How to Choose a Designer Bed

• Learn what makes a bed ‘designer’
• Understand which bed size and proportions will work best for you
• Compare the benefits of wood, metal, fabric and leather bed frames
• Discover space-saving bed designs
• Find out which customisation options are worth considering
• Learn what to look for before buying

A third of your life is spent in that subconscious realm of dreamland. Well, depending on your daily caffeine intake, anyway. But asleep or not, your bedroom is likely the room you spend the most time in throughout your life. Which is funny because when you build the hierarchy of the home, does everyone place it at the top of the list? Is it "Let's get the sleeping quarters figured out; the rest will follow"? Rarely. To us, it's the home's unsung hero. Well, it is time to sing its praises. More specifically, the piece of furniture it's named after. The Bed.

From health to aesthetics, the benefits of making a bed your most considered purchase are almost infinite. The most important of them all, in our opinion? The bedroom demands a personal touch. It is your sanctuary, the strongest visual representation of your style, in its most intimate form. A designer bed will offer comfort for every early night and lazy Sunday, while displaying your personality to perfection.

As with anything high-end, there are three core components to a designer bed: build quality, aesthetic appeal and adaptability. None is more important than the others, but achieving the right balance between all three is paramount.

As such a high-use piece of design, a bed needs to stand the test of time while remaining easy on the eye every time you see it. After all, the only thing you want looking tired at night is you before you drift off.

Durable, high-quality upholstery and decades of design history from household names like Flexform and B&B Italia are the gold standard when it comes to this combination. But let's take a closer look at what exactly you're looking for.

Made of something special - Given how often you'll use your luxury bed, you want a material that offers not just softness, but longevity too. The two are not always the best of friends, which is why quality matters. A supple, loose-fitting leather that moves almost like water can offer the ideal balance of luxurious looks and long-term durability. Alternatively, a fabric with a high rub count provides a practical option for everyday bedroom use. Again, the material itself isn't necessarily the deciding factor. What matters most is the overall quality, durability and finish it offers..

Heritage and history - We're not saying that age is always a guarantee of experience. But in our world, a long history often means there is a wealth of knowledge and heritage behind both the manufacturing process and the choice of materials. Choosing brands with a proven history of creating luxury furniture gives you greater confidence that you're investing in a time-tested piece of design, shaped by years of experience and backed by a name that has earned its reputation.

A good fit - The best designer beds are nothing if not versatile. The options don't have to stop at upholstery or headboard size. A bed that also incorporates bedside tables, storage or lighting can make a bedroom feel truly tailored to you. Think of the considered feel of a chic five-star hotel, but shaped around your own tastes and routines. Some designs go even further, effectively taking on the role of the entire bedroom.

Size matters when it comes to the bedroom. No, this isn't the start of a BuzzFeed article; we are talking about making sure your bed can actually integrate with your sleep space. We live in an era of design where there are so many bespoke options available that it is nearly impossible to get it wrong. Nearly. You still need to consider your variables before choosing one of the many sizes. Single or superking? High enough that it looks like something from a fairy tale? Or so low that even the most-ardent Scandi furniture enthusiast would look on, jaw agape.

The key really is to make sure the bed sits perfectly in the middle of the scale. You don't want to lose it against the entire sleep setting; it is the centrepiece after all. But you also don't want it to dominate the environment so much so much so that it negates the efforts of the entire room. Sort of a leading cast member of the ensemble. Make sure all of your furniture is visible but radiates outwards around the bed.

A general rule of thumb for height is to use the ceiling as your benchmark. The higher they are, the higher the bed should be and vice versa. Getting this part wrong can make the space feel either cramped or empty and lifeless.

We've discussed why quality materials are so important, but knowing which ones are available and why they're optimal for your space is a different animal. There are no set rules, of course, but like many things in life. Listening to the experts is often advisable.

Wood - The classic. A staple everywhere from stately homes to Swedish apartments. It can evoke everything from grandeur to minimalism. It can be carved to include intricate details or simply exist as a platform for a mattress. And don't forget that wood is highly versatile when it comes to finishes; you can have everything from rich walnut to bright beech; for us, it's the underrated all-rounder. However, its natural properties add a bit more manual labour when it comes to spring-cleaning the bedroom.

Metal - Lending itself mostly to an industrial-style sleep space, metal frames tend to keep things simple. Sleek lines, ultra-supportive construction and the ideal solution if you're looking for practical qualities in your sleep sanctuary. Metal is easily cleaned and hard to damage (unless you use enough force), and its lightweight nature means the frame isn't the only low-maintenance element; the surrounding area is too.

Fabric - The most adaptable choice you can go for. Almost infinite in its options, when buying a fabric bed, it is almost always down to the shape it takes or liking the brand that manufactures it. This is because you can often upholster it in any choice of colour or texture from an incredibly large catalogue that fits your style and taste. The upsides also lie (pun intended) in its superior comfort. Although you won't be lying on the headboard, so that comfort is mostly aesthetic.

Leather - As always, when investing in your furniture, leather is an unbelievably luxurious option. Its debonair visuals and often incredible attention to detail in the manufacturing process give it an air of opulence. Even the scent of fresh leather is potently high-end. It's as if sleeping surrounded by a personal artisan creation. The most underrated thing about it? Its surprisingly versatile nature. As technology advances, the options, finishes, and even textures are available in variations you wouldn't imagine. So it's always worth checking in with a salesperson on what can work for you. Best to avoid breakfast in bed, thanks to leather's famously porous qualities.

The nature of being a place to lie down and relax gives a bed the largest horizontal footprint in the home (extendable dining tables unaccounted for). You can't sleep vertically, but what if you could store them standing up? Wall beds have always been seen as a space-saving necessity, an ergonomic convenience, but with apartment living becoming far more common and incredible innovation in multi-functional furniture has become a new entity entirely.

Dining rooms can welcome guests for dinner, then invite them to stay the night; WFH all of a sudden stands for waking for hash browns, and falling asleep on the sofa takes on a whole new meaning in itself. One brand that handles the world of compact living incredibly well is Clei. Their solutions offer designer sleeping and integrative technology in one precise package that opens the door (or the wall) to napping no matter the room.

As with every considerably large piece of furniture, the best place to buy a bed is in-store. As mentioned, you'll be spending a lot of time in each other's presence, so before making that purchase, see it for yourself. A digital representation gives you a good idea of what to expect, but physically trying it out ensures no surprises and also allows you access to the experts who can answer questions that may have never even occurred to you.

It is the reason our showroom contains multiple bedroom settings with styles from across modern design. We want our customers to be able to truly grasp the available combinations while getting insights that only our experienced specialists can provide.