What Size Doona Do I Need? An Australian Bed Size Guide

Here's the short version: buy a doona that's wider than your mattress, not the same size as your bed. A queen doona on a queen bed sounds right and sleeps wrong — it sits flat on top with nothing hanging over the sides, and the first person to roll over takes the lot.

We get this question more than any other, usually from someone standing in a shop with their phone out, trying to work out whether "queen" means the same thing twice. It doesn't, quite. So here's the whole thing properly — real measurements, how much overhang you actually want, and the one sizing trap that catches almost everyone.

Start with your mattress, not your doona

Doona sizes and bed sizes use the same words but describe different things. "Queen" on a bed means the mattress is 153cm wide. "Queen" on a doona means the doona is somewhere around 210 to 240cm wide, depending on who made it — because it's meant to cover a queen mattress and hang over both sides.

So the useful question isn't "what size is my bed". It's how wide is my mattress, and how much do I want hanging over the edge. Everything else follows from that.

Worth measuring rather than assuming, too. Older beds, imported frames and anything described as "European" can sit a few centimetres off the Australian standard, and a pillow-top mattress adds height, which eats into your overhang.

Australian bed sizes, in actual centimetres

These are the standard mattress sizes you'll find in Australia:

Note what happens between Double and Queen: you gain 16cm of width but also 15cm of length. And between Queen and King you gain 30cm of width and no length at all. A king bed isn't a longer bed. It's a wider one.

How much overhang do you actually need?

Aim for 25 to 40cm hanging over each side. That's the sweet spot where the doona stays put when someone turns over, and where it still tucks around you rather than sliding off onto the floor at 3am.

• Under 20cm each side: too tight. Fine if you sleep alone and don't move much. Not fine if you share.
• 25 to 40cm: what most people want. Covers both sleepers, drapes properly, looks right when the bed's made.
• Over 50cm each side: generous, and genuinely lovely on a low platform bed — but on a tall bed with a base, it'll pool on the floor.

The maths is simple enough to do standing in the shop: (doona width − mattress width) ÷ 2. A 230cm doona on a 153cm queen mattress gives you 38.5cm each side. That's a good number.

The sizing trap almost everyone falls into

Here's the one that surprises people, and it's true of most brands, not just ours.

Our King doona is 220cm wide. Our Queen is 230cm. The King is narrower.

It isn't a mistake. A King doona gains its size in length — 240cm instead of 230cm — because king beds are often taller and people want the extra at the foot. But if you've got a king bed and you want proper drape over both sides, 220cm across a 183cm mattress leaves you just 18.5cm each side. That's the tight end.

Two sleepers? Size up.

The rule we give people over email: if two adults sleep under it, go one size larger than the bed suggests.

It's not about being generous. Two people pull a doona in two directions all night, and every centimetre you've got spare is a centimetre that doesn't get dragged off your partner. A queen bed with two sleepers is much happier under a 230 × 230 than under a compact 200 × 200.

Which brings up the compact size — worth understanding before you pick it. Our 200 × 200 is deliberately trim: on a queen mattress it gives about 23cm each side, and at 200cm it's actually 3cm shorter than a queen mattress. That's a real option for someone who sleeps alone, runs warm, or has a low bed and doesn't want fabric pooling on the floor. It's not the one to pick if you share.

What about two doonas on one bed?

Very common in Europe, slowly catching on here, and the people who've switched are evangelical about it. One each, both sized for a single or king single, laid side by side on a queen or king bed.

It works especially well if one of you runs hot and the other sleeps in a jumper, or if you've got an adjustable bed where one side lifts — a single large doona gets dragged sideways every time it moves.

Three mistakes we see most often

1. Matching the name instead of the measurement. "Queen bed, queen doona" is a coin flip between brands. Check the centimetres.
2. Forgetting the mattress height. A thick mattress on a base can swallow 30cm of drape before it reaches the edge.
3. Buying small to save money. The gap between sizes is small. The gap between a doona that covers you both and one that doesn't is the whole night.

Still not sure?

Measure your mattress across the widest point, then send us the number at info@sleepclub-au.com — We'll tell you which size we'd pick and why, including when the answer is the cheaper one. Every email is answered by one of us personally, usually within 6 to 24 hours, weekends included.