Single Beds and Single Bed Frames with Storage
A single bed is bought for one of three rooms: a child moving up from a cot bed, a spare room that has to earn its keep, or a box room where nothing wider will physically go. The bed itself is the same in all three cases. What changes is how hard it has to work, and that decides everything about which one to buy.
This collection covers single beds and single bed frames in wood and upholstered fabric, including single ottoman beds with storage underneath.
Single bed size and dimensions
A standard UK single bed measures 3ft wide by 6ft 3in long, which is 90cm by 190cm. That is the mattress size, and it has been the standard here for long enough that any single mattress you buy will fit any single frame.
The frame itself is always larger than the mattress it holds, and by a variable amount. A slim wooden frame might add an inch or two each side; an upholstered frame with padded sides can add four or five. Where the bed is going into a tight space, the number that matters is the external width of the frame, not the 3ft on the label.
How much room a single bed needs
Allow at least 24 inches (60cm) of clear floor down the side you get in and out from, and the same at the foot if there is anything to walk past. In a genuinely narrow box room a single bed pushed lengthways against one wall is usually the only arrangement that leaves a usable route to the door.
Height is worth a thought too, and it is the one thing people forget. A low frame suits a small child and a room with a sloped ceiling. A higher frame is easier to get out of and gives you the space underneath that makes storage possible.
Single bed length for taller sleepers
Six foot three is generous for a child and tight for an adult over six foot, who will find their feet at the end of the mattress. There is no longer standard single in common use here, so for a tall adult in a spare room the honest answer is often a small double instead — the extra 6 inches (15cm) of width matters less than the fact that most small double frames run to the same length.
Single beds with storage
A single bed is usually in the smallest room in the house, which is exactly where storage is scarcest. The space under a bed is the largest unused volume in a box room, and using it is often the difference between the room working and not.
What goes under there is predictable: spare bedding, out-of-season clothes, suitcases, and in a child's room the things that would otherwise be on the floor. Measure what you intend to store before choosing, because an open compartment and a low clearance hold very different amounts.
Single ottoman beds
An ottoman bed lifts the whole base on gas struts, so the entire footprint underneath becomes one open compartment. Nothing is divided up and nothing is lost to runners, which makes it the most efficient storage of any bed at any size — you get close to the full 3ft by 6ft 3in of floor as usable space, deep enough for a suitcase standing on its side.
On a single, the lift is almost always from the side rather than the end. That matters more here than on a wider bed: a side-lifting single needs clear floor along one long side to open, and a bed pushed lengthways against a wall in a box room has to be pulled out first. Check which side yours lifts from and put that side into the room.
The gas struts do the work, so the base rises with one hand even with bedding on it. They are also the part that wears — over many years they lose some of their lift, and they can be replaced.
Wooden and upholstered single beds
The frame material changes what the bed suits far more than what it costs, and the two behave very differently in a small room.
Wooden single beds
Timber is quiet, and in a single bed that counts for more than it sounds. A wooden frame with a solid slatted base does not creak or ring the way a lighter frame can when someone turns over, which matters in a child's room next to yours or a spare room off a landing. It also takes knocks from a hoover and from feet without denting or chipping, and a solid wooden single bed will outlast several mattresses.
Wood is also the honest choice for a room that will be a child's for ten years. A plain timber frame survives several changes of taste, and marks along the side rails disappear into the grain rather than showing as scuffs.
Upholstered and fabric single beds
An upholstered single bed is padded across the frame and the headboard, which does two things a wooden one cannot. It is soft where a child's head, elbows and knees meet it, and it absorbs sound rather than reflecting it, so a small hard room feels calmer.
The headboard is part of the frame rather than a separate piece, so it arrives finished and there is nothing to match up afterwards. Fabric does need more thought about cleaning than timber — a removable or wipeable cover is worth asking about for a child's room — and a padded surround adds a few inches to the external width, which is worth knowing before it goes into a narrow gap.
White, grey and oak single beds
Single beds go into small rooms, and pale frames are what keep those rooms from closing in. White is the most asked-for finish here and works with any bedding, which matters in a child's room where the bedding will change several times before the bed does. Grey is more forgiving of scuffs along the side rails and is the safest choice in upholstered fabric. Oak and natural timber warm up a spare room that is otherwise plain, and hide marks better than any painted finish.
Where the bed has a wooden frame and you want a padded head end, a separate headboard fixes to the frame and can be changed later without replacing the bed. Our headboards collection covers the fittings and heights.
Single beds for guest rooms and box rooms
A spare room has a different problem from a child's room: the bed is unused most of the year and the room still has to be worth having. That is the argument for storage, since an ottoman single turns a room that sits empty eleven months of the year into the place the suitcases live.
Where the room has to do two jobs entirely, a single sofa bed folds away and gives the floor back, and where two children share, bunk beds put two singles into the footprint of one.
Single bed FAQs
What size is a single bed?
3ft by 6ft 3in, or 90cm by 190cm. That is the mattress size and it is the UK standard, so any single mattress will fit any single frame. The frame itself will be wider than 3ft — sometimes by only an inch or two, sometimes by four or five on an upholstered one — so measure the external width if the space is tight.
How much space do you need around a single bed?
At least 24 inches (60cm) of clear floor on the side you get in and out from, and the same at the foot if you have to walk past it. In a very narrow room, placing the bed lengthways along one wall usually leaves the only workable route to the door.
Is a single bed big enough for an adult?
For an occasional guest, comfortably. For an adult sleeping in it every night, it is tight across the shoulders, and anyone over six foot will reach the end of the mattress. Where the room takes it, a small double is a better long-term answer for an adult.
How much can you fit under a single ottoman bed?
Close to the full footprint of the bed, because the base lifts as one piece and nothing is divided up. It is deep enough for a suitcase on its side, and it holds far more than any arrangement that leaves the base fixed in place.
Which way does a single ottoman bed open?
Almost always from one long side rather than the end. That means it needs clear floor along that side to open, so a bed pushed against a wall has to be pulled out first. Check which side lifts before deciding which way round the bed goes into the room.
Are wooden or upholstered single beds better?
Wooden frames take knocks better and are the more durable choice in a child's room that will see ten years of use. Upholstered frames are softer where you lean against them, quieter in a small hard room, and arrive with the headboard already part of the bed. Fabric needs more care about cleaning; timber needs almost none.