Too many sofa beds fall short of being useful as either a sofa or a bed. With firm cushions, bad support, thin mattresses and clunky mechanisms, they’re usually not met with great enthusiasm by house guests. Thankfully, there’s a whole new breed of bed designs that solve the problem, with those at the top of the range being so comfortable they’re good for use every day. As always with large furniture pieces, think about size, access to your home, and guarantees that indicate sturdiness and good craftsmanship. 1. Willow and Hall Appley 2-seater Sofa Bed: from £554, Willow and Hall This small but comfortable bed from Willow and Hall folds out easily by pulling the wheeled base. Good for spare rooms and studies, the two-seater version is 122cm wide, and the armless design means it’s good for getting through small doorways. The frame is steel, and the cushions are foam and fibre. It’s available in 90 different fabrics and leathers, and is handmade and delivered in four and five weeks.
2. Sofa Workshop Jude Corner Sofa Bed: from £1,994, Sofa Workshop More of a sofa with an added bonus, the Jude sofa bed hasn’t compromised on comfort in order to discreetly include a pull-out double bed within its design. Made by hand in Britain, the sofa bed has a 15-year guarantee, a hardwood frame, foam seat cushions with fibre-filled back cushions and a deluxe double mattress that will give your guest a good night’s sleep. 3. John Lewis Clapton Sofa Bed: £349, John Lewis Great for small budgets and spaces, the petite Clapton sofa bed simply folds flat to go from day to night, rather than involving a bulky pull-out mechanism. The hardwood frame is guaranteed for 10 years – a good investment for a small price. Best for occasional use, the bed is a compact 182cm x 109cm when flat, and may need a mattress topper for added comfort. 4. Habitat Honovi Sofa: £1,700, Habitat If you’re dead set on impressing guests, the Italian-made Honovi sofa from Habitat is a three-seater that converts to the equivalent of a kingsize bed, with a luxurious 14cm-deep sprung foam mattress.
Foam is used for the deep seats cushions, and feather-filled for the back. The covering fabric is removable (dry clean only), making it practical too. Delivery takes eight to 10 weeks. 5. Loaf Pavilion Medium Sofa Bed: £1,445, Loaf The slouchy design of Loaf’s beds and sofas put comfort first, with deep seats and feather-filled back cushions across the range. The Pavilion sofa bed is no exception. Proving comfortable as both bed and sofa, it has a 12cm deep folding mattress and a mechanism that’s easy to use. The sofa comes with a 10-year guarantee. There’s a medium, large and love seat/single bed combination available too. 6. Made Jefferson Sofa Bed: £999, Made The ingenious folding mechanism makes Made’s Jefferson sofa bed stand out. The whole piece glides smoothly from sofa to bed in one action, with the back cushions stowing under the legs. With a 14cm-deep mattress it’s comfortable enough to be used every day – great for studio flats or small bedrooms.
The polyester fabric comes in grey and dark red versions. 7. Esme Sofa Bed: £970, Living It Up Esme is a smart-looking sofa bed with extra care given for your guest’s sleep. There’s a 13cm-deep pocket sprung mattress with layers of cotton, fibre and insulator pads. The sofa bed also locks into place at six points, giving good support. The small two-seater version folds out to a bed of 85cm x 186cm. The sofa has loose back pillows making it better suited to occasional rather than constant use. 8. Next Brompton Occasional Sofa Bed: £950, Next Next’s Brompton bed has a design to suit traditional interiors, with scrolled arms and a high back that look great in tweed and checked fabrics. It comfortably sleeps two with a fold-out size of 194cm x 98cm, and has a standard pull-out mechanism. There’s great scope to design a sofa to suit your needs, with a choice of three feet colours and 91 fabrics. Delivery takes six weeks. 9. Aissa Two Seat Sofa Bed: from £1,410, Sofa
This charming sofa bed looks small but packs a lot of space. Thin arms allow it to deliver a generous area for seating and a surprising mattress size of 193cm x 153cm. Comfort is key: the seat and back cushions have feather in the fillings, and the mattress is 12cm deep. There’s a choice of 100 fabrics and the frame has a lifetime guarantee. 10. Backabro Sofa Bed with Chaise Longue: £725, Ikea Ikea’s solution for combining corner sofa and bed is neat and practical – including hidden storage space under the chaise longue section for pillows and blankets. The pocket-sprung mattress is on the firm side, designed to give support, and the overall sleeping area is a huge 200cm x 248cm. The cover is a cotton and polyester blend. For unexpected guests, Willow and Hall’s Appley occasional sofa bed is sturdy and comfortable for a good price. Its compact boxy looks are made with the guest room or study in mind. If you’re opting for a sofa bed that can be used every day Made’s stylish Jefferson sofa bed delivers on comfort with a 14cm-deep mattress.
Its clever fold-out mechanism makes using it easy to use daily.My ten-year-old sofa bed from Marks & Spencer had served me well but was just getting a bit dog-eared - so I recently went back to see if the same model was still available.Except the 10cm mattress of my old bed has been switched to just 6cm on the current version. As I'm reluctant to pay more than a grand for something with what seems to be a lower spec than it used to be a decade ago, I set about researching alternatives.There are certain questions you'll need to ask at the outset, such as what type of mattress you want. Pocket sprung are generally good, with the more springs the better. Memory foam tends to divide sleepers more with its lasting impression that moulds to the body. Sitting pretty: Choosing the right sofa-bed can be a bit of minefieldAlso, what type of sofa cushions do you want on the sofa itself? Softer ones that you need to plump daily or more durable ones that do not require much attention?It is also worth making a decision about the sofa-bed mechanism, with my preferred option being the sofa converting into a bed in one easy movement with wooden slats to provide additional back support.
Interior designer Sarah Ward, of Sarah Ward Associates, recommends investing money so that you get the exact product you want to ensure the comfort of your guests.She said: 'The thickness of the mattress and the mechanism will dictate the overall height of the sofa. A corner will unit make the product seem more generous and luxurious. And remember that the bed size will be governed by the seating area within the arms of the sofa.'Sofa Workshop prides itself on its bespoke service. There are set sofa-bed designs to choose from but these can then be altered according to your requirements - for example, if you want higher arms, it will build these for you. And while it has a choice of fabrics, you can even use your own. So say you bought some fabric from Laura Ashley, you can ask for the sofa to be covered in that material - so long as it is upholstery fabric and adheres to fire regulations. However, the depth of the cheapest mattress option available from Sofa Workshop is just 2.5cms. Sofa Workshop insists this is for one-off guest use and that the everyday sofa-bed mechanism has a 10cm thick mattress and wooden slats.
However, it is not pocket sprung. The mattress on the Sofa Workshop Jude sofa-bed is 10cm thick and is on wooden slats.Hitting Marks & Spencer on Oxford Street at peak shopping time was always going to be a bad move. But strapped for time, I headed to the furniture department at the top of the central London store. I've had an Abbey sofa-bed from Marks for the past 10 years, and I have been more than pleased with it - but it has done a good stint and it is time for it to be replaced. After choosing a different fabric, I was about to pay when I decided to check on the size of the mattress. It was a deal breaker as it is no longer 10cm, but a mere 6cm. An M&S spokesperson said: 'Our Abbey sofa range is a firm favourite with our customers and we have sold it for over 15 years. We are always looking at ways to improve our products, and our Abbey sofa-bed now has a fully sprung base and slimmer mattress that offers better support and more comfort.' The M&S Abbey sofa-bed has seen its mattress shrink in size from 10cm to 6cm.
Bishopstrow storage sofa-bed, £1,887, www.willowandhall.co.ukFrom the moment I walked into Willow & Hall's stunning showroom in Chiswick, I knew that the experience of buying a sofa-bed had turned a corner. A keen and energetic showroom assistant began with showing me the three types of mattresses on offer, from the 14cm open spring model with interconnected springs and pocket sprung mattress with individual springs (which is more suited to two people) through to a memory foam base at 12cm, which is apparently the most popular option. The easy mechanism means conversion into a bed is with one easy fold out movement. There is also a choice of cushions - luxury ones that need plumping every day or more hard wearing ones. This design also comes with storage under the chaise, offering a perfect place for pillows and duvets. Ordering on the website isn't smooth as it could be. The mattress on the Willow and Hall Bishopstrow chaise storage sofa-bed has an impressive 14cm mattress.Some of Heal's sofas are stunning and so it was disappointment to see they don't all translate into sofa-beds.
So while some of their sofa-beds are large and full of plump cushions, their sofa-beds have a more modern and angular feel. For example, the Cumulous corner sofa is not available in a sofa bed format. Heal's seems to be missing a trick on this front and if this product was available, it would have been at the top of my list. A spokesman for Heal's said: 'All our sofa-beds have pocket sprung mattresses, of varying size depending on the style. They are designed in Denmark and whereas standard sofa-beds can be either a bed or a sofa, our styles are more multifunctional - for example the Knap sofa bed can be a sofa, a day bed (half up, half down) or a bed. You can also vary the seat back recline between full upright and gentle recline offing many ways of using these versatile pieces of furniture.' The sofa-beds at Heal's have pocket sprung mattresses, of 'varying size depending on the style'.John Lewis offers an alternative to the traditional sofa-bed design. The bed is pulled out from the main unit and a sheet can be put over the whole area including the chaise unit.
The foam mattress is aimed at occasional use and the chaise end unit offers a storage area. The mattress is 8cm deep. Jo Unsworth, upholstery buyer at John Lewis said 'Customers may not always have a spare room available, so are increasingly keen to ensure that their sofa-beds are as aesthetically pleasing as possible, which is partly why this model is one of our most popular. This sofa-bed is also particularly comfortable, due to its thick mattress, so a good buy for a customer looking for a sofa-bed that will be used on a regular basis. It also has internal storage to allow bedding to be stored in and is available in a number of sizes and a huge array of different fabrics.' The mattress on the John Lewis Sacha large sofa bed is 8cm thick.If you don't have several thousand pounds to spend on a sofa-bed with a pocket sprung mattress and wooden slats, you need not give up on your search for a comfortable solution. One option is this sofa-bed from Ikea, which comes with a 10cm foam mattress and costs less than £200.