THE nightly stage for enlightening dreams and illicit fantasies, this most intimate piece of furniture can express our personal style while simultaneously staving off chronic back pain. A double is too small, let’s be honest, so here’s the best of king-size:

- The trustiest of household retailers, good old John Lewis, does a roaring trade in its Esprit (£725) bedstead, a simple, high-ended wooden frame.

- Ikea’s bestselling Malm (£110) must have seen a few wild nights, being a likely contender for the most popular new bed with under30s nationwide. With 62 different styles, all costing under £320, it’s little wonder the Swedish emporium is so successful. -

- First made by the Chinese in 550BC, iron beds reappeared in the 18th century, as they are less appealing to bugs than wood. The Iron Bed Company has produced the Tosca (now available at the sale price of £323) since the company was established 12 years ago, and it continues to be its most popular style.

- And So To Bed has captured the elusive balance between past and present with its divine Art Deco (£2,900 in the sale) style. This honey-coloured centrepiece is serious eye candy for the modernism enthusiast. For some, nothing beats the colourful story of an antique. La Maison specialises in Louis XV and XVI styles. Its reproduction Bergãre (£3,820) is most popular for its delicate latticework and faded hue. See its Rococo frames for full-on flounce.

- Grand aspirations and an eye for detail, but yet to buy that country house? Conran does a modern take on the four-poster, the Ball bed (£7,995). Columns of decreasing wooden spheres mimic the posts without going all the way up, making a graceful, contemporary statement.

- For real fans of rotundity, the Italian company Prealpi makes a circular bed provocatively named Histoire d’O (£3,518). It rotates at your remote-controlled whim for James Bond pizzazz.

- The bedmakers at Bump have come up with a simple but rather good idea. Variations on its basic key style, The Swedish, The Empire and The French (all £470) come in plain wood. You then paint it in the colour of your choice.

- Not big on getting your hands dirty but really quite keen on aesthetic control? Visit purposeandworth.com for a bespoke bed, handcrafted by the lovely Derek. Sturdy, perfectly formed functionalism from £2,000.

- Speaking of handcrafted . . . if an ecologically sound piece of design genius sounds like heaven, Max Longin’s Float bed (£3,200) is just the ticket. Not, as the name suggests, a 1970s waterbed, but a platform suspended from a geometric frame that sits close to the ground and moves as you do, rocking you ever so gently off to sleep.

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