Hadleigh upholstered ottoman bed: hidden storage under a diagonal channelled board

There are two ways to get storage under a bed. One is a divan box with a lifting lid, which works well and looks like what it is. The other is what the Hadleigh upholstered ottoman bed does: build the storage into an upholstered frame so that, once it is closed, nothing about the bed suggests it opens at all.

How the storage hides

The mattress platform lifts on gas struts to open the whole area beneath it as one lined compartment. Because the Hadleigh is a frame rather than a divan box, the sides are upholstered and shaped, so the storage is hidden entirely when the bed is shut. You get the capacity of an ottoman and the silhouette of an upholstered bed, which is not a combination you can have on a divan base.

It is one compartment, not a set of drawers, so things go in whole: a spare duvet, suitcases, the box of things that have no home. Nothing has to clear a wall or a wardrobe door, which is the practical reason ottoman beds end up in small bedrooms. Leave yourself standing room along one side to open it and that is the only floor space it asks for.

The headboard, and what the channels do

The board runs parallel diagonal channels corner to corner, meeting in a crisp mitred line. It is upholstered in the same cloth as the rest of the bed, so the bed arrives as one piece rather than a frame and a board that nearly match, and the shaped upholstered sides carry the same cloth down to the floor.

Diagonals are doing something specific here. A horizontally channelled board widens a bed visually; a diagonal one lifts the eye towards the centre, which flatters a tall ceiling and keeps a super king from looking like a landing strip. The mitred join is the test of the thing, and it is the first place to look when you see one in person.

Five sizes, measured across the finished bed

• Single 3FT is 99.06cm wide and 212.09cm long
• Small Double 4FT is 127cm wide and 212cm long
• Double 4FT6 is 143cm wide and 212cm long
• King 5FT is 159cm wide and 222cm long
• Super King 6FT is 189cm wide and 222cm long

These are the outside figures, not mattress sizes, and the frame construction is why they run generous: a double is 143cm across and 212cm long. Two things to check on top of the footprint. First, the headboard wall needs its full width clear. Second, the platform rises, so look up as well as around; a sloping ceiling or a low sill at the side of the bed can stop a lid before it is fully open. The product page has the bed drawn from the side and from above, every size to the same scale.

Twenty-six fabrics

The Hadleigh is upholstered to order in any of twenty-six colourways, from the Coniston and Naples shades to the Plush Velvets and Silver Linoso. On a bed whose sides are shaped and upholstered, the cloth is doing more work than usual, because you see it from every angle rather than only above the mattress. Darker mid tones are kinder to the edges that get knocked by a vacuum cleaner; the paler Creams and Almonds look superb and ask for more attention down at skirting level. The listing shows a tall headboard as the option on this model.

Delivery and mattresses

Delivery is free within 50 miles of our Glasgow store and £50 beyond that. A good number of our beds in Scotland travel further than the free radius, and the charge beyond it is flat, so check your postcode at checkout rather than guessing.

Mattresses are sold separately. That matters more on a lifting platform than on a flat base, because the mattress is the weight the struts have to hold and its depth sets how the closed bed looks. If you are unsure, ask us with the size and the mattress in mind rather than ordering blind.

Sizes, fabrics and the full size guide are on the Hadleigh ottoman listing, and the no-storage version sits in our upholstered beds range if you would rather keep the base simple.