Choosing the Chartwell Kids Upholstered Bed: Scale, Sizes and Cloth

Children's beds are usually sold on theme and rarely on fit. The Chartwell takes the opposite line. It is a plain upholstered bed built to a child's scale, and its one piece of decoration is the headboard: a smooth unbroken panel with a gently swept top edge that rises at the corners.

There is no storage in the base, which keeps the lines low and makes it the simplest of the beds we sell for children's rooms. The Chartwell kids upholstered bed is upholstered to order, so the cloth is a decision rather than a default.

How it is put together

This is a bed frame rather than a divan box. The mattress sits down inside an upholstered surround, with the side rails and the foot end finished in the same cloth as the headboard. One consequence is worth knowing in advance: because the mattress drops inside the surround, the sleeping surface sits lower than it would on a divan, which suits a younger child getting in and out on their own.

The tall headboard comes as part of the bed rather than as a separate piece to track down, and because it is upholstered in the same run of fabric there is no near-miss between board and base.

Three sizes, and the measurement that catches people

• Single 3FT: 96.5 cm wide by 205.7 cm long
• Small Double 4FT: 127 cm wide by 205.7 cm long
• Double 4FT6: 142 cm wide by 205.7 cm long

Those are finished sizes measured at the widest point, not mattress sizes. The figure that surprises people is the length. All three run to 205.7 cm because the upholstered surround adds to both ends, so a 3FT single needs more floor than the mattress alone suggests. In a small box room, measure the long wall before you fall for a size up. The product page has a size guide drawing the bed from the side and from above with every size to the same scale.

Twenty-nine colourways, and how to narrow them down

The Chartwell comes in any of 29 colourways across the Coniston, Naples, Chenille, Boucle, Plush Velvet and Linoso cloths. For a child's room, two practical thoughts. Flat mid tones like Mink Coniston, Silver Chenille and Granite Boucle show marks less than Cream, which matters more on a headboard than anywhere else on the bed. And a colour chosen at four may be regretted at nine, so a neutral bed with loud bedding usually outlasts the other way round.

Who the Chartwell suits

It is the right bed if the room has decent wardrobe space already and you would rather spend the budget on a clean upholstered look than on storage you will not use. If the opposite is true and the floor under the bed is the only space left, look at the lift-up version instead, which keeps the same swept headboard and puts a lined compartment under the mattress. It is worth putting the two shapes next to each other, and worth looking through the kids upholstered beds before settling on one.

Seeing it before you buy

Fabric is the hardest thing to judge from a photograph, which is the honest argument for looking at beds in Glasgow in person if you are nearby. Delivery is free within 50 miles of our Glasgow store and £50 beyond it. Mattresses are sold separately, so you can match the tension to the child rather than inheriting ours.

When you have the room measured, the Chartwell's page lists every size and every colourway, and you can ask us about any of them before ordering.