Five Ways to Arrange the Drawers: The Osterley Kids Divan Bed

Most children's beds decide for you where the storage goes. The Osterley kids divan bed does not: you choose no storage at all, two drawers on the left side, two on the right side, two at the foot end, or four drawers. In a room where the bed has to sit against a wall, in an alcove or under a window, that single choice is the difference between storage you use daily and drawers that stay shut.

Picking the drawer layout for your room

Draw the room before you order. A drawer needs clear floor in front of it roughly as deep as the drawer is long, and children's rooms rarely have clear floor on more than one side of the bed.

• Two drawers one side suits a bed with one long wall free. Choose the side the child gets out of, not the side that looks tidier in a photograph.
• Two drawers foot end is the answer when the bed sits in an alcove with both long sides blocked but open floor beyond the foot.
• Four drawers only earns its keep when the bed genuinely stands clear on both sides.
• No storage is a legitimate choice if the room already has a chest or a fitted wardrobe, and it keeps the base simple.

If you cannot get clear floor on any side, a lifting base is the better mechanism, because it needs room above the bed rather than beside it.

The headboard

The Osterley headboard is close-set vertical channels running the full height, framed by a plain border with an upright post at each side. It is upholstered in the same cloth as the rest of the bed, so the bed arrives as one piece rather than a base and a board that nearly match. The posts give it the look of a framed panel, which reads as more grown-up than most beds sold for children, and that is the point: nothing on it will embarrass a teenager.

The headboard offered is the 54-inch floor standing type, a tall board that stands on the floor behind the base.

Four sizes

Measured across the finished bed at its widest point:

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

The 2FT6 is the one to know about. At 75 cm wide it fits rooms that a 3FT single will not, which makes it the practical answer for a box room or a bed that has to share a wall with a desk. All four sizes are the same length, so a narrower bed does not buy you a shorter one. The product page carries a full size guide with the bed drawn from the side and from above, every size to the same scale.

Twenty-six colourways

The Osterley is upholstered to order in any of twenty-six colourways. Every part finished in cloth, the headboard, the base and the sides, is done in the fabric you pick, drawer fronts included, so the bed does not end up two-tone. The range covers plush velvets, chenilles, the Coniston and Naples weaves and a Silver Linoso, in colours from Cream and Almond through Pink, Mauve, Blue and Emerald to Silver, Charcoal and Black.

For a child's bed, the drawer fronts are the part that gets handled, so think about which cloths show marks. A mid-tone textured weave is kinder than either Cream or Black. We can send samples if you want to decide with the cloth in your hand.

Mattress, build and delivery

Mattresses are sold separately so the tension can be matched to the child rather than bundled. The bed is handmade to order in your chosen cloth.

Delivery is free within 50 miles of our Glasgow store and £50 beyond it.

Full dimensions, the drawer options and the size drawings are on the Osterley kids divan page. If you want to see the other headboard shapes available on the same base, the kids divan beds range is where to compare, and the adult divan beds in the main range use the same drawer configurations at full size.