Alright, I've tested this with three different stewards, and so far, all three follow the same behavior. If the double bed in the Main Hall is present, the steward will claim it as their bed yet they won't actually sleep in the bed. They'll just stand beside it all night. It's driving me bonkers. They'll successfully sleep in one of the single beds if the double bed isn't constructed, but once I build that double bed, they unfathomably decide "Oh, a nice new double bed! I think I'll just look at it for several hours!"

Now, I've read other threads where players reported that their stewards didn't have this problem and slept in the double bed just fine, but every instance of these reports shares a common denominator. Their stewards are also housecarl NPCs (i.e. Lydia, Rayya, Jordis, etc.).

So, my question for the board is this:

If your steward is someone other than a housecarl NPC, does your steward actually make use of the double bed in the main hall? If so, then who is your steward?

Aela is my steward and she does sleep in the double bed. With my wife too, I might add.

I fail to see the problem here.

I won't build that stupid double bed there. It's a giant piece of wood in the way, and it's useless seeing as you have the main bed and two singles upstairs.

Vilkas is often steward in the house with the bedroom wing, he claims the main hall double bed and just looks at it, I have not actually stayed still long enough to work out anything else, my characters hardly ever build the bedrooms wing so usually the staff end up with no bed if the family move in. Before the children arrive both steward and housecarl claim the single beds. I left the small house furnishings in one house that did not have a bedroom wing, but I have not seen any one claiming the bed yet, despite there not being enough beds for everyone. When I finish furnishing the last house this time I will return to the one the family is in and start decorating it, spending some time there I will wait and see if anyone claims the little house double bed. The house the family will be moving to has the bedrooms wing and Vilkas will not be steward this time, I was trying for Mjoll, but failed so am on the lookout for a new steward, who can fight, but is not a housecarl or companion. Aela is steward of Lakeview and Vilkas will probably be steward of Windstad Manor. Heljarchen Hall needs a new steward, I will sort it all out later tonight. See if there are any new bed watching sleepwalkers.

"Working as intended" is the statement that comes to mind...

I've only ever seen my steward stand beside it all night when it's built. No idea why it seems to work for some people, but not others. So far, I've tested this with Brelyna, Lydia, and Beleval while seeing who could become steward, and none of them would actually sleep in it. From that point on I just stopped building the thing, since I built the bedrooms wing anyway.

Well no one sleeps in the double bed in the small house, the steward and housecarl just choose not to sleep if the single beds upstairs are not available. The family is about to move to the house with the bedrooms wing and a new Steward I have not tried before, Ria.

Ria is painfully slow at starting to furnish anything, but once she gets going, it happens pretty quick. So I expect my first steward furnished entryway to be finished shortly. Vilkas is still working on furnishing the small house at another property and he started ages ago, he fails as a furnisher.

For those of you experiencing the "The steward stands and stares at the upstairs double bed all night." glitch, could you kindly identify which home this is occurring in? I'm starting to wonder if this might be specific to Lakeview Manor or if it happens in any home. Don't have any other homes constructed at the moment so I can't check it out for myself.

Ha! Finally found my missing steward. Ria who is steward for Heljarchen Hall is sleeping in the upstairs double bed at Windstad Manor. Two nights I watched Heljarchen Hall and she was no where to be seen, now I know why. Maybe she likes Vilkas? Vilkas is steward of Windstadt Manor but sleeps in the main hall single beds along with Valdimar. Braggen had a snooze in the small house double bed to see if claiming it made any difference, but I had not realised there might be a stray upstairs.

Will take Ria back to her own house and see if she stays there this time, she has been slacking off on furnishing again.

...priceless...

To the OP though: I have the same problem. I have http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Eola as my steward and she stands at the bed all night, talking to herself it seems.

Though she is a cannibal....

Ahah, so that's it. Seems to be a Lakeview Manor problem then. I brought 2 stewards over to Winstad Manor and they promptly went and slept in the double bed.

As an aside, I found that you can transfer stewards between houses! (FWIW) Iona was my steward at Lakeview and when I brought her over to Winstad, she asked to be steward there. Probably only works if you don't already have a steward in the new house.

in any of my saves the steward just stands there where the double bed is.

Double bed or no bed the steward will forever just stand. It's kinda annoying but shrugs its skyrim bugs are just part of the game.

Vilkas will just stand by the upstairs double bed at Lakeview Manor, as will Aela. My current game has developed serious freezing problems again (either caused by vanishing stewards, housecarls mysteriously appearing where they should not be, or sleeping in the wrong double bed) so I might resort to my second character and see what her stewards get up to when they are meant to be sleeping. I am getting sick and tired of restarting Braggen's houses, and house decorating is pointless for the DLC, which is basically what I wanted the new houses for. I have certainly lost enthusiasm since I waited long enough for the houses to reset.

And Ria refused to sleep in any bed at her house and was usually not at the house, she just vanished for ages when Braggen returned her there, she promptly walked off, no matter how long I waited no more furnishing was done.

I would not go transferring any stewards between houses either, sounds like a glitch to me where the dialogue is not resetting, once they have become steward. There have been complaints from people who transferred stewards, as they are unable to order improvements for the second house, they still go to the one the steward first had charge of. But thanks for letting me know how they could transfer a steward, I had wondered about that.

Damn, I knew it would be too good to be true. Guess I'll just have to continue trying people out for the steward's position before I make a decision.

Glad I'm not the only one going through several rebuilds of the houses

Braggen is on his fourth rebuild, Aussie only had to do it once, and the third character will do it not at all.

But test out if you can order home improvements from your transferred steward, you never now, maybe it is a seperate bug that ties them to the first house.

It's a double bed, not a triple bed.

Jordis will sleep in the upstairs double bed at Windstad Manor

thats a slight problem... just means you won't get cold at night.

This issue didn't happen with me until I made the Double Bed in the Bedroom addition.