 for a queen in black (it’s also available in gold, gray, & white). I love that there’s just a little bit of funkiness added to what is otherwise a classic design.

Bed 5 (found {here}) is another bargain at under $200 for a queen – it’s one of the cheapest on my list but probably my favorite design of the bunch for a metal bed.

Bed 6 (found {here}) is currently under $300 for a queen – I love that depending on the bedding you use with it, you could make it lean more modern or more traditional. Great reviews!

Inexpensive, Stylish Wood Beds That Don’t Look Cheap

I found lots of beautiful wood beds including some with natural wood tones and others that are painted. You can get a simple slat design wood bed quite inexpensively but I was looking for something with a little more style. In general, wood beds are pricier than the metal beds but these all retail at $999 or less and go on sale frequently (right now they’re all on sale for $750 or less):

Bed 1 (found {here}) has a classic design with tapered legs that comes in four finish options

Bed 2 (found {here}) is another classic beauty 

Bed 3 (found {here}) is available in white, gray, or black – I love the lattice design of the headboard! Available in three finish options.

Bed 4 (found {here}) has a beadboard design with a coastal feel. It’s available in three finish options including a gorgeous smoked charcoal.

Bed 5 (found {here}) has a beautiful curved headboard shape. I love the warm Ash Gray finish but it also comes in a black and white finish

Bed 6 (found {here}) has stunning lines (including the ball feet!) and the two finish options are beautiful and classic

Bed 7 (found {here}) is a gorgeous, stylish canopy bed

I ended up choosing bed 4 found {here} for our new guest room and I’m really happy with it:

Scroll & Click/Tap Image to Shop This Space:

Inexpensive, Stylish Upholstered Beds That Don’t Look Cheap

Upholstered beds are the hardest of the bed types to find at an inexpensive price because most of them that are really cheap are made with super cheap looking fabric. In choosing my favorites, I looked for ones that have nice looking fabrics, a beautiful design, and of course don’t break the bank. If these are still too expensive for your budget, instead of getting a dirt cheap upholstered bed with a cheap looking fabric, I’d recommend going with just an upholstered headboard with a better quality fabric and save your money that way. These are my six favorites:

Bed 1 (found {here}) is a great option if you like more modern lines. In addition to this gray velvet, it also comes in a gorgeous navy and blush.

Bed 2 (found {here}) is the one I bought for our guest room several months back – I’m super happy with!

Scroll & Click/Tap Image to Shop This Space:

I chose the Zuma White fabric but there are lots of other fabric options too. You can also find it {here} and {here}, sometimes for a slightly higher or lower price. A close up pic of the fabric (which is a creamy white rather than the more grayish white shown on the listing) can be seen in {this post}. 

Bed 3 (found {here}) is currently $800 for a queen in their three in-stock fabrics – the wood legs give it a bit of a midcentury modern feel

Bed 4 (found {here}) is currently under $800 for a queen in the Basketweave Slub Oatmeal fabric – I love the clean, classic design and outline of nailheads 

Bed 5 (found {here}) is nice and tall (which I like since pillows don’t entirely cover up the headboard), comes in two shades of gray, and gets great reviews

Bed 6 (found {here}) is a channel bed which is very much in style right now and comes in 14 velvet fabric options

One thing to know about several of the beds on my list is that there’s often assembly involved, which is part of the way they’re able to keep the price down so you might have to put an hour or two of DIY equity into putting them together. My upholstered guest bed took about two hours from start to finish to unpack and assemble. Totally worth it in my opinion but if you hate assembly, read the description of each bed thoroughly to know what you’re in for.

So now that you’ve seen all of my favorites, which one is your fave? Do you own an inexpensive bed that you love and think should be added to the list? 

Hope you all have a great start to your week!