A chequerboard headboard and a base that opens: the Radley Ottoman Divan

The Radley Ottoman Divan Bed has the busiest headboard in this part of our range and the simplest base. The headboard is a chequerboard of small square cushions, each one puffed and divided from the next by a stitched seam. Under the mattress there is one thing only, and that is storage.

Reading the headboard

A grid of small squares behaves very differently from a few large panels. The seams break the surface into a repeating pattern, so the headboard holds light in a lot of small steps rather than a few big ones, and it keeps its texture even in a dark cloth where a plain panel would flatten out into a silhouette. It is the headboard to choose if you want the bed to be the pattern in the room and the rest of the room to stay quiet.

As with the rest of this range, the headboard is upholstered in the same cloth as the base and the sides. The bed arrives as one piece, not a frame and a board that nearly match.

How the base works

The whole base lifts. Gas struts take the weight of the mattress, the top swings up from the side, and the entire footprint of the bed opens as one lined compartment. There are no drawers, no runners and nothing that has to clear a wall or a wardrobe door to be used.

That is the practical case for ottoman divan beds over drawer divans. A drawer base loses space to the drawer boxes and the runners, and it needs clear floor in front of it to open; a side-lifting ottoman uses the whole volume and can be pushed into a corner. It is also the most storage you can get under a bed of this size, which is why these keep selling in flats and box rooms.

The size list, and the width advantage

• Small Single 2FT6: 75 cm wide by 196.5 cm long
• Single 3FT: 90 cm wide by 196.5 cm long
• Small Double 4FT: 120 cm wide by 196.5 cm long
• Double 4FT6: 135 cm wide by 196.5 cm long
• King 5FT: 150 cm wide by 205 cm long
• Super King 6FT: 184 cm wide by 205 cm long

These are the finished bed at its widest point. The Radley is tidy on width, which is a feature of divan construction: the box is close to the mattress size, so a Double is 135 cm across, where an upholstered surround on the same mattress needs noticeably more. If you are squeezing a bed between a chimney breast and a wardrobe, that difference decides it. The product page has the full size guide, with the bed drawn from the side and from above and every size shown to the same scale.

The one measurement the list cannot give you is the clearance above the bed for the lid to swing up. If the Radley is going under a sloping ceiling or a shelf, ask us before ordering rather than working it out from the closed height.

Headboard and fabric options

A 54 inch floor-standing headboard is the option shown on the product page; because it stands on the floor rather than bolting to the base, its weight is carried by the legs and it sits flush with the wall. The configurator on the page is the place to check which headboard choices are open on the size you want.

The Radley is upholstered to order in any of 26 colourways: eight plush velvets, seven Coniston shades, six Naples, four chenilles and a silver Linoso. Everything finished in cloth is done in the one you choose. On a chequerboard headboard the cloth matters more than usual, because a velvet will make every square catch light separately while a chenille will keep the pattern as texture rather than shine.

Where it fits

The Radley sits in our ottoman divan beds, next to the plainer headboards in the same construction. If you prefer the storage hidden behind shaped upholstered sides, the upholstered ottomans are the alternative, though they give up a little volume underneath to get there. Anyone comparing ottoman beds against drawer divan beds should start with how much clear floor there is at the side of the bed, because that single answer usually settles it.

Made to order, and delivered

Every Radley is made to order in the size, cloth and headboard you pick, so nothing is chosen from stock on your behalf. Delivery is free within 50 miles of our Glasgow store and £50 beyond it, and mattresses are sold separately so the tension is yours to choose. The sizes, the colourways and the size guide are all on the Radley's product page.