When you say the word "bondage," the first thing that springs to many people's minds is the idea of tying a partner down to the bed and having fun. While bondage covers a lot more territory than that, it's a good place to start...and yes, it is a lot of fun.

If you have a bed with bedposts, you're in business. Tying someone spread eagle to the bed can be as simple as attaching a bit of rope to each bed post and then tying the rope to your partner's wrists and ankles, though for safety, comfort, and convenience I generally recommend using cuffs instead of tying the rope directly to your partner's limbs. They're easier to use, and less likely to cut off circulation...remember, if you keep your partner comfortable, you get to play longer!

"But I don't have a four-poster bed!"

But what if you don't have a bed with bedposts? It's difficult to tie someone to the bed without bedposts, right?

Fear not; there are some simple solutions to this problem. You can tie someone to a bed quite easily even if the bed appears to lack anything to affix a rope to. I'll talk about three ways to do that here.

And what do you do once you have your partner tied to the bed? We'll talk about that as well.

The fastest, cheapest way to tie someone to a bed that lacks the convenience of bedposts involves using two lengths of rope, each about 15-30' long, depending on how large your bed is. It's fast, it's simple, and it works with nearly all beds. Here's what you do:

1. Find a couple of wrist cuffs that have D-rings or some other attachment point. Slip the rope through the D-rings. Lay the rope across the mattress so that one end just touches the floor, and decide where you'd like the cuffs to be. Slide the cuffs to the positions where you'd like them, then tie them in place. You'll have a rope with two wrist cuffs tied along it.
2. Lay the rope back across the mattress, about a foot or so from the head of the bed. Take the long end of the rope and pass it underneath the mattress. Bring it back out the other side, and tie it in place. You can use even a simple granny knot to do this. When you're done, you'll have a rope tied completely around the head of the mattress, with two wrist cuffs just where you want them to be.
3. Repeat with the second rope and the ankle cuffs, around the foot of the bed.

By tying the rope all the way around the mattress and tying wrist and ankle cuffs to it, you have a quick, ready-made way to restrain your partner spread eagle on the bed without requiring any fixed part of the bed to tie the restraints to.

UNDER-THE-MATTRESS TIES

All you really need to explore bondage without a four-poster bed is two lengths of rope and a set of cuffs that matches your tastes. You can find the rope anywhere; look for soft cotton or nylon rope. I personally like 25' lengths for general use, and 25' or 40' lengths for rope harnesses. Avoid stiff nylon (which is quite coarse). Nylon and cotton can both be dyed, if you prefer something other than plain white, but dying nylon is more difficult. To save trouble, I usually just buy nylon rope that's already been dyed the color I want.

Cuffs are a good time-saver for use with any kinds of bondage. I've included an entire page on different types of cuffs and their use; for convenience, I've placed links to inexpensive basic cuffs here as well.

UNDER THE BED