A TV bed frees up bedroom wall space because the television lives inside the footboard rather than on a bracket or a stand. When the screen is lowered, the wall opposite the bed no longer has to be reserved for a TV, its cables and the furniture underneath it. That wall becomes available for wardrobes, a chest of drawers, artwork, shelving or simply calm, open plaster, which makes a noticeable difference in the modest bedrooms found in so many UK homes.
It is a simple idea with wide reaching effects on how a room is planned. If you are considering one of our modern TV beds UK households use to reclaim space, it helps to understand exactly what you gain and how to use it well.
In most bedrooms, wall space is more limited than floor space. Doors, windows, radiators and built in cupboards all claim a section of wall, and what remains has to accommodate the bed, wardrobes and any other storage. In a typical double bedroom in a terraced or semi detached house, there may be only one or two stretches of uninterrupted wall at all.
A conventional TV setup takes one of those stretches. A wall mounted screen needs a central position opposite the bed, and that usually rules out tall furniture on the same wall. A TV stand needs floor space as well as wall space. Either way, a valuable surface is given over to an object that sits switched off for most of the day.
With the television tucked into the footboard, the bed carries both functions on its own footprint. The result is a room plan with one fewer fixed point to work around. The wall opposite the bed can now take full height wardrobes, which is often the single most useful change in a small bedroom. It can also hold a wide chest of drawers with a mirror above, a run of open shelves or a large piece of art that gives the room character.
The rest of the room benefits too. With the screen no longer dictating the layout, the remaining bedroom furniture UK sale pieces can be placed for storage, light and comfort, rather than for sightlines to a fixed screen.
For tenants, wall space comes with an extra complication. Many tenancy agreements restrict drilling, which makes a wall mounted television difficult or impossible. A stand is the usual alternative, but it brings back the problem of floor and wall space.
A TV bed avoids both. Nothing is fixed to the wall, so there are no holes to fill at the end of a tenancy and no conversation with a landlord about brackets. The walls remain exactly as you found them, and you are still free to arrange freestanding furniture against them.
Gaining a wall is only useful if you put it to good use. A few approaches work particularly well in UK bedrooms.
If clothes storage is a problem, the wall opposite the bed is often the natural home for wardrobes. Our sliding wardrobes UK range suits this position well, because sliding doors need no clearance to open and will not clash with the foot of the bed in a narrow room.
In rooms that already have built in cupboards, a chest of drawers or low sideboard style piece can take the freed wall instead. This keeps the lower half of the wall useful while leaving the upper half for a mirror or framed prints. Our modern chest of drawers UK collection includes wide, low designs that sit comfortably opposite a bed.
Sometimes the best use of a freed wall is to leave it largely empty. A single piece of art or a softly painted wall gives the eye somewhere calm to rest, which helps a bedroom feel restful. This approach suits people who already have enough storage elsewhere and want the room to feel as uncluttered as possible.
Where the freed wall is long enough, you might split it between a slim chest and a small chair, creating a corner for getting dressed or reading. This works well in main bedrooms where there is a little more floor to spare.
The benefit is not only about square metres. A switched off television is a large dark rectangle that draws the eye, and its cables, plugs and set top boxes add to the sense of clutter. Even a neatly mounted screen changes the feel of a bedroom, making it seem more like a second living room.
When the screen disappears into the footboard, that visual weight goes with it. The room reads as a bedroom again. Many people find this helps them switch off at night, because the television is no longer the focal point every time they walk into the room.
A TV bed does not remove the need for power, so plan where the cables will run. Ideally there should be a socket near the foot or side of the bed so the lead can travel discreetly along the skirting. A short, neatly routed cable keeps the freed wall looking tidy.
If the only sockets are on the wall you have just freed, a cable cover along the skirting board is a simple solution. In older houses, it can be worth asking an electrician to add a socket in a more convenient position.
In a room around three metres square, a TV bed against the longest solid wall leaves the opposite wall free for a two door wardrobe and a slim bedside on one side of the bed. Without the TV bed, that same wall might hold a screen and a low unit, with the wardrobe squeezed into an alcove.
Sloping ceilings leave very little full height wall in a loft bedroom. Mounting a television on a sloping section is rarely practical, and the one full height wall is usually needed for storage. A TV bed solves the problem neatly, letting you place the bed under the eaves and keep the tallest wall for wardrobes.
In a dual purpose room, wall space has to cover a desk, shelving and the bed. Moving the television into the footboard means the desk can take the wall opposite, with shelves above, and guests still have a screen when they stay.
Once a wall is free, it is tempting to fill it. Before adding furniture, decide what the wall is really for. If the problem in your bedroom is clothes storage, commit the wall to wardrobes and resist adding shelves of ornaments beside them. If the room already has plenty of storage, let the wall stay quiet and choose one piece of art rather than several small frames. A clear purpose for each wall is what keeps a bedroom feeling restful over time.
If you want more ideas on combining screens and bedroom storage, our guide on styling TV units with bedroom furniture in UK homes explores the alternatives in more detail.
Every wall in a bedroom has a job, and a television is one of the least efficient things to give a wall to. A TV bed returns that space to you, whether you use it for storage, display or simply calm. In the compact rooms that are common across the UK, that one change can transform how the whole bedroom works.
Explore beds, wardrobes and storage that make the most of every wall at Furniture in Fashion, with free delivery to most UK mainland postcodes.
It frees the whole section of wall that a mounted screen or TV stand would otherwise occupy, which is usually the central part of the wall opposite the bed.
Yes. Sliding wardrobes work particularly well, but leave a comfortable walkway between the foot of the bed and the wardrobe doors.
The headboard should sit against a solid wall, ideally near a socket. The foot of the bed needs clear space above so the screen can rise.
It can be, because no drilling or wall brackets are required and the walls stay untouched.
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