Whitfield Kids Divan Bed: A Buttoned Headboard and Five Ways to Store Things

The detail that makes the Whitfield kids divan bed is a single row of fabric-covered buttons running across the upper third of the headboard, with narrow vertical channels beneath it. One row, not a grid of them. It gives the board a definite line to read, which is more than most children's beds offer, and it does it without the deep-buttoned look that dates quickly in a young person's room.

The headboard in detail

Narrow channels run the height of the board and the buttons interrupt them near the top, so the eye catches the horizontal before it follows the vertical. The buttons are covered in the same cloth as everything else, which keeps the detail quiet rather than decorative. The headboard, the base and the sides are all finished in the one fabric, so the bed arrives as a single piece rather than a frame and a board that nearly match.

The headboard offered is the 54 inch floor-standing version, which carries down to the floor behind the bed. In a child's room that closes the gap between board and base where books, socks and small toys otherwise disappear.

Built as a frame, not a box

The Whitfield is a bed frame rather than a divan base. The mattress drops down inside an upholstered surround, with the side rails and foot end in the same cloth as the headboard. The surround holds the mattress in place, which is worth something with a child who moves in their sleep, and it keeps the overall lines low.

Five storage layouts

Drawers are offered as an option, and the layout is yours to pick: no storage, two drawers on the left side, two on the right, two at the foot end, or four drawers. Choose by looking at the floor rather than at the capacity.

• Bed against one wall, with floor on the other side: two drawers on that side.
• Bed in a corner, both long sides tight: two at the foot end is often the only layout that opens.
• Bed out in the room: four drawers.
• Room with a built-in cupboard already: no storage, and keep the clean base.

Open a drawer in your head before you order one. A drawer needs the same clear floor in front of it as the drawer is deep, and a wardrobe door swinging over that space is the usual reason a layout has to be changed after the fact.

Four sizes, and a shorter length than you might expect

• 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

All four are 191.5 cm long, which is shorter than several of our other frames and can be the deciding factor in a small second bedroom where the bed has to fit between a door and a window. The figures are the finished bed at its widest point, not the mattress, so measure to them. The product page has a size guide drawn from the side and from above with every size at one scale.

Picking a fabric that survives childhood

The Whitfield is upholstered to order in any of 26 colourways. For a child's room, the forgiving options are the broken weaves in middle tones, where marks and fingerprints show least. Charcoal Chenille, Silver Chenille, Mink Coniston and Armour Coniston all take daily life well. The cream and the paler velvets look lovely on the day of delivery and ask more of you afterwards.

Because the channels here are narrow, the cloth matters less to the pattern than it would on a deep-channelled board, so this is a design where you can pick a colour you like and trust the detail to survive it.

Where it fits

The same buttoned headboard appears on an ottoman version of the Whitfield, which swaps the drawers for a base that lifts whole. That is the one to look at if the storage problem is bigger than four drawers. Otherwise, the other kids divan beds in the range offer the same construction under different headboards, so the look can change while the build stays the same.

Mattresses are sold separately, so you can match the tension to the child rather than inherit ours. Anyone shopping for beds in Glasgow can see the frames in our store, and delivery is free within 50 miles of it and £50 beyond. Size, fabric and drawers are all chosen on the Whitfield product page, which prices each combination as you build it.