Fairfax ottoman divan bed: a chequerboard headboard over a base that is all storage

The Fairfax spends everything it has in two places. Below the mattress there is storage and nothing else, which is the deal you strike with any ottoman divan bed. Above it there is a headboard made from small square cushions, roughly five rows deep and seven across, sitting inside a plain border. That chequerboard is the whole character of the bed, and it is a quieter sort of character than most of the designs in our ottoman divan beds range.

What a chequerboard headboard actually does in a room

Small squares read as texture rather than as a statement. Stand back and the board looks like one soft rectangle with a grid pressed into it; stand close and you can see every seam. That makes the Fairfax easier to live with than a big tufted board in a room that already has pattern in the curtains or the carpet, and it is the reason people choose it over something buttoned.

The headboard, the base and the sides are all finished in the same cloth, so the bed arrives as one piece rather than a frame and a board that nearly match. That sounds like a small thing until you have seen the alternative. Two slightly different greys under the same lamp is the kind of detail nobody can unsee once it is in the room.

The selector offers a 54-inch floor-standing headboard, which carries the grid down past the mattress towards the skirting instead of stopping just above the pillows. It is the taller, more furnished-looking choice, and it needs a clear stretch of wall with no socket or radiator in the way.

Side-opening storage, and why it is not the same as drawers

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 a single lined compartment. There are no drawers, no runners and nothing that has to clear a wall or a wardrobe door, which matters more than people expect: a drawer needs its own length of free floor in front of it, and a bedroom rarely has that on both sides.

Two practical notes before you order. First, the lid rises from the side, so leave yourself standing room along one long edge of the bed rather than at the foot. Second, because it is one compartment and not four boxes, awkward things go in whole. A folded travel cot, a rolled rug, a suitcase, the winter duvet and the spare pillows all fit without being broken down to fit a drawer.

The six sizes, and the number to measure

Sizes are given across the finished bed at its widest point, which is the figure that decides whether it fits, not the mattress size:

• Small Single 2FT6 is 75cm wide and 191.5cm long
• Single 3FT is 90cm wide and 191.5cm long
• Small Double 4FT is 120cm wide and 191.5cm long
• Double 4FT6 is 135cm wide and 191.5cm long
• King 5FT is 150cm wide and 200cm long
• Super King 6FT is 184cm wide and 200cm long

Note the jump in length at king: the two largest sizes are 200cm rather than 191.5cm, so a room that takes a double along one wall will not automatically take a king. There is a full size guide on the product page with the bed drawn from the side and from above, every size to the same scale, which is quicker to read than a tape measure and a sketch.

Twenty-six fabrics, and how to narrow them down

The Fairfax is upholstered to order in any of twenty-six colourways, from Almond and Mink Coniston through the Naples shades to Black, Cream and Steel Plush Velvet. Velvet pushes the chequerboard forward because every square catches the light at a slightly different angle. The flatter cloths do the opposite and let the grid settle into the background. If you are deciding between two, ask us which of them you can see in person before you commit.

Delivery, and the mattress

Delivery is free within 50 miles of our Glasgow store and £50 beyond that, so most of the central belt is covered at no charge. If you are shopping for beds in Glasgow and want to sit on a headboard before buying it, that is what the showroom is for. Mattresses are sold separately, which is deliberate rather than mean: the base is the same whatever you sleep on, so you can pair the Fairfax with whichever tension suits you from our mattresses.

Every size and fabric choice, the headboard options, the size guide and the full fabric selector are all on the Fairfax listing.