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When it comes to choosing the right ottoman bed for you, the fabric finish and colour choice is certainly one of the biggest decisions to make. After all, when you’re on the lookout for a new bed, what often grabs your attention first? It’s the visual appeal.
Your choice of fabric plays a big part in how your new ottoman bed will look and with so many fabric finishes available on the market, it’s hard to know what to look out for when deciding (beyond that initial first impression). So we’re breaking down the three most popular fabric finishes available and their pros and cons to help you decide.
Linen
Linen is a very popular choice for ottoman beds and all types of upholstered beds due to its natural look and feel and its durability. As one of the oldest fabrics used throughout the world with its earliest recorded use dating back over 30,000 years ago, it’s fair to say it’s proven to be a great choice for clothing and furniture manufacturers over the years.
Linen is a great natural choice too, due to the use of the flax plant in its construction. As one of the world’s strongest natural fibres, the flax plant gives linen its durability, ensuring your ottoman bed looks fantastic for many years to come. The inclusion of flax also gives linen its high natural absorbency and quick drying characteristics, making it easier to clean and care for.
There’s a variety of linen fabric ‘types’ to choose from too, each of them providing your ottoman bed with a different look and feel, especially when you factor in the many different colour shades available on the market too. Whilst the core material involved is still linen, what gives each linen fabric ‘type’ its unique look and feel comes down to a combination of the weight, weave, finish and blends of the linen fibres with another fabric such as polyester or cotton to add either more durability or an even softer feel.
As you can imagine, this results in a lot of variations. However the main weaves of linen you’re likely to find on an ottoman bed are;
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Plain Weave
This is the most common weave for linen when it comes to ottoman beds. Its tight structure and durability makes it a great choice for upholstery. In the majority of cases when it comes to ottoman beds that are described as having a linen finish, it’s likely referring to plain weave.
Twill Linen
Characterised by the distinctive diagonal ribs featured on the fabric, twill weaves are generally even more durable than plain weaves and more resistant to wear and tear over time. Certainly when compared like for like with the same weight. This makes twill linen a great choice for your ottoman bed fabric finish.
Damask Linen
Featuring intricate patterns that are woven into the linen fabric, often with contrasting satin and matte weaves, Damask linen is a less common choice often reserved for higher end items as whilst it certainly looks beautiful, it is less durable than the above two choices.
When it comes to the various linen fabric blends that are available, the most common combinations used to upholster ottoman beds are;
Linen-Polyester Blend
The addition of polyester in a linen-polysester blend fabric provides even more durability to the fabric and helps provide it with more stain resistant properties too.
Linen-Cotton Blend
This is a popular linen blend choice for clothing, bedding and ottoman bed fabric finishes. The addition of the cotton provides the fabric with a softness that feels sublime and also helps to reduce wrinkling too.
Velvet
Velvet is another widespread choice when it comes to ottoman bed upholstery and it’s easy to see why. Whilst velvet first appeared back in Ancient Egypt, it gained more prominence during the Renaissance era, before gaining popularity once again during the 1920’s, 60’s and 70’s. But that doesn’t mean it’s now out of fashion, far from it. Velvet’s a very popular choice when it comes to fabric finishes and there’s plenty of velvet types to choose from too.
Velvet’s known for the luxurious look and feel it can bring to any item that uses it, from clothes to upholstered furniture. It exudes sophistication and is often associated with high end items. The presence of velvet can certainly help your ottoman bed to make a real statement in your bedroom.
There’s a wide range of colours to choose from too. For example, here at Aspire Store we have deep rich colour shades such as navy, berry, forest green and emerald to choose from, as well as lighter shades such as pearl, silver and platinum. But across the whole market you’ll find different types of velvet in a number of different colours and shades.
When it comes to types of velvet that ottoman beds are often upholstered in, there’s a wide variety to choose from, such as embossed velvet that gives the fabric a dramatic look and pile on pile velvet that creates a unique textured pattern, however these two are the most popular choices;
Crushed Velvet
Crushed velvet’s unique textured surface is what sets it apart from its other popular alternative. Created by twisting the material whilst it’s wet, the resulting shimmery, crinkled finish feels soft to the touch and has that unmistakable velvet ‘look’. That look and feel is all down to the way the fibres each lay in different directions after the twisting process.
Plush Velvet
In contrast to crushed velvet, plush velvet has a smooth, even, soft surface that gives it that ‘velvety’ feel. The sheen is less prominent on plush velvet fabric, but there’s still a gentle sheen to provide that luxurious look. Plush velvet is more durable than crushed velvet too, so that’s worth considering when choosing your ottoman bed fabric finish.
Cotton
Cotton is another very popular choice when it comes to ottoman beds, due to its breathability, durability, softness, cost effective nature and the fact it looks fantastic too. All of this combined makes it a great choice for bed upholstery.
As a really versatile fabric that dyes very well, there’s plenty of colour finishes to choose from, with bold colours, light pastel finishes and almost any colour you can think of ‘technically’ available if the bed company you purchase from offers bespoke fabrics.
Cotton is used to create a number of fabrics, including the aforementioned velvet, but ‘cotton’ itself is used as a fabric finish too. Much like linen, the various cotton finishes are differentiated by the weave, weight and any fabrics it may be blended with. The following are the most popular cotton weave types;
Plain Weave Cotton
This tightly woven plain cotton with a ‘criss-cross’ pattern is generally durable, making it ideal for use in upholstery. The pattern is created by alternating the weft (horizontal) thread over and under the warp (vertical) thread, resulting in a firm fabric that stands up to the rigours of day to day life.
Canvas Cotton
Canvas cotton is a more heavy duty and durable cotton fabric finish. Utilising the same techniques used in the creation of plain weave cotton fabric, but with thick cotton fibres, it’s an exceptional choice if you’re looking for a hard wearing fabric finish that stands up to the rigours of life. It’s easy to care for too, which is another real plus point.
Twill Cotton
Much like its linen counterpart, cotton twill is also characterised by the diagonal ribs on the fabric’s surface which provide a subtle, yet effective texture to your ottoman bed. Once again this type of cotton weave is strong and is wear resistant.
Sateen Cotton
Less common due to the fact it’s less durable than the other weave fabric finishes, sateen cotton provides a silky soft to the touch finish, exuding luxury. So if you’re after a finish that screams luxury, but will need more love and care to keep it in tip top condition, a sateen cotton finish could be perfect for you and your new ottoman bed.
Cotton is often blended with other fabrics to create ‘blends’ too. The following two are the most popular cotton blends that are available in the ottoman bed market.
Cotton-Polyester Blend
The combination of cotton and polyester to form a blend is a very popular choice when it comes to upholstering ottoman beds and all kinds of furniture. The presence of the polyester increases the durability and station resistance of the fabric whilst the cotton elements such as its soft feel and breathability remain.
Cotton-Linen Blend
Another popular blend choice, a cotton-linen blend provides the ottoman bed with the texture and durability of linen, whilst retaining the softness and breathability of cotton.
Three Great Fabric Choices
What’s for certain is that no matter which of the three types of fabric you choose for your ottoman bed, you’re going to end up with a lovely fabric that looks and feels great.
You just need to ensure that you put your research in and determine what it is you want out of your fabric choice beyond how amazing it looks initially. The various pros and cons of each fabric must be considered to ensure it’s a suitable choice for you and your needs.
We have a wide range of beautiful ottoman beds to choose from, all available in the aforementioned three fabric finishes and more, so you’re sure to find an ottoman bed that matches your style in our collection.