I'm so sorry. Possibly the most boring of threads for weeks!
And yet ... here we are!
We need a sofabed for the spare room.
It needs to be properly comfortable as a bed, like as near a stable, supportive, firm bed-like mattress as possible.
Sofa performance is a secondary consideration.
Whatcha got? Or, where should I shop?
Ikea Hemnes Daybed. A bit crap as a sofa but great as a bed. Is a single or pulls out to a decent size double that easily sleeps 2 adults. As comfortable as any proper bed. Choice of matresses available depending on budget.
Seconded for the Ikea Hemnes.
I bought a sofabed from Funky Futon 5 years ago. It's their Shipley Compact model. It's a full-size double. When our daughter & family come to stay she says it's more comfortable than the double bed with the new decent mattress.
It's in the spare bedroom I use as the music room and I find it really comfortable to use as a sofa when relaxing playing guitar. It converts from sofa to bed (and back) very quickly and easily too.
I have the Ikea Fyresdale and would also recommend, with both the ikeas I see them listed secondhand all the time and you can then get new mattresses from ikea to help reduce costs if needed.
John Lewis have a reasonable selection - I got one of their own makes, a Strauss Sofa bed, though doesn't look like they still sell this model.
We had an IKEA sofa bed years ago so don't remember the name but it was very good. We slept on it for about 6-8 weeks when our attic was being converted.
The best type we've had is the classic clic-clac. Not a cheap one but a solid wood frame, reliable mechanism and high quality matress such as this one:
TDSINDUSTRIE.COM The beds where the matress folds inside have problems when put away sweaty/damp (it's warm round here), the pull out ones have a squab too deep so they're uncomfortable to sit on but the asymetric clic-clac is comfortable both to sit on and sleep on.
IKEA LYCKSELE LÖVÅS - we have two in the house. Comfy beds, not a proper sofa but comfy and unobtrusive.
There are always lightly/unused ones on FB marketplace for not a lot of money
Thirding the IKEA Hemmes. We bought ours second hand over 10 years ago and 2 house moves later it's still comfortably accommodating guests and storing our junk in the large drawers.
However, it's a complete pig to convert on a carpet, so would advise against if your spare room has anything other than a hard floor or very short pile carpet.
We gave up with sofa beds (as they didn’t seem to do either particularly well) and went for one of these:
THECONRANSHOP.COM I then stuck these (various colours available) along the wall to the side of the bed as an extended headboard type thing so kids could sit on the bed with a bit of back support/comfort.
Hemmes 4thed. If you do go for it there is a good youtube video for assembly.It is a tougher than usual Ikea asembly but simple following this guys video.
From the comments
"Thank You so much for this video! You totally saved my husband and I from killing each other lol"
"Watched this video 3 years ago to put it together and now again because we moved and I took it apart and forgot how to put the support slats back together. Thank you! This video has helped me twice!"
"I fully expected for this "build" to end my 20 year Marriage. Thanks to this young fellow I managed to earn a few brownie points! "
Etc
