Gas Lift Beds Explained: Storage, Sizes, and What to Check Before You Buy

Gas lift beds are now four in every ten bed frames we sell, and the reason is not the mechanism — it is the wardrobe. Most Australian bedrooms were built with one built-in robe and no linen press, and the space under a queen bed is the largest unused storage in the house. This guide is what our showroom team tells customers in January, when the new-year bedroom reset starts: how a gas lift base actually works, when drawers are the better answer, which Australian mattress size suits which room, how tall a bedhead should be, and what to check before you order.

How a gas lift bed works, and what fits underneath

A gas lift bed has a hinged mattress platform on a steel-reinforced base. Two pneumatic gas struts — the same principle as the boot of a car — take most of the weight, so you lift from the foot end and the platform rises in one smooth motion with the mattress still on it. Let go and the struts hold it open; press it down gently and they guide it closed. The struts are factory-sealed and rated for thousands of open-and-close cycles, and they need nothing from you except that you do not force the lid or store anything damp, sharp or very heavy in the base.

What goes underneath is the whole footprint of the bed, less the frame. On our Hilton Velvet Gas Lift Bed — our best-selling bed of the past year, in black velvet — that is a king frame 221cm long and 195cm wide with a hollow beneath the platform for spare bedding, pillows, winter doonas, suitcases and everything else that currently lives on top of the wardrobe. The Allure Velvet Gas Lift Bed in beige does the same behind a vertically tufted wingback headboard. Both come in queen and king; the Hilton also comes in double and super king.

The honest caveat: to open a gas lift bed you lift the mattress, so anything on top of it — cushions, a throw, the dog — comes off first. It is storage for things you need weekly or seasonally, not for the book you are reading. If you want daily-access storage, keep reading.

Gas lift, drawers or a plain base: which one suits your room

This is the decision that should be made from the floor plan, not the photograph.

A gas lift base needs nothing beside it. Because it opens upwards, the bed can sit hard against a wall on one side, with a bedside table on the other, in a room that could not fit anything else. It is the answer for a small master bedroom, a room with a wardrobe opposite the bed, or an apartment where every centimetre of floor is spoken for. Our Gas Lift & Storage Beds collection is the full range, and our gas lift beds guide goes deeper on the Sydney showroom range.

A drawer bed needs pull-out clearance. The Elwood Velvet Bed, in champagne velvet with gold trim, has three drawers: two at the front and one on the left side. That side drawer needs at least 60cm of clear floor to open fully, which means the bed cannot sit against a wall on that side. What you get in return is daily storage without lifting anything — pyjamas, spare sheets, the things you reach for every morning. The Paris Tall Tufted Bed in dark grey combines both ideas: compartments beneath the mattress plus a drawer.

A plain slat base is the right choice when the room is large and the wardrobe is not the problem. Our upholstered bed frames — the Milan with its curved tufted bedhead and matching end board, or the Ella winged bed — come with solid timber slats included, so there is no separate base to buy, and no mechanism to think about. If the bedroom has a walk-in robe, this is usually where we point people.

One rule of thumb from the floor: if the room is under about 3.3m wide, choose the gas lift. Above that, choose on looks.

Australian mattress sizes and the rooms they suit

Australian bed sizes are not the same as American or European ones, and a bed frame is built around the mattress it holds. These are the standard sizes and the rooms our team would put them in, allowing about 60cm of walkway on the sides you need to get in and out.

Single: 92cm x 188cm. A child's room or a very small spare room.

King single: 107cm x 203cm. The right choice for a teenager or a tall child — the extra 15cm of length matters more than the width. Browse King Single Beds.

Double: 138cm x 188cm. A generous single or a snug couple; the first bed in a small apartment. The Hilton in double is 206cm x 150cm, which suits a room about 2.7m wide. See Double Beds.

Queen: 153cm x 203cm. The Australian default for a couple. Queen frames in our range run 162cm to 170cm wide, so the room wants to be at least 3m wide and 3.3m long for bedside tables on both sides. See Queen Beds.

King: 183cm x 203cm. Another 30cm of width, which is the difference between two people and two people plus a child on Sunday morning. King frames run 192cm to 200cm wide in our range; plan on a room at least 3.5m wide. See King Beds.

Super king: 203cm x 203cm. Square, and enormous. The Hilton super king frame is 215cm wide, and it needs a room of 3.8m or more to look intentional rather than wedged in. See Super King Beds.

The frame is not the mattress. A queen frame at 165cm wide is 12cm wider than the mattress it holds, and a bed with an end board can be 20cm or more longer than the mattress. Always measure the room against the frame dimensions on the product page, not the mattress size in the title.

Headboard height: the number nobody measures

A tall upholstered bedhead is the thing that makes a bedroom look finished, and the height is a real choice rather than a detail.

130cm — the Hilton and the Paris — sits just above the pillows and suits a room with a standard 2.4m ceiling, a window above or beside the bed, or artwork you want to keep. 140cm to 150cm — the Allure, the Elwood, the Milan — reads as a statement without dominating. 180cm — the Ella winged bed — is the full hotel look, and it is glorious in a room with a 2.7m ceiling and a plain wall behind it. In a 2.4m room it leaves 60cm above the bedhead, which works, but only if there is nothing else on that wall.

Tufting is not just decoration. Deep button tufting, as on the Milan, and vertical channel tufting, as on the Allure, both hold the upholstery taut across a large headboard so it stays crisp for years. A smooth panel headboard shows every angle of light, which is beautiful in velvet and less forgiving in a pale fabric.

Velvet, vegan leather or fabric

Velvet is the upholstery on every bed named in this guide, and on most of the beds we sell, because it photographs richly, holds colour, and takes a bedhead's curves better than a flat weave. The care is the same as for a velvet sofa: vacuum with the soft brush, steam lightly if the pile flattens, and blot rather than rub a spill. The one caveat is the one we gave in our sofa buying guide: velvet shows pressure marks when new, and pale velvet in a household with pets or small children asks for more discipline than black or dark grey. Our velvet furniture guide has the full picture, and the whole range is in Velvet Beds.

Vegan leather wipes clean, which makes it the practical choice for a child's bed or a guest room, and it reads more contemporary than velvet. It shows scuffs from bedside tables sooner, so leave a finger's width of gap.

Fabric and boucle give the softest, most relaxed look — the coastal bedroom — and boucle in particular hides a crease. Fabric absorbs, so treat spills quickly, and keep it away from a window that gets full afternoon sun.

Slats, mattress compatibility and the questions to ask

Slats. Every upholstered frame in our range comes with solid timber slats included — you do not need a separate ensemble base — and the slats are compatible with all standard mattress types, including pocket spring and latex. Do not stand or jump on them, and do not load them without a mattress in place; the care guide is specific on both.

The mattress. A gas lift bed is a platform, so the mattress does the comfort work. Our best-selling mattress, the Chiro 7 Zone Latex Euro Top, is 35cm deep, which is worth knowing when you are picturing the finished bed height against a 130cm bedhead. The full Mattress range is on display in every showroom, on the actual frames.

Assembly. Our beds arrive flat-packed and assembly is required — all hardware and step-by-step instructions are in the box, and a standard frame takes most people 30 to 45 minutes with a second pair of hands. A gas lift base is a bigger job because of the mechanism. If you would rather not, choose White Glove Delivery at checkout: it includes delivery, full assembly, placement in the bedroom, carrying up one flight of stairs where needed, and removal of the packaging, within 60km of our Melbourne and Sydney showrooms. Standard delivery is to your ground-floor entrance; the detail is in our shipping and delivery policy. For a gas lift bed going upstairs, we recommend White Glove.

Warranty and payment. Ask about the warranty — our warranty and claims guide explains what is covered and how a claim works. And you do not have to pay for a bed in one go: we offer Afterpay online and in store, and a deposit-and-balance arrangement for in-store orders.

Six-monthly care. Tighten the frame bolts every six months; it is the single thing that stops a bed creaking at year three. The full instructions are in our Material & Care guide for gas lift and storage beds and the companion guide for upholstered bed frames.

Lift it yourself before you buy

Everything above is measurable at home except two things: how the gas lift feels when you open it, and how the velvet looks against your own light. Both take thirty seconds in a showroom and cannot be judged from a photograph.

The Hilton, Allure, Elwood, Milan, Paris and Ella are all on display, made up with mattresses, in our four showrooms — Braybrook, Dandenong South and Truganina in Melbourne, and Auburn in Sydney — open seven days. Bring your bedroom's width and length, your ceiling height, and a photo of the wall the bed will sit against. Lift the gas lift platform yourself. Lie on the mattress you are considering, on the frame you are considering. Our team will tell you honestly whether the king fits, whether the drawer will open, and whether the 180cm bedhead is the right call for your ceiling — and if the answer is a queen gas lift rather than the king you came in for, we will say so. Start with the full Bedroom Collection online and shortlist two.