The Dorchester Kids Ottoman Divan: Plain, Padded, All Storage

The Dorchester kids ottoman divan bed is the Dorchester built to a child's scale, and it starts at a size most ranges skip. A 2FT6 small single is 75 cm wide, which is the difference between a bed that fits a box room and one that owns it.

Four sizes

• Small Single 2FT6: 75 cm wide, 191.5 cm long
• Single 3FT: 90 cm wide, 191.5 cm long
• Small Double 4FT: 120 cm wide, 191.5 cm long
• Double 4FT6: 135 cm wide, 191.5 cm long

Every size is 191.5 cm long, so the choice is purely about width and the only measurement that changes is the one across the room. That makes planning simple: measure the clear wall, subtract the bed, and see what you have left for a wardrobe and a floor to play on. There is a size guide on the product page with the bed drawn from the side and from above, all four sizes at the same scale.

The 2FT6 is the one worth considering seriously for a small room or a bunk-replacement. The 4FT small double is what parents choose when they are tired of buying furniture every few years, or when bedtime reading involves an adult on the bed too.

A headboard with nothing on it

The headboard is a single unbroken panel of cloth. No seams, no channels, no buttons. In a child's room that is more than a style decision, because there is nothing to catch, nothing to pick at and nothing for crumbs to collect in. It is upholstered in the same fabric as the base and the sides, so the bed looks like one object rather than a board bought to go with a base.

Two heights are listed: the standard 26 inch board, and a 54 inch floor-standing board that reaches the carpet behind the bed. The taller one covers the wall, which is worth having where a wall gets scuffed by heels and headboards.

Storage that works in a child's room

The whole base lifts. Gas struts take the weight of the mattress and the top swings up from the side, opening the full footprint of the bed as one lined compartment. No drawers, no runners, nothing that needs clear floor in front of it to open. That last point is the one that matters, because a child's floor is never clear, and a drawer that cannot open is storage that does not exist.

It also works with the bed pushed into a corner, which is usually where a child's bed ends up. Keep the lifting side free, and keep shelves off the wall directly above the pillows. The mechanism is for a grown-up to operate, not the child.

Twenty-six colourways to order

The bed is upholstered to order in any of 26 colourways, and every cloth-covered part is finished in the one you choose. Pink and Blue appear in both the Coniston weave and the Plush Velvet, so a child can have a strong colour in either a flat or a pile finish. If you would rather the bed survive a change of taste, the Almond, Cream, Mink, Silver and Charcoal options are the ones that do not date. Weaves and chenilles handle daily contact better than velvet, which shows the direction it was last brushed.

Delivery and the mattress

Mattresses are sold separately so you can pick the tension that suits the sleeper, and a child's mattress has the useful side effect of being light on an ottoman lid. Delivery is free within 50 miles of our Glasgow store and £50 beyond it, so the figure is known up front whether the bed is going a few streets away or to a family looking for kids beds in Scotland well outside the city.

Each one is handmade to order in your size, cloth and headboard. Choose yours on the Dorchester kids ottoman page, or compare it with the rest of our kids ottoman divan beds first.