What You Should Know About These 5 Types of Bed

Who doesn’t need a good bed?

Every day we spend a third of our time in bed. Being the safeguard of our sleep and overall wellbeing, the bed as an essential household item is worth investing on.

When purchasing a bed, make sure a warranty is included in the price you pay.

It is more advisable to buy beds from official stores where the quality of products can be ascertained.

More importantly, you should always find out how the bed feels, apart from how it looks.

Visit showrooms and physical stores, lie on the beds to experience and decide whether you are comfortable with a particular model.

Beds we don’t recommend homeowners to buy

Ottoman beds

The ottoman bed was more popular among consumers in the last couple of years, but not so much now.

This is mostly due to the ever-increasing variety of bed choices available on the market, and that fact that the ottoman bed is not without flaws.

The ottoman bed has a large compartment below like the boot of a car. Quality ottoman beds are quite safe and offer a large amount of storage space.

But for smaller bedrooms and flats, the ottoman bed itself can take up so much space that the room ends up making you feel claustrophobic.

The ottoman bed might cause the room to have inadequate space for you to store items frequently used. Needless to say, you’ll have no space for a bedside table or a wardrobe.

Moreover, if unfortunately, you have purchased a low-quality ottoman bed, the supporting frames and hinges inside the storage compartment might break after a short period of use.

The ottoman generally has a shorter lifespan than other types of bed.

Another shortcoming of the ottoman bed is that the storage space, since being in close proximity to the floor, is quite humid and not suitable for storing old garments or tools.

When you think about it, there aren’t a lot of household items suitable for storing under the ottoman bed.

Storage beds

The reduced flat size in Hong Kong has led to the storage bed’s rising popularity. But like the ottoman bed, the storage bed has a similar humidity problem. You cannot store humidity-sensitive and mould-prone items in storage beds.

Since the mattress is going to cover most of the cabinet lids, access to stored items might prove a bit of a hassle.

What are the better choices?

Ordinary drawer storage beds

The drawer bed might look just like a storage bed, but in terms of convenience and functionality, drawers are the superior option because it is more sealed than lidded compartments. The storage bed’s humidity problem is easily resolved.

The drawer bed is just as compact as the storage bed, but the former offers easier access to stored items than the latter.

Murphy beds

For larger households where bedroom space might not be adequate, we recommend installing a murphy bed in the living room.

The murphy bed is a desirable choice for small flats and bedrooms, because it takes up very little space when lifted up.

The design of murphy beds often give the interior a techno touch the murphy bed is one of those ‘cool’ items that looks impressive and performs impressively.

Tatami

The Japanese tatami contains the meaning ‘to fold’ or ‘to pile up’.

The modern tatami bed, compared with the storage bed, has a lower and wider base. The futon laid on the base is usually quite thin, which creates a layering visual effect.

The price of a tatami bed is normally cheaper than other types of beds.

The base of the tatami bed can be made into storage spaces, which makes this type of bed a good choice for home owners of smaller flats.

This article was originally published on HKDecoman.

HKDecoman, now going global as Deco-Man, is a Hong Kong-based renovation platform which provides professional consultancy services and pioneers in the development of A.I. homeowner-engineer matching. We aim at educating the public about the art of home renovation, and have our eyes on transforming the traditional renovation industry, bringing standardisation, transparency, convenience and automation to the business.