Children's Beds with Storage
Children's beds divide into three types, and the choice between them is mostly a choice about what you need back: floor space, storage, or a second bed in the same room.
Every bed across these three collections is wood, and every sleeping place takes a UK single mattress at 3ft x 6ft 3in (90 x 190cm).
Bunk beds for two children
Bunk beds put two sleeping places into the floor area of one. They are the answer to a specific problem, which is two children and one bedroom, and nothing else solves it as compactly.
Triple sleepers take the same idea further, with a double berth below and a single above, so three children sleep in the footprint of one bed. They suit a shared room where the age gap is wide enough that the two younger ones still share comfortably.
Some frames carry drawers beneath the bottom bunk. The bottom bunk itself can be made up from the floor; the top cannot, which is the trade-off that comes with every raised sleeping surface.
Cabin beds and mid sleepers
A cabin bed lifts one mattress partway, high enough to fill the space below with drawers, a wardrobe or a low desk. Mid sleeper is the same bed under a different name.
This is the type to choose when the problem is storage rather than a second child. The frame absorbs what would otherwise need a chest of drawers and a wardrobe standing on the floor, and it stays low enough that an adult can strip and remake it while standing.
Low sleepers sit lower again, raised for drawers but not for a desk, which suits a younger child or a room with a sloping ceiling.
High sleeper beds
A high sleeper clears a seated adult underneath, so the space below becomes a working room: a full desk with a chair that pushes under it, and a wardrobe beside it.
This is the type for a bedroom that has to double as a study, and it keeps working through secondary school. The cost is height. You cannot reach the mattress from the floor, so the bedding is changed from the steps, and the ceiling needs checking before anything else.
Children's bed heights compared
The three types differ in what they give back, not in quality. This is the comparison that usually settles it:
| Bunk beds | Cabin beds and mid sleepers | High sleeper beds | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleeps | Two, or three on a triple sleeper | One | One |
| What fits underneath | A second bed, and drawers on some frames | Drawers, a wardrobe or a low desk | A full desk and chair, and a wardrobe |
| Making the bed from the floor | Bottom bunk yes, top bunk no | Yes | No |
| Solves | Two children, one room | Not enough storage | Nowhere to work |
| Ceiling height matters | Yes, for the top bunk | Least of the three | Most of the three |
If none of the three problems applies, a child does not need a raised bed at all, and a standard single is the simpler answer.
Children's beds with storage
Storage is the reason most people end up on a raised bed rather than a flat one, and it is worth being clear about what each type gives.
Drawers under a bunk or a cabin bed hold folded clothes and bedding. They run long and shallow rather than deep, which suits jumpers and pyjamas more than it suits anything tall. A wardrobe section, which appears on cabin beds and on every high sleeper, gives hanging space instead, at a rail height that takes school uniform and jackets rather than adult coats.
The practical test is what the bed lets you remove from the room. In a small bedroom, a frame that absorbs the chest of drawers and the wardrobe leaves the floor in the middle clear, and that middle floor is the part a child actually uses.
Children's beds for small rooms
In a bedroom of around 7ft x 8ft (2.1 x 2.4m), a standard single with a wardrobe and a chest beside it leaves almost nothing, and often the door will not open fully.
All three types answer that, in different currencies. A bunk bed buys floor by stacking sleepers. A cabin bed buys it by stacking storage. A high sleeper buys it by stacking a whole desk. What none of them changes is the ceiling, which is the one measurement that can rule an option out completely, so it is the one to take first.
Children's bed FAQs
What is the difference between a bunk bed, a cabin bed and a high sleeper?
Bunk beds sleep two or three. Cabin beds and high sleepers sleep one and use the space underneath, a cabin bed at a height that suits drawers and a wardrobe, a high sleeper at a height that clears a seated adult and takes a full desk.
What age can a child use a raised bed?
Guidance for raised sleeping surfaces generally starts at six years, which covers a top bunk, a cabin bed and a high sleeper alike. Below that, a standard single or a low sleeper is the safer choice.
What size mattress do children's beds take?
A UK single, 3ft x 6ft 3in (90 x 190cm), across all three types. Depth is worth watching on any raised bed: too deep and the sleeping surface rises towards the top of the guard rail, which reduces how much it protects.
Which children's bed is best for a small room?
It depends which problem the room has. Two children in it points to a bunk bed. Nowhere to put clothes points to a cabin bed. Nowhere to do homework points to a high sleeper. Measure the ceiling before choosing, since it can settle the question for you.
Do children's beds come with storage?
Many do. Cabin beds and mid sleepers are built around it, every high sleeper here includes a wardrobe as well as a desk, and some bunk beds carry drawers beneath the lower bunk.
Are children's beds made of wood?
Every frame across these collections is wood. There are no metal frames in the range.