Beds
Buy and sell beds in Guatemala.
Ask a Guatemalan furniture store for a double bed and you will be shown a mattress on a fabric-covered base, with no headboard in sight: the wooden or upholstered frame that goes around it is priced and sold on its own. Beds in both senses are bought and sold here new and pre-owned, along with metal and wooden bunk beds for shared bedrooms and daybeds that hide a second mattress underneath. Because a bed can mean the set, the frame or both, a listing only becomes clear once it says which pieces are included and in which size: single, double, queen or king.
Frame, base and mattress:
are separate purchases that Guatemalan stores often sell under one name. The mattress rests on a base, a low fabric-covered box of wooden framing, and the two together are what a store sells as a bed or a bed set. The frame is the furniture: headboard, side rails and slats in wood, melamine or upholstery. One with closely spaced slats can take a mattress without a base; one with only a few cross pieces needs it, or the mattress sinks between them. A bunk bed usually puts a single over a double for children sharing a room, and daybeds and expandable bases keep a second mattress on wheels underneath. First beds for small children are under toddler beds, bedside tables are in side tables, and the wardrobe from a bedroom set belongs in cabinets.
Single, double, queen and king:
the size names are where most mismatches start. A double, which some brands label full, is the narrow one, and a queen is about a hand’s width wider and as much longer: enough that a queen mattress will not drop into a double frame, and a double mattress leaves a gap in a queen frame. Before buying a used frame, measure it inside, rail to rail, rather than trusting the size in the listing.
A bed set against the frame around it:
the two are priced apart, and a used double bed can mean either. A new double set, mattress and base, from everyday brands such as Olympia, Facenco or Comfort Life runs about Q2,500 to Q4,500, and Simmons or Serta sets cost twice that or more. A frame adds Q2,000 to Q5,000 new, from melamine up to upholstered queen and king frames. Second-hand, the halves part company. A sound frame keeps much of its value, since wood and steel have little that wears out, while the mattress is what buyers most often want to replace. Price a used set on its frame and base, and count the mattress as an extra.
Slats, rail brackets and the underside of a used base:
tell you more than the headboard. Lift the mattress: a cracked slat is cheap to replace, but slats bowed in the middle mean the frame carried more than it was built for, and a queen or king needs its centre rail and leg. Where the rails hook or bolt into the headboard the brackets should sit tight; a frame that creaks as you roll over has worn hooks or bolts loose in the wood. Tip the base on its side and check the framing under the bottom cloth for damp and broken cross pieces. Small rust-coloured spots in its corners or along the mattress piping mean bedbugs, and a bed is where they settle first. On a metal bunk bed, check the welds at the ladder and guard rail, then shake the top bunk.
A frame that comes apart and a base that splits in two:
settle most sales, because a one-piece queen base will not climb a narrow staircase. Say whether you are selling the frame, the mattress set or both, and give the size by name with the inside measurements. If the mattress goes too, give its brand and age and say whether it always had a protector. Photograph the frame assembled in daylight, then the bare slats and the brackets, and tape the bolts and Allen keys in a bag to one rail. Someone hiring a pickup from Sololá or Chiquimula will ask whether the base splits in two, how many pieces the frame breaks into and whether you will help carry them out.