The Rushmere Upholstered Ottoman Bed: storage behind shaped sides

The Rushmere Upholstered Ottoman Bed takes the channelled headboard and fluted side rail of the Rushmere frame and puts a lifting platform underneath it. Because it is a frame rather than a divan box, the sides stay upholstered and shaped, so when the bed is closed there is nothing to say that the whole area beneath the mattress is empty and lined.

The mechanism

The mattress platform lifts on gas struts to open the full area below as one compartment. There are no drawers, no runners and nothing to pull out, so none of the volume is lost to boxes and sliders, and none of the floor beside the bed has to be kept clear. That is the structural case for ottoman beds over drawer bases, and it is the reason they do so well in flats, box rooms and houses built without an airing cupboard.

What an ottoman does need is height. The lid rises, so measure from the top of the mattress to whatever is above it, and tell us the figure if the room has a sloping ceiling, a dormer or a shelf over the bed. The dimensions below describe the bed closed and will not answer that question for you.

Shaped sides versus a square box

There are two kinds of ottoman in our range and the difference is worth a paragraph. A divan-based one is a square box going out to the edges of the bed, so it holds slightly more and keeps its width close to the mattress size. A frame ottoman like the Rushmere gives up a little of that volume to the shaped, upholstered sides, and in return the bed does not look like storage. If you want the maximum, the ottoman divan beds are the honest recommendation. If the bed is the main piece of furniture in the room, this is the one.

The five finished 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
• King 5FT: 164 cm wide by 219 cm long
• Super King 6FT: 194 cm wide by 219 cm long

Finished dimensions at the widest point, surround included. Measure skirting to skirting rather than working back from the mattress, and check the stairs and the doorways on the way in as well. The product page carries the full size guide, with the bed drawn from the side and from above and every size shown to the same scale.

Cloth: 25 colourways on this bed

The Rushmere ottoman is upholstered to order in any of 25 colourways, which is one fewer than some beds in the range, so check the list on the product page rather than assuming a shade carries across. The cloths are eight plush velvets, seven Coniston shades, five Naples, four chenilles and a silver Linoso. Everything finished in fabric is done in your choice, headboard, wings, sides and visible platform edges together, and a tall headboard is included.

The channels on the headboard behave differently in different cloths. Velvet lights each channel separately and makes the wings look deep; Coniston and Naples keep it flat and tailored. Samples in the actual room, under the actual lamp, are the only reliable way to choose.

Who buys it, and why

Three rooms keep coming back. Flats with no loft, where the spare duvet has nowhere else to go. Guest rooms that spend most of their time as storage and the occasional weekend as a bedroom. And main bedrooms where somebody wants the storage of an ottoman without the bed announcing it. In every case the shaped sides are what wins the argument.

It sits in our upholstered ottoman beds and is made to order in the size and cloth you choose, so nothing is picked for you from stock. We send beds in Scotland and well beyond it, and delivery is free within 50 miles of our Glasgow store and £50 beyond it.

Before you order

Settle three things: the size against a measured floor, the clearance above the bed for the lid, and the cloth from a sample rather than a photograph. Mattresses are sold separately so the tension is yours to decide. All of it, including the colourway list and the size guide, is on the Rushmere ottoman's page, and there is a question form on it if you would rather ask than guess.