An ottoman bed is a special kind of storage bed because the foot of it lifts up to reveal a large storage space under the bed. Most of them are ottoman beds with gas lifts, which raise the frame and keep it there until the bed is closed.
With ottoman beds, you can keep your room clean and organized because they have storage options that are hidden. This space, which comes in different shapes and sizes, might help you hide your things and get rid of the need for big storage furniture!
We put together this complete guide to ottoman beds to make sure you know everything you need to know, including how to put one in your bedroom.
Understanding Ottoman Beds
A bed with built-in storage is called an ottoman bed. The base can be lifted up with hydraulics to show storage space below.
Since they use the whole space under the bed, ottoman beds usually have more storage room than divan or drawer beds. They are very helpful for people who don’t have much room in their bedroom or who want to store big, bulky things that wouldn’t fit in a divan-style bed.
At Reinforced Beds, we have heavy-duty Ottoman beds that are the right mix of style, durability, and support. You can choose from side-lift and end-lift designs to fit any room layout.
We’ll keep talking about “what is an ottoman bed?” and get into more detail about the benefits of this type of bed below.
How do Ottoman beds work?
An ottoman bed base is made up of pistons (or, more often, gas legs) that support the mattress as it moves up and down. If you look in the trunk of a car, you can see gas legs that move the trunk open and shut. They keep the lid or mattress from moving or falling over quickly. They are necessary, and ottoman bottoms would not work right without them. They are so heavy that you would almost never be able to lift them without them! Because of this, you should never use hinged bases that don’t have these legs.
Why is an ottoman bed good?
Extra Storage
To make the most of the space your bed takes up, ottoman beds are great. They make it easy to add extra storage to your room.
Additionally, they’re great for keeping things that you won’t need as often as other things. You could put away your cold coats there in the summer, or you could store extra bedding there for when people come over to visit.
The Easy Lift Mechanism
Pulling up an ottoman is easy because it has a motorized lift system that does the work.
It is designed so that you can quickly get to the things that are inside ottoman beds. Because they have a simple lift system, they are often easier to get to than drawers because you don’t have to bend over to get to the stuff inside.
A lot of people think that ottoman beds are hard to move, but that’s not true. But they’re generally solid structures instead of beds that can be taken apart. However, the bed frame may be hard to move around as a whole, even though the top isn’t heavy on its own.
Free Up Floor Space
If you store your things under your bed, you won’t need as much other storage space in your bedroom, which will free up some floor space.
You can get rid of extra stuff by putting it away nicely in an ottoman bed. The secret seam on these types of bed frames is an added bonus; when the bed is fully made up, you can’t even tell if it’s an ottoman. This is great if you want to add storage to your bedroom in a more organized way than just shoving extra shoes under an open bed frame.
Ottoman pistons and gas struts explained
When shopping for an ottoman, the most important thing to look at is the pistons or gas legs that hold it together. Just like with pocket springs, there isn’t a normal gas strut or piston, so you need to know exactly how much weight these struts can handle. There are also hinges that are much better than others. Secondly, choose a better bed company for buying an Ottoman bed. To begin with, you can tell this because better gas struts and pistons will have strong brackets that are attached to the base with at least two screws, if not four. They will look like they are strong enough to do what they need to do. Each side of the mattress base should have a gas strut. In a king-size bed, the two bases are joined together by hinges.
Some cheaper manufacturers only include two struts, which leaves the middle of the mattress fully unsupported. This makes it possible for the legs to get damaged or break. That number refers to the amount of force and weight that the struts can hold when they are in use.
Are Ottomans heavy to lift?
To lift an ottoman for the first time, you do need some power. After that, the gas legs should help lift the mattress. You need to make sure the gas legs can handle the weight of the mattress because of this. In case you are worried about moving the mattress, please keep in mind that a good mattress will be heavy because it has a lot of upholstery stuffing in it. If strength is important to you, you might want to look into a couch with drawers instead.
Can Ottoman bases be used with zip & link mattresses?
Zip & Link beds can be used with ottoman bases, so that’s a yes. In this case, you wouldn’t use the connecting bolt to connect the two lids. Instead, you would use the clips to connect the two bases. This would let you lift each side on its own. Without the clips, you can fully split each side for, say, two guest beds.
Keep in mind that you will need to unzip the mattress and take out any blankets. You should think about how often you’ll split the beds or lift one side without the other.
If you don’t move the beds apart very often, you should join them together. This will give you more support and keep the two sides lined up perfectly.
Bottom Line
In short, if you buy beds from a better bed company, they can give you more storage space than bases with drawers, especially in smaller rooms. Without shelves, they can also give a room a clean look. But they can be heavy to move, so people who aren’t sure they can move and hold the mattress before the struts do should probably not get them. Many people also think about this because ottomans can’t have their edges sprung.