I despise the things – my memory of them is that they are both terrible sofas, and terrible beds.

However, my wife seems not to share this opinion, and really wants one for the spare room – we will have numerous visitors, staying for 2-3 weeks at a time.

Has anyone bought a decent sofa bed recently? Or slept on one that they would particularly recommend?

My view is that an inflatable mattress would be a far better solution (as we actually don’t need a sofa, just a fold-up bed) – same question as the above – anyone bought/used a particularly good one recently?

Sorry, obviously THE DULLEST QUESTION EVER, but would be grateful if anyone has any particular recomendations

A sofa-bed with a good quality mattress will be expensive, especially if you don’t need a sofa. Have a look at a few
We bought a 2-seater suitable for occasional use, but the size of the sofa limits the size of the bed to approx 6’x4′, so not quite a double
We had an inflatable mattress before that, but it gradually lost pressure overnight and was prone to feeling damp after a night’s use
I don’t know your budget, but I’d buy a bed

Sister in law has one me and Mrsws slept on it over Christmas. V comfy. More of a day bed I think it’s called where the bottom half actually slides out and is properly slatted. Think it was from ikea.

These from Ikea are not pretty but are actually comfyIkea Sofa Bed

It lives in our spare room so we don’t have to look at it 😀

If I was coming to stay at your house I’m not sure I’d want to sleep on an air bed for 3 weeks.

In my experience the Ikea ones which fold are very comfortable for sleeping on, as posted by monkeychild.

We had one of those IKEA folding beds. Most comfortable sofabed I’ve ever slept on. Not great as a sofa, though that shouldn’t be an issue for your usage senario.

you get what you pay for, don’t buy the cheapest.

An air bed is okay for a few nights but for any longer is not good. Trust me, I had one as my only bed living up at Dads after I graduated. You will just end up with grumpy miserable guests due to them having rubbish sleep.

Either get a decent bed in there or a decent sofa bed. Maybe even the latter with an additional foam mattress pad (and then get one for your bed as they are great!). Stick with decent brands like John Lewis, M&S and tbh think about 2nd hand and do your research on the original prices to see if they are likely to be high end ones. Most sofa beds are bought for spare rooms on the chance someone comes to stay and get very little use. Avoid the obviously well used and abused ones that have been in kids play rooms and had animals on them etc.

we got ours from my grandparents – who in turn got it from gillies many years ago – local expensive shop doign the likes of ercol desks and all sorts of designer furnitures…..

Waste not want not – it was dated as hell so we had the cushions recovered with some fabric the wife brought back from rwanda and the yellow/orangy pine finish got brought to this century with some sort of lime wash paint on part of it.

It is how ever we are assured by guests the most comfy sofa bed they have slept on – it has a propper 3 piece pull out slatted base with a fold out 1/2 thickness foam matress which means its actually quite big ….. we had a horror prior to this that i wouldnt have made anyone sleep on- we bought it cheap for ourselves till our bed and sofa arrived when we first moved in – 6 weeks

After one night i reverted to my thermarest and sleeping bag 😀

Why does she think you need a sofa in the spare room?

Is there a problem with the living room? Is there some desire to reclaim the spare room as an extra lounge or something?

(Of course, i know you’ve already worked this out, and questioning her sanity will most likely only lead to an argument…)

Single bed with a pull out extra mattress?

We’ve a sofa bed in our gym/studio/com spare room…

Cost about £500 and is a really comfy sofa, and a reasonably comfy sofa bed. Fold out bed portion, with 3″ foam mattress.

Will try to find a link to it (can’t see it in my emails at present) but basically, they CAN be comfy.

However, it’s nothing on a 2 foot thick dreams mattress, but nothing is!

DrP

I think it’s this one..

We bought one of these Polish-made sofa beds on ebay (NOT in the colour shown).

It has been FANTASTIC. The upholstery fabric is of excellent quality, and we use it to sit on all the time. Equally, we have at least a guest per month, who stays with us for anywhere up to two weeks.

Do take a look at this company’s offerings. Probably the best quality for the lowest price you’re going to find anywhere.

same question as ninfan – who’s going to be using a sofa in the spare room?

We’re looking for a daybed type thing, or stacking single beds. A double would mean the room’s a bit useless for anything else, sofabed would be a waste of all the bits that weren’t a bed. daybed/stacker would give more surface to fiold clothes/organise/pack for trips away.

We’ve found a few good ones but at £800 – £900. Seems a bit steep for what they are. I’m almost certainly being a cheapskate.

One of these with the sprung mattress option – very good.

Link.

We’ve had a few different things over the years.

– Traditional fold out sofa bed with a metal and sprung frame, thin mattress (under a ‘traditional’ looking sofa with feather cushions). Horrible to sleep on. Mattress too thin. Sloped from feet to head end.

– good quality Airbed (aerobed). A lot better than cheap ones (we still have this as a back up). We had a lodger who slept on it for at least 3 months at one point so can’t be that bad (! he wasn’t meant to be staying that long).

Ikea DayBed – the one we had had a lower section that pulled out to make a double. They don’t seem to do it anymore. These have a decent foam mattress on a solid base.

Stacking futon beds We’ve now got these in the new spare room. Slept on them ourselves for about a month when we moved in which was enough to remind me that I hate futons. Fine for kids or people you only want to stay a few nights. You can ‘sort of’ use them as a sofa when stacked but we need to find some way to attach
them together otherwise the top one will slide off. We’ll probably replace the futons with foam mattresses at some point.

Ultimately you need a quality mattress on a flat base – the Ikea day beds come closest to that.

I’ve just found these:

https://www.tauruspinebeds.co.uk/beds/wooden-beds/stacker-bed/

choose your mattress: pocket sprung, memory foam, hybrid.

It’s on the list.

The Ikea Hemnes daybed is still a current item, we’ve had ours quite a while and it works well, plenty of storage for bedding too. Good for long/thin rooms where conventional sofabeds are tricky. It gets used as a sofa quite a bit, it’s also mine and my wife’s home office (thankfully rarely at the same time) and it’s good to have somewhere to sit and read that isn’t your desk.

Only downside is if there’s two people using it as a double then one person is “trapped” by the sides.

You want a day bed:

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/beds/guest-beds-day-beds/

It’s a proper bed and a poor sofa, but that’s actually a handy way round for a spare room. Slept on ours for 6 months renovating the house, was fine as you can use decent mattresses.

EDIT: hemnes as above

our 14 yr old uses that Ikea Hemnes one every night – pretty good, comfy and solid

Another vote for IKEA day bed, in law’s use ours for a week and find it fine.

That’s the ikea one we had. They used to do it in a black colour as well. Not very well made (but good value for the price).

It’s a proper bed and a poor sofa,

It was fine to sit and read on or to talk to someone (ours was in the office next to a desk) but you’d not want to spend an evening on it watching TV.

We’ve had one of the Ikea Lycksele ones for a good decade now, had a good bit of use and still comfy. Had relatives stay for a week at a time with no complaints

Anyone used a single bed size Ikea chair bed?

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/sofas-armchairs/sofa-beds-chair-beds/lycksele-murbo-chair-bed-vallarum-grey-spr-19134170/

Can’t move in my spare room for double bed/bikes/infra-red sauna!