The Rushmere Kids Upholstered Bed: a low frame for a room with nothing to spare

The Rushmere Kids Upholstered Bed is the quiet option in a children's range that mostly shouts about storage. It is a frame, not a divan and not an ottoman. The mattress sits down inside an upholstered surround, nothing lifts, nothing pulls out, and the bed keeps a low line all the way round.

Why a child's room sometimes wants less bed, not more

Storage beds are the obvious answer to a small bedroom, but they are not always the right one. A base that lifts needs clearance above it, and children's rooms are the rooms most likely to have a sloping ceiling, a dormer or a shelf over the bed. A base full of storage is also a base a child cannot open safely on their own, so in practice an adult does it, which makes it long-term storage rather than everyday storage. If the room already has a wardrobe and a chest, a low frame can be the better buy, and it leaves the wall above the bed free.

The headboard and the side rail

The headboard is broad vertical channels set between two gently forward wings, and the side rail is fluted to match. Two things follow from that. The wings give a soft edge to lean on rather than a hard corner, which matters on a bed that will be sat on sideways far more than an adult's. And the fluting on the rail means the design carries down the length of the bed, so the Rushmere still looks designed from the side, which is the view you get from a bedroom doorway. All of it is upholstered in the same cloth, so the bed arrives as one piece.

Three sizes

• Single 3FT: 104 cm wide by 208 cm long
• Small Double 4FT: 127 cm wide by 208 cm long
• Double 4FT6: 149 cm wide by 212 cm long

These are the finished bed at its widest point, and the figures include the upholstered surround, which is why a 3FT Rushmere is 104 cm across rather than the width of the mattress itself. That surround is the reason the bed looks the way it does, so it is worth measuring your floor properly: run the tape from skirting to skirting, and allow for the door swing and any drawer fronts that open towards the bed. The product page carries a size guide drawing the bed from the side and from above with all three sizes at the same scale.

Parents often ask whether to size up. A Small Double or Double gives a child somewhere to spread out homework and somewhere for a friend to stay, and it does not need replacing when they grow. Against that, it takes floor the child might use for everything else. The sizes above are the numbers to argue with.

Fabric, and what survives a child's room

The Rushmere is upholstered to order in any of 26 colourways: eight plush velvets, seven Coniston shades, six Naples, four chenilles and one silver Linoso. Every part finished in cloth, headboard, surround and rails alike, is done in your choice.

Honest advice on colour: pale velvets show everything, and a mid-tone chenille or Coniston is far more forgiving in a room where a drink is going to go over at some point. If you are choosing with the child, let them pick from a shortlist of cloths you can live with rather than from all 26. Samples are worth ordering first, because the colour under a bedroom lamp is not the colour on a screen.

Where it sits in the range

The Rushmere runs across four beds here: this frame, a kids ottoman with the same headboard, and the two adult versions. If you decide you do want the storage after all, the kids upholstered ottoman bed is the same design with a platform that lifts. For the full set of frames without storage, see the kids upholstered beds.

Ordering and delivery

Each one is made to order in the size and cloth you choose, and a tall headboard is included. Delivery is free within 50 miles of our Glasgow store and £50 beyond it, and we send beds in Scotland and beyond from our Glasgow shop. Mattresses are sold separately, which on a child's bed is the useful way round: the tension that suits a seven-year-old is not the one you would buy for yourself. Sizes, cloths and the size guide are on the Rushmere kids bed page, with a form for asking us anything else.