Divan Beds
Divan beds make up the bulk of the UK bed market and were traditionally known as a box spring, this terminology comes from the days of bed frames, where a mattress sat on top of a spring unit encased in fabric with a set of side irons or a wooden platform underneath the mattress
As the fashion moved away from typically heavy metal or wooden bed frames that often matched free standing bedroom furniture, the box spring and mattress design developed into a more modern item that was less bulky in the bedroom and much more easy to move being on castors.
The first divan beds were typically 6 inches deep and on legs with castors and then the trend developed towards deeper divan bed bases of around 12 inches in depth on castors with a spring system right up to the edge of the mattress.
These divan bed bases, in many instances, contained as many springs as was in the mattress and effectively the sleepers were supported by 2 mattress spring systems. The down side to this was that many divan beds were soft on the edge and after only a few years use developed a tendency for the sleepers to roll to the middle of the bed. The better quality divan beds, where the mattresses contained individual pocket springs did not suffer as much from roll together, but were generally also soft on the edge of the divan bed.
Linen retailers and bedding manufacturers also benefited from the trend towards divan beds through the introduction of frilled divan base valances. These valances effectively covered the divan bed base colourings and were bought to compliment the bedroom decor. The trend towards the continental style of bedding also helped push the sales of divan beds. Continental quilts and quilt covers perfectly suited divan beds as the quilt was designed to flow over the sides and end of the divan beds.
The major change with divan beds was with the introduction of storage drawers within the divan base. The first drawer divan beds offered base edge springing and relatively shallow drawers but this trend developed quickly with the introduction of platform top divan bed bases, which had no springs and consequently more depth to introduce deeper drawers.
Although consumers were initially reserved with regard to the question of the divan bed drawers taking away any quality from the divan bed the trend further developed with firmer spring mattresses being specified.
The downside to this was that it was difficult to buy soft luxurious divan beds with large drawers.
The compromise was firm divan beds with a platform top and large drawers, a softer feel bed through the use of a sprung edge divan with shallow drawers or a standard soft feel bed with a sprung edge base with no drawers.
Platform top drawer and platform top non-drawer divan beds started to substantially increase in popularity to the degree that many leading bed specialist stores only displayed divan beds with storage.
The consequences for the retailers were that if the market was going towards platform top divan beds would the future market be more in mattress only sales as platform top divan beds were not subject to as much wear and tear as the sprung edge divan bed bases had been. To help offset the intrinsic firmness of the platform top divan beds further developments were made through the introduction of one-sided mattresses. The original need to turn mattresses was due to natural layered upholstery fillings being used in the mattress and regular turning helped to even the wear and avoid dips in the mattress where the bodyweight is heaviest.
There is no requirement in modern spring systems to turn the mattress and on the basis that consumers do not often comply with this advice, the deep upholstery on the underside of the mattress is little used.
The initiative with the no turn mattress was to effectively take the upholstery from the underside and place this on the top sleeping surface which more or less doubled the comfort layers with very little extra costs. This also allowed a softer surface feel to be offered to offset the firmness of the platform top divans.
The one sided specification transformed the ability to improve the feel of the mattress and created an easy care mattress system where the mattress only needed to be rotated around on one side to spread the load of a typically heavier man and lighter lady.
The development of new upholstery materials also affected the specification of bed fillings. This resulted in a markedly reduced incidence of mattress settlement.
As colour trends changed and the use of frilled valances became unfashionable, divan beds incorporated plainer fabrics, which would compliment most bedroom decors. The introduction of faux suede in cream/beige tones rekindled and developed the interest in divan bed bases from one where consumers wanted to find a way to hide the divan bed base to one where the divan became a feature of the bedroom.
The UK market is the only European market where divan beds are sold. The nearest similar markets are in Australia and America.
Divan beds continue to be a big part of the UK market and with the ongoing introduction of stylish divan base fabrics and in many cases the use of upholstery grade materials the popularity of divan beds is likely to continue for some time.
