Wings That Do Something: The Pembroke Kids Wingback Divan Bed

A wingback headboard is usually sold on looks alone, but on a child's bed the wings earn their place. The Pembroke has vertical channels across the centre of the board with a tall plain wing angling forward at each side, which puts something solid between the pillow and the cold outside wall and keeps a duvet from sliding off the top corner. You can see the shape from every angle on the Pembroke kids wingback divan bed page.

What the wings mean for the room

Angled wings project forward, so the bed occupies slightly more width at the head than a flat-boarded bed of the same mattress size. That is why the finished widths below are a few centimetres larger than you might expect, and it is the reason to measure the head of the bed as well as the middle. If the bed is going into an alcove, the wings are the part that will touch first.

The headboard is a 54-inch board included with the bed rather than charged as an extra, which is worth checking when you are comparing beds in Glasgow across different shops, because a free headboard and a priced one are easy to mistake for the same thing.

Two storage options, chosen for the layout

The Pembroke is offered with no storage, or with two drawers at the foot end. That second option is the one worth thinking about, because it is the layout that works when both long sides of the bed are blocked.

• Two drawers foot end suits a bed in an alcove, between a wall and a wardrobe, or anywhere the only clear floor is beyond the foot of the bed.
• No storage keeps the base plain, which is the right answer if the room already has a chest of drawers or fitted cupboards.

Measure the floor in front of the foot end before choosing drawers: a drawer that cannot open fully is storage you will stop using. If there is no clear floor anywhere around the bed, a lifting base is the better mechanism, since it needs height rather than floor.

Four sizes

Measured across the finished bed at its widest point, upholstery and wings included:

• Small Single 2FT6: 79 cm wide by 196.5 cm long
• Single 3FT: 94 cm wide by 196.5 cm long
• Small Double 4FT: 124 cm wide by 196.5 cm long
• Double 4FT6: 139 cm wide by 196.5 cm long

All four are the same length, so a narrower bed does not give you a shorter one. The 2FT6 at 79 cm is the size that makes a genuinely small room usable without the bed swallowing it. A full size guide on the product page draws the bed from the side and from above with every size at the same scale.

Twenty-six colourways

The Pembroke is upholstered to order in any of twenty-six colourways, and every part finished in cloth, the headboard, the base, the sides and the drawer fronts if you have them, is done in the fabric you pick. There are 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, Slate Grey, Charcoal and Black.

On a wingback, the plain wings and the channelled centre read as two different textures in the same cloth, and a pile exaggerates that contrast while a flat weave softens it. If the bed is for a child's room, the inside face of the wing is the part that gets leant on, so pick a cloth you are happy to see used. Ask us for samples; they are the only reliable way to choose a colour.

Mattress and delivery

Mattresses are sold separately so the tension can be matched to the child rather than bundled in. The bed is handmade to order in your chosen cloth, which is why the wings, the centre panel and the base are one fabric rather than a close match.

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

The full specification and the size drawings are on the Pembroke's own page, and the other headboard shapes built on the same base are in our kids divan beds range if you want to compare before deciding.