There are two ways to stop a bed eating the room: use the square metre under the mattress that is doing nothing, or have the bed only exist when it is needed. One warning before you start: no maker publishes how many litres its bed holds, which is the figure that matters most in the ones with storage. We leave it empty and say so.
7 products analysed · 1 of 7 folding models publish their stored size
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Type in the gap available and we will mark what fits.
JAY-BE
folds in halfOpen70.0 × 190.0 × 35.0 cmStored70.0 × 10.0 × 95.0 cm
Folded to 10 cm, it lies flat enough to slide under a bed.
Best for Anyone who needs an occasional guest bed that can fold away into a cupboard or corner between visits.
Vesgantti
folds in sectionsOpen75.0 × 190.0 × 10.0 cmStorednot verified
6.48 kg, folds in three
Best for A flat where the guest sleeps on the floor of whichever room is free.
GFW
lift-up ottoman baseOpen102.0 × 207.0 × 111.0 cmStorednot verified
The whole base lifts, not just a lid
Best for A single bedroom that needs real under-bed storage built into the frame, not bolted on afterwards.
VASAGLE
lift-up ottoman baseOpen138.4 × 198.8 × 110.0 cmStorednot verified
500 kg capacity, published by the maker, covers two adults and the mattress above the storage
Best for Anyone furnishing a small double bedroom who needs underbed storage without adding a separate drawer unit.
HOMCOM
lift-up ottoman baseOpen140.0 × 193.5 × 104.0 cmStorednot verified
Only 5 cm of ground clearance: all storage lives inside the lift-up base, not underneath it.
Best for Anyone furnishing a double bedroom who needs storage built into the bed itself rather than a separate chest of drawers, and has room to lift the gas-strut base at the foot end.
Luxchoice
inflatableOpen99.0 × 190.0 × 22.0 cmStorednot verified
Deflated it is a bag
Best for A flat with no cupboard to spare, where a guest sleeps two nights a year.
GFW
lift-up ottoman baseOpen106.0 × 202.0 × 85.0 cmStorednot verified
The storage is under the sleeper
Best for A bedroom with no wardrobe space, where the only free volume left is under the bed.
You are buying blind on one figure, and you should know it. It is the problem of the whole category: no maker publishes how many litres its bed holds. Not one. In every other section of this site we can tell you how much goes in; here we cannot, because the number does not exist. We leave it empty rather than estimate it, and if a seller quotes you a figure, ask where it came from.
Storage under the sleeper and a bed that disappears are different purchases. A base that lifts uses the volume under a bed you were going to have anyway, and it is the answer when the problem is that your own room has no wardrobe. A bed that folds answers the other question: where does a guest sleep when there is no guest room. Neither is better; they solve opposite problems.
A lifting base needs room to lift. A side-opening base needs clear floor down the side; a foot-opening one needs it at the end. In a small bedroom, where the bed is usually against a wall or wedged between two, that decides which one you can actually use. Measure both before choosing.
And ask what it measures folded, because most will not say. Most do not publish it, and a good one folds to around 10 cm. Where it is missing you are asked to guess whether it will fit your cupboard. Where the figure is missing we mark the space score as approximate rather than invent the folded size, which would be a guess with a number on it.
A note on lifting bases. They hold more than any other kind of bed. But they are big and heavy, and the lifting mechanism depends on being assembled well: you build it once, in the room, and it does not move again.
Beds that save space
Beds that put themselves away, mattresses that fold and beds that store things underneath. How much room each takes the 360 days nobody sleeps in it.
