Granville kids bed: six panels, four sizes and where to put the drawers

The Granville is the same design thinking as a grown-up upholstered bed, brought down to a child's scale. The headboard is six generous rectangular panels in two rows of three, each divided from the next by a deep recessed seam, and the base can be ordered plain or with drawers in four different arrangements. It sits in our kids divan beds range, and the drawer decision is the one worth thinking about before you order.

How it is built, in the shop's own words

The listing is careful about this and so are we. The Granville is described as a bed frame rather than a divan box: the mattress sits down inside an upholstered surround, with the side rails and foot end finished in the same cloth as the headboard. The lines stay low, the headboard does the work, and the mattress does not perch on top of the base the way it does on a traditional divan.

What it borrows from divan beds is the under-bed storage, offered as drawers built into the base. So you get the look of a frame and the storage people actually buy a divan for, which in a child's room is the whole argument.

Five storage layouts, and the one question to answer first

The options are no storage, two drawers on the left side, two drawers on the right side, two drawers at the foot end, or four drawers. Before you pick, go and stand in the room.

• Which side is against a wall? A drawer on the wall side is a drawer nobody will ever open. Order the side that faces into the room.
• Is the foot end clear? Foot-end drawers want a clear run of floor at the bottom of the bed, and in a small room that is often where the wardrobe door swings.
• Do you need all four? Four drawers is the most storage, but it commits both long sides. If the bed goes into a corner, two on the open side is the honest answer.
• No storage at all keeps the profile low and leaves the floor under the bed clear for the big plastic boxes children's toys actually live in.

If the room cannot give a drawer the floor space it needs, look at the lifting-base version in our kids ottoman divan beds range instead. It opens upwards, so it needs no clearance in front of it at all.

Four sizes

All four are measured across the finished bed at its widest point:

• 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

Every one of them is 191.5cm long, which is the figure most people forget. A 2FT6 saves 15cm of width over a 3FT and not a centimetre of length, so a room that is tight end to end is tight whichever width you choose. The product page carries a size guide drawn from the side and from above with every size to the same scale.

Fabric, with children in mind

The Granville is upholstered to order in any of twenty-six colourways, and every part finished in cloth, the headboard, the base and the sides, is done in the fabric you pick. The practical thought here is contrast rather than colour: a mid tone such as Mink or Charcoal Coniston shows marks far less readily than Cream, and a textured cloth hides a scuff better than a flat one. Pink and Blue exist in the range if that is the brief, and nobody will thank us for pretending otherwise.

The selector also offers a 54-inch floor-standing headboard, which takes the panelling down towards the skirting. In a child's room a taller board doubles as something to lean a pile of cushions against.

Delivery and mattresses

Delivery is free within 50 miles of our Glasgow store and £50 beyond that, which covers most of the central belt without a charge. Plenty of our beds in Scotland go out to families further afield than that, so check the postcode box at checkout rather than assuming. Mattresses are sold separately, so you can match the tension to the child rather than to the bed.

The size guide, the five drawer layouts and the full fabric list are all on the Granville kids bed listing.