Better Sleep With A Blanket Retainer

Modern bead stead furniture most often does not incorporate a footboard. Whereas this makes bed making a bit easier, it does have the disadvantage of letting the blankets work their way off the bottom of the bed as the sleeper changes positions. To avoid this, the pseudo footboard described below can correct this problem while still making the bed easy to make. .

A number of prototype footboard blanket retainers have been made and used within the family for a number of years. This blanket retainer is a simple, inexpensive solution keeping the blankets from sliding off the foot of the bed. The included figures display its configuration.

The figures show the bookend type construction. The solid white part can be visible at the end of the bed or it can be put one layer down, beneath the top coverlet. The part that slips under the mattress, like between the mattress and the box springs, is coated with a black friction increasing spray. (It is car undercoating, which I happened to have on hand.) It helps the retainer to stay in place. A more neutral colored material could be used in a production model.

As shown in the figures, the mattress side of the retainer is pronged. It doesn’t show when installed at the bed end.. These prongs, while holding the retainer in place, also provide easy paths for wiring to heat blankets, heat sheets or pads or possibly a vibrator. The solid side is some 6” tall and the prongs are 11” long.

The best material found was ¼ inch thick rigid foam plastic. It is easily machined, rigid, and easily bent when heated. And it is light in weight, especially with some of the material cut away between the prongs.

The width of the retainer was chosen based on a twin or single mattress. A queen or king mattress can use two of them. .

This has turned out to be a very simple solution to an irritating problem.

By Walter H. Brackmann Jr.