The best reasons to choose an ottoman bed for a growing family

Anyone with kids knows how quickly a house fills up. One minute you've got a tidy nursery, the next there are three sizes of outgrown clothes in bin bags on the landing, a stack of spare bedding nobody knows what to do with, and a wardrobe that gave up months ago. Most UK homes weren't built with much slack for this. Bedrooms are modest, lofts are awkward to get to, and not everyone has a garage to fall back on.

That's the gap an ottoman bed fills. Instead of treating the space under the bed as a dust trap or a place to lose odd socks, it turns that whole footprint into proper, usable storage. For a family that keeps accumulating things faster than it can throw them out, it's one of the few pieces of furniture that earns its place twice over.

Why families run out of space sooner than they expect

Storage need grows in a way that's hard to plan for. A baby comes with surprisingly little. A six-year-old comes with a wardrobe, a costume box, sports kit and a rotating pile of "I might wear this." And because children grow out of clothes rather than wearing them out, parents end up holding onto sizes both above and below what fits right now: hand-me-downs going down to a younger sibling, next year's coat bought in the sale.

You also start collecting things that only come out occasionally but take up a lot of room when they're stored. The travel cot. The spare single duvet for sleepovers. The Christmas decorations. The camping gear. None of it is used weekly, but all of it needs somewhere to live. In a three-bed semi or a flat, that somewhere is usually the bedroom floor and the floor is exactly where you don't want clutter when there are small people running around.

How an ottoman bed actually works

Underneath the mattress, an ottoman has a hinged base that lifts on gas struts, the same kind of pistons that hold a car boot open. You take hold of the base, lift, and the struts do most of the work, holding everything open while you reach inside. Lower it back down and the mattress sits flush again, so from the outside it looks like any ordinary bed.

The space you uncover runs almost the full size of the bed. On a double or king that's a genuinely large compartment, deep enough for bulky bedding and wide enough to swallow several storage boxes at once. There are no drawers fighting for clearance against a wall or a wardrobe, which is the usual headache with a divan in a tight room.

End-lift or side-lift and why it matters in a small room

Ottomans open one of two ways. An end-lift raises from the foot of the bed, so you need clear floor space at the bottom. A side-lift opens along the long edge, so you need room to one side. This sounds like a minor detail until you're choosing a bed for a box room where one long side is pushed against the wall. In that case an end-lift is usually the sensible pick, because you'll always be able to open it. For the main bedroom with space on both sides, either works and it comes down to which feels easier to use.

What you can actually fit inside

The honest appeal of an ottoman is how much disappears into it. To give a sense of scale, a single compartment comfortably takes things like:

• Spare duvets, pillows and blankets, including the heavy winter tog you only need for part of the year

• Out-of-season clothing, so summer things go away over winter and free up the wardrobe

• Children's clothes in sizes too big or too small to be in rotation right now

• Bags and suitcases, which otherwise eat half a wardrobe on their own

• Occasional kit such as the travel cot, festive decorations and spare bedding for guests

Because it's one big open space rather than fixed drawers, you can use it for awkward, oversized items that won't fit anywhere else. A folded duvet that refuses to go in any cupboard slides straight in.

A tidier room that's quicker to clean

There's a quieter benefit that families tend to notice within a week or two. When the under-bed space does the heavy lifting, you stop needing a wall of storage boxes, a blanket box at the foot of the bed or an extra chest of drawers squeezed into the corner. That frees up real floor area, which in a child's room means more room to play and in your own room simply means it feels less cramped.

It's easier to keep clean, too. Nothing gathers dust and stray toys like the gap under a bed on legs. With an ottoman, that gap is sealed off, so there's no fishing fluff-covered Lego out with a broom handle every few weeks. For anyone in the house with allergies or asthma, a closed base is one less place collecting dust where you can't see it.

Choosing one that holds up to family life

A bed that gets opened and closed most days, sat on, bounced on and occasionally climbed needs to be built for it. A few things are worth checking before you buy.

• The gas struts. These do the lifting, so quality matters most here. Good ones raise the base smoothly and hold it firmly open rather than creeping shut and they keep doing that for years. Weak struts are usually the first thing to fail.

• The base itself. Some ottomans have a solid board under the mattress, others a sprung slatted base. A board or a lined base stops smaller items slipping down the sides, whereas open slats can let things drop through if you over-pack it.

• The fabric. Upholstered ottomans come in everything from soft velvets to hard-wearing weaves. In a child's room a tighter weave usually wears better and wipes down more easily than a plush pile that marks if you so much as look at it.

• Mattress weight. The struts are rated to lift a set weight and a dense memory foam or pocket-sprung mattress is heavier than it looks. Match the mattress to what the bed is designed to take so it stays easy to open.

Spending a little more on the mechanism and the build tends to pay off, because this is a bed you handle daily rather than just sleep on.

Where an ottoman earns its keep as the family grows

The same bed solves different problems in different rooms. In the main bedroom, parents usually fill it with bedding and the seasonal overflow that used to clog the airing cupboard. In a child's or teenager's room, it keeps clothes, kit and clutter off the floor and out of sight, which makes the "tidy your room" conversation a bit shorter. In a small guest room or box room that doubles as a study, it hides the bits a multi-use room collects, so it can flip from office to spare room without a scramble.

That flexibility is part of why an ottoman stays useful as circumstances change. A bed bought for a guest room can become a teenager's bed years later and still be doing a real job.

You can see the range of sizes and styles in the ottoman beds collection at The Bed Crafters, which runs from single through to super king.

Final thoughts

For a growing family, the appeal of an ottoman bed comes down to something simple: it gives you back space you already own but couldn't use. The footprint under your bed becomes a large, hidden store for the bedding, clothes and occasional bits that pile up as children get older, without adding another bulky unit to the room. It keeps floors clear, cuts down on dusting and adapts to whatever the room needs to be next.

As more families make do with smaller homes and tighter bedrooms, furniture that does two jobs at once only gets more worthwhile. An ottoman bed is one of the more sensible ways to buy yourself a bit of room to grow into, which is usually what a household with children needs most.

FAQs

Are ottoman beds safe with children around?

Yes, as long as it's a good quality one and the lifting is left to an adult. The gas struts hold the base firmly open and better models lower slowly rather than dropping. Children shouldn't open or close it on their own, much as you'd treat any heavy lid.

Is the storage awkward to get to day to day?

For things you use constantly it takes a bit more effort than a drawer, since you clear the top and lift the base. Most people use the compartment for items they reach for now and then, like spare bedding and out-of-season clothes and keep daily essentials in a bedside table or wardrobe.

Can I use any mattress on an ottoman bed?

Most mattresses are fine, but weight is the thing to watch. Very heavy memory foam or pocket-sprung mattresses can strain the struts and make the base harder to lift, so check the recommended mattress weight before buying.

End-lift or side-lift, which should I choose?

It depends on your room. If a long side of the bed sits against a wall, an end-lift is easier because you open it from the foot. If there's space on both sides, either works and it's down to preference.

Does an ottoman bed cost a lot more than a normal one?

There's usually a premium over a basic frame because of the mechanism and the upholstery. That said, it often works out cheaper than buying a bed plus separate storage furniture and it saves the floor space those extra units would take.