A divan is a type of couch-like sitting furniture but is also a phrase used to describe a type of bed.

Originally, in the Orient a divan was a long seat consisting of a mattress that would be on the floor, or raised upon a frame, with cushions to lean against; similar to a couch or sofa. The term divan comes from the fact that they were generally found along the walls in Middle Eastern council chambers called divan or diwan.

The came to Europe around the middle of the 18th century and was fashionable from 1820 to 1850, and all boudoirs of that generation had divans. They could even be found in coffee-houses, which were sometimes known as divans or Turkish divans. A standard or traditional couch is designed with three seat cushions, cushioned arms or sides and a cushioned back, a divan also has three seat cushions, but in most cases has a very low back with no padding to be used for large pillows to be thrown on top of and arranged as necessary. With the many pillows, usually thrown onto and decorating a divan the furniture became a piece of not only luxury but of comfort also. This association and large size is perhaps what has led the divan to move from being a couch to becoming a bed.

A divan bed consists mostly of cushioning, usually a foam mattress, and is supported upon a divan base. A headboard is usually attached to the top of the bed, but many people still maintain the old fashion ‘couch’ style of the bed by having a frame around three sides of the structure. The main premise of a divan bed being that it can operate as a couch during the day and a bed by night. Again, cushions play an important part of this, although a mattress fulfils the comfort function large cushions can act as a camouflage and transform the appearance of the divan going from day into night. The biggest difference between a divan bed and an ordinary bed, is that the divan bed does not have a wooden or metal frame supporting it; it simply looks like a large mattress attached to a base.

When buying bed linen for a divan; many people opt to purchase a valance to cover the bottom ‘box’ part of the bed; however in many instances these box areas are often used as storage space and can be very useful.