Alderley Upholstered Ottoman Bed: storage under a buttoned frame

The Alderley Upholstered Ottoman Bed is the storage version of a bed whose whole character sits above the pillows. Deep diamond tufting, set with crystal buttons, runs across the headboard and carries down onto a deeply buttoned surround at the foot. Everything under the mattress is storage, which is precisely what leaves the headboard free to do the talking.

A frame, not a box

Most ottoman storage comes on a divan base: an upholstered box with a lid. The Alderley is a frame, so the sides are shaped and upholstered rather than slab-sided, and when the bed is closed the storage is hidden entirely. The mattress platform lifts on gas struts to open the full area beneath it as one lined compartment, so there are no drawer dividers deciding what will and will not fit. A rolled-up camp bed, a suitcase, the winter duvet: all of it goes in whole.

The practical difference between ottoman beds on a frame and those on a divan base is what you see when the lid is down. If the room is tight and the bed will sit side-on to the door, the shaped sides are worth the money.

The finished sizes

The mattress drops inside an upholstered surround, so the bed takes more floor than the mattress it holds. These are the finished figures, measured at the widest point:

• Single 3FT – 139 cm wide by 223.52 cm long
• Small Double 4FT – 169 cm wide by 231 cm long
• Double 4FT6 – 184 cm wide by 233 cm long
• King 5FT – 199 cm wide by 233 cm long
• Super King 6FT – 228 cm wide by 233 cm long

The single is 139 cm across, which surprises people: it is wider than a small double on a plain metal frame. Mark the width on the floor with tape before you commit, and remember that an ottoman also needs clear air above the mattress for the lid to swing. Check what is fixed to the wall behind the headboard, because a shelf or a radiator is the thing that most often stops a lid opening fully.

Twenty-five colourways, one cloth

The Alderley is upholstered to order in any of 25 colourways, and every part finished in cloth — the headboard, the base and the sides — is done in the fabric you pick. That is why it arrives as one piece rather than a frame and a board that nearly match, which is the usual giveaway when a bed has been assembled from two sources. Weave matters as much as colour here: a flat weave keeps each diamond crisp, while a plush velvet softens the panel edges and shifts as you walk past. If two shades are close, ask for a sample rather than judging from a screen.

Where it sits in the range

If the storage is the point but the shaped frame is not, compare it with the ottoman divan beds, which give the same lifting base on a plain upholstered box. If you want the tufting without the storage, the same design is made as a plain frame in the upholstered beds. Storage is the one thing you cannot add to a bed afterwards, so it is worth settling first.

Delivery

Our showroom is in Glasgow, and delivery is free within 50 miles of it and £50 beyond. That covers Glasgow and the towns around it at no charge, and the flat fee applies further out, added at checkout rather than sprung on you afterwards. We send beds in Scotland and well past it. Mattresses are sold separately on purpose, so you are not tied to a tension somebody else chose.

Pick your size and your cloth on the Alderley Upholstered Ottoman Bed page, where the size guide draws the bed from the side and from above with every size at the same scale. If you are not sure the lid will clear what is behind it, send us the measurements and we will tell you.