Why our sleep experts loved it
Dreams’ contribution to the increasingly popular grown up looking kids bed category is the Estella Velvet-Finish Kids Bed Frame. This is a petite single with a ribbed velvet headboard, slim rails and a low foot end that is actually far smarter than you might expect from a children's bed frame. It read as simple, modern and unexpectedly upscale in person, particularly in the navy, and at this price I would call it a solid, good value choice for a straightforward single bed that won’t take over the room.
I have not actually seen this built at home, only in a Dreams showroom, but I spent a long time poking at it and it felt reassuringly sturdy for a bed frame that currently sells at the lower mid range for a high street single, with both a green and navy colourway available and free delivery typically offered.
The Estella Kids Bed Frame from Dreams is for children who have moved beyond toddler sized furniture but who are still young enough that a compact, easy to access bed will work for them. Dreams describes it as the little sister to its full size Estella velvet bed, borrowing the same pleated headboard detail and sporting a low foot end that keeps the frame feeling light, airy and practical in a smaller UK bedroom.
Seeing this in person, the silhouette is clean and uncluttered. The ribbed, vertically pleated headboard provides just enough detail that the bed is not a complete blank slate, but the frame itself is very pared back, without sharp edges or chunky rails. In particular, it felt much more like a scaled down adult bed than a novelty kids frame, which is perfect if you want the room to feel calm and a natural extension of the rest of the house.
The standout in terms of colour is the navy. It is dark and slightly muted, so it will work equally well with grey walls, pastels or a bolder colour scheme. The green, to my eye, is flat and a bit harder to work with, and in store it definitely read more as a statement colour that could date faster. If you are trying to build something with longevity, I would lead most people towards the navy and go with a lighter colour on the bedding to keep things fresh and airy.
Design & Build The Estella Velvet-Finish Kids Bed Frame is an upholstered wooden single with a velvet finish fabric wrapped around the headboard, side rails and foot end. The headboard is generously padded and vertically pleated, which is what creates that ribbed texture you see and means that it is also nice and cushy to lean up against for bedtime stories. The foot end is kept low and lightly padded for the same reason: it still feels soft and approachable around the edges without visually blocking the room.
As for the base, it is a solid wooden slatted system rather than sprung slats. That means the mattress is sitting on a firm and stable platform, which is sensible for kids since it helps things feel secure and supports posture, provided you are also getting a decent single mattress to match.
The frame as a whole has a sleek, low rise side profile. The rails are on the slim side, so the bed does not look boxy or overstuffed, and the accent legs give it a bit of lift without ever making it look like a floor bed. The adult version of the Estella frame has legs in a gold tone and they are a fair bit more ornate; this one follows a similar design, but the kids legs are a grown up embellishment rather than feeling fussy or precious.
In person, build quality felt solid for the price. The headboard was not flexy when I pressed on it, and the frame as a whole felt sturdy when I gave the side rails a good push. The upholstery work around the edges was tidy and neat, with no obvious puckering, and the velvet had a soft, uniform pile rather than the shinier, less expensive velvets that are often found at this end of the market.
One practical note: it comes in fairly small boxes for a single bed frame, so should be doable up typical UK stairs and around corners as long as you have one fairly strong adult helping.
Assembly & Setup I have not put this particular frame together at home, but the design is a fairly standard take on an upholstered single bed: you screw the legs onto the headboard and foot end, bolt the side rails into the frame, then bolt the solid wooden slats onto the lip or support rails. It will be a two person assembly, more because you need to hold things in place than because the boxes are awkward, and should take about an hour if you are used to putting together flat pack furniture.
Dreams do offer a paid assembly service that includes carrying the boxes to your chosen room and building it for you, which is an option if you are very short on time, energy or tools. They can also take away your old bed or mattress for recycling, which does mean you can move a child up from a smaller bed frame in a single swap over day if you need to.
With that said, many people will be fine to put it together themselves given the modest box sizes and weights. The benefit of the professional option is that you can keep it in your back pocket if you do not want to do DIY on a Sunday afternoon and then end up bickering.
Comfort & Practicality Bed comfort is always a combination of the base and mattress you use. On its own, the solid wooden slatted base here gives you a firm and even platform that the mattress can rest on, with solid support along the full length. It will suit most standard single mattresses, including foam and hybrid, so long as they are designed to go on slats.
The headboard is what gives this a particularly kid friendly feel. The vertical pleating is not just for decoration, it hides a good level of padding, so leaning back on the headboard for bedtime stories or morning cartoons is comfortable, without any hard edges poking through. It is also a generous height, so should work for younger kids as well as tweens, though a very tall teenager may have outgrown it aesthetically long before they physically need a bigger bed.
The velvet finish fabric is soft to the touch and creates a cosier, more cocooning feel than plain wood or metal. On the other hand, velvet also traps more warmth and will show lint and dust, and pet hair, a bit more readily. In a warm south facing bedroom this may actually feel cosier than a plain wooden bed frame, and you will want to vacuum with an upholstery brush attachment over the headboard every so often to keep it at its best.
The frame is clearly designed with kids in mind. It has a low rise design and soft, upholstered edges that makes it approachable for younger children. It also has a few fewer hard, sharp surfaces to get hung up on compared to a traditional metal bed frame, which will please some parents.
Storage The Estella Velvet-Finish Kids Bed Frame is a look and comfort bed rather than a storage one. It is not an ottoman or a drawer divan, and because it is lower to the ground than many standard frames, under bed clearance is quite limited. You might be able to cram a few shallow under bed boxes in there, but not much more. Tall plastic tubs and bulky toy crates are unlikely to fit.
If your child’s room is already short on storage and you rely on under bed space for toys, clothes or spare bedding, look instead at a cabin bed or high sleeper with built in drawers and shelves. It is a trade off: you lose storage capacity but gain a sleeker, more grown up looking aesthetic.
Everyday Use In everyday life, this should be a simple frame to live with provided you approach it knowing it is a simple, non storage single bed. The low rise design is great for smaller children since they can get in and out by themselves without needing a stool. It is also easier to maintain independence and to avoid tumbles from a high bed at night.
From a cleaning perspective, navy is the more low maintenance of the two colourways. It hides minor scuffs and marks well, and the velvet pile can usually be refreshed with a soft brush or a quick vacuum if there is any imprinting. The green is more of a statement colour and will show shading and marks more readily, so I would only go with it if it is a perfect fit for a very specific scheme you love and you do not mind keeping an eye on it a bit more actively.
The solid slatted base should feel pretty stable under normal use, and because there is less give than on a sprung slat bed, less chance of the bed feeling bouncy or boomy when a child is bouncing on and off the bed. As always, check that the slats are correctly spaced and screwed down during build, since that is where bed creaks tend to originate over time.
In terms of longevity, the styling is very much in the timeless category: a simple ribbed velvet headboard, slim rails and accent legs are not things that are going to look outdated in a few years. The only real sticking point is size: this is only available as a 3’0 single, so there is no option to move this look into a small double or standard double if your child needs or wants more space later on. It is also less practical as a shared guest bed for two.
Final Verdict All told, the Estella Velvet-Finish Kids Bed Frame is a stylish, good value single bed that takes a lot of its design inspiration from the adult market and scales it down for younger children. You get a softly padded, pleated velvet headboard, a firm solid slatted base and a nice low rise profile, all from a major high street retailer with delivery included in the price. It is not trying to be an all things to all people bed, it is a simple modern single bed that looks smart and does its job well.
Best for: parents who want a modern, grown up looking kids bed in a compact room; children from roughly four upwards who enjoy sitting up against a padded headboard; and anyone looking to build a navy based scheme where the bed can quietly anchor the room without shouting for attention.
Think twice if: you have a serious need for under bed storage, you want a bed that will comfortably sleep two people, or you are worried about keeping velvet clean in a craft heavy, snack heavy bedroom. The single only sizing is a shame and the green colourway will not be for everyone.
If you are already set on a modern single and you are happy with a simple, non storage frame, I would say that you could do far worse. Pick the navy, get a supportive single mattress to match, and you will have a robust, smart looking kids bed that feels more boutique hotel than preschool without having to spend a fortune.
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