Layout Manager may seem daunting, but I would NOT recommend a null layout (I'm speaking from experience - it is a nightmare measuring components, placement, and then seeing those trashed when faced with multiple systems, fonts, window resizing, etc...). What about using Layouts didn't seem to help you? I'd recommend playing with them a bit and you should see they hold a LOT of power in creating a user interface. Again, you didn't post enough code to work with (posting an SSCCE helps), but try setting the content pane layout to flow layout. eg:
getContentPane().setLayout(new FlowLayout());
add(firstComponent);
add(secondComponent);
Or, create a Box (or use Box Layout) - in pseudo-code:
Box box = Box.createVerticalBox();
box.add(firstComponent);
box.add(secondComponent);
myFrame.getContentPane().add(box);