How to Choose the Ideal Sofa Bed for Your Home
Who doesn’t enjoy having family and friends stay over? However, many people don’t have a spare bedroom to accommodate guests, or even enough space to squeeze in an extra bed. The most practical solution is the sofa bed. In this article, we’ll give you some top tips to help you find the ideal sofa bed.
How to choose a sofa bed
Nowadays, finding a sofa bed is easier than ever. Comfortable, practical and aesthetic, there’s a large range of models to choose from. A few decades ago, the look wasn’t particularly important when it came to choosing a sofa bed. But with the huge variety on the market today, there’s no excuse not to find a sofa bed that looks and feels great.
There are several aspects you’ll need to consider when it comes to choosing the right sofa bed for your home. These factors are all closely related to one another, and you’ll need to keep all of them in mind if you want to make the right choice.
Function
Before you go out and buy your sofa bed, you need to think about what you’re going to use it for. Will it be used for the occasional visitor, or for long-term guests? Will you use it yourself on a daily basis? How many people do you need to accommodate?
If you’re planning on using it for long-term guests (or to sleep on yourself), you’ll need to make comfort a top priority. To do this, make sure to choose a mattress that’s at least 5.5″ thick. However, if you’ll only need your sofa bed occasionally and for short periods of time, you have the option of choosing a slightly thinner mattress.
If you’re probably only going to be accommodating one person, you could buy a recliner or easy chair that turns into a bed. These are normally around 30″ wide (max.). In fact, you can even find poufs that turn into a bed. However, these generally aren’t as practical as a double bed (normally 45 – 60″ wide), so, if you have enough space, this is the best option.
Finally, you also have the option of a daybed. These are usually single beds, which, on a daily basis, can be used for reading, knitting, watching tv, or taking a nap. These are really practical and look great out on a patio or balcony.
Available space
When it comes to choosing the right furniture, it’s important to think about where you’re going to put it. Will it be in the living room, or in your bedroom? How much space do you have? Do you have enough room for a chaise longue sofa? Will there be enough space to unfold the couch?
As you can see, choosing a sofa bed requires a bit of planning. It’s important to think about all these questions carefully so that you can choose one the right size and shape for your home.
If you don’t have much room, a smaller sofa (45″ wide) without a chaise longue might be enough. This is the ideal option for smaller spaces.
Different types of sofa bed
When it comes to sofa beds, there are several different types, according to the different mechanisms. In this next section, we’ll show you some of the most popular models:
Dolphin mechanism
This fluid mechanism is often found in chaise longue and corner sofa beds. The bed (usually a double bed) emerges from underneath the seat, like a dolphin coming up for air. There’s usually additional storage space under the chaise longue, where you can keep cushions and bedsheets. Quick and simple, these are really practical sofa beds.
Fold-down
This mechanism is normally found in corner beds, but you can also find it in simple two-seater couches. To create the bed, you simply pull the seat forward and lower the backrest. Usually featuring a double bed, the fold-down sofa bed is really simple and comfortable, and often comes with additional storage.
Lift and pull
When not in use, the lift and pull sofa bed is folded and kept underneath the seat. To unfold it, you simply remove the couch cushions, lift and pull, so that the bed rotates and extends. The greatest advantage of this model is that you don’t have to strip the bed before you store it away.
Accordion
Although these sofa beds are generally cheaper than the rest, they are very practical. Formed of three parts, the sofa simply unfolds like an accordion, until it’s flat. They can be double or single beds, and may or may not have armrests.
Fold-out
The seat folds out into two or three individual sections, and the backrest folds back to form the bed. These are really comfortable and practical sofa beds, that are ideal for small spaces.
Clic-clac
These sofa beds have the simplest mechanisms: just pull the base of the couch forward, and lie the back flat. Simple and elegant, the clic-clac sofa bed is also known as a futon. You can find single, double and even triple clic-clac beds. However, you won’t find corner or chaise long sofa beds in this style, and they usually don’t have armrests.
Sofa bed – comfort
How comfortable your sofa bed will need to be will depend on how often you’re going to use it. If you’ll be using it as a couch on a daily basis, and will only transforming it into a bed from time to time, it’s the couch that needs to be most comfortable. However, if you’re mainly going to be using it as a bed, and you’ve only bought a sofa bed so that you can fold it up if you need extra space, it’s the mattress that’s most important.
You’ll also need to think about how easy it will be to fold and unfold your bed, especially if you have limited mobility or space.
Choosing the ideal sofa bed – design
And last, but definitely not least, you’ll have to think about the design, and how well your sofa bed will fit into your home. For many people, these pieces of furniture are becoming a household essential, and there are so many different options to choose from. There really is something for everyone. Be bold, and choose the color, design, and texture you like best.
We hope you find this guide useful, and you’ll now be able to choose a spectacular sofa bed that looks great and allows you to welcome your guests in style.