About Made.com
Possibly the most hardworking piece of furniture in your home, a good pull-out sofa bed will provide a comfy space where you can relax by day and a supportive bed for either you or guests to sleep in at night.
If you know the best furniture stores to look at, gone are the days of an awkwardly-thin mattress hidden behind lumpy cushions that squeakily pulls out (sound familiar?).
Instead, you can expect hotel spa-style ergonomics in mind to rival your master suite’s mattress in terms of comfort and style. Here, we’ve rounded up a few of our favourite designs and literally slept on the job to discover the best sofa beds around.
Read on to discover the GQ edit of the best sofa beds to buy for 2022. With legs to the side, back arched low, feet on the arms, whichever way you and your guests choose to perch and snooze, there’s a sofa bed to suit.
Made.com Product Review
Made-to-order furniture retailer Made.com is to overhaul its brand strategy and get “a bit weirder”, with brand director Jude Whyte admits its marketing got stuck playing it safe.
The online furniture retailer, best known for its pastel color palette and trendy shapes, has redesigned its marketing and branding position to make more plays. Moving forward Made’s marketing, branding, and products will have more injected in with Whyte’s hope to foster more uplifting brand sentiment.
“We want to drive future trends which means being decisive sometimes and not everyone is going to like what we are putting out. We are failing if everyone says ‘that’s nice’ we need people to love it and therefore some people to hate it,” she adds.
Best sofa bed: Barker & Stonehouse Harrington
Navy velvet sofas ooze an opulent feel, and channelling that to perfection is Barker & Stonehouse’s Harrington sofa bed. Comfortable for both sleeping and sitting, it’s an ideal fusion of style and functionality.
Best small sofa bed: Made Haru Sofa Bed
Made’s Haru sofa bed is a simple solution for anyone really short on space. Fitting easily into corners or against a smaller wall, the Haru provides space for guests to sit and sleep, without overwhelming your room. And the added bonus? In a stylish green velvet design, it brings a stylish touch too.
Best sustainable sofa bed: Dunelm Salisbury Luxury Velvet 2-Seater
Opting for vintage furniture will always be your best option for keeping your interiors investments sustainable, but if you’re after a new piece that has been designed with sustainability in mind, Dunelm’s Salisbury Luxury Velvet Sofa Bed is well worth a look. With velvet made from recycled materials and a recyclable frame and feet, it’s a more sustainable choice that packs on the style at the same time.
What should I consider when buying a sofa bed?
TYPES OF SOFA BED
You’ll need to check how easy the bed is to pull out before you buy, as if you want something that opens in a hurry, the last thing you’ll want to be doing is messing around with a complicated mechanism. If you can’t try before you buy, you can watch the online videos provided by manufacturers, which show you how the sofa bed can be transformed into a bed.
Choose from the ‘click-clack’ style – which features a back that folds down and makes use of the sofa-bed cushions to create the sleeping area – or the more classic pull-out bed styles, whereby the sofa opens to reveal a mattress that you fold out – with the back of the sofa acting as the headboard.
If you go for the former option, remember that the thicker and more supportive the cushions, the comfier your bed will be. It’s also worth keeping in mind how regularly you’ll want to use it as an actual sofa- if it’s going to be for everyday use, make sure the back cushions are comfortable and supportive enough as well.
MATTRESS TYPE
You can choose from open- or pocket-sprung designs, with the latter tending to be more luxurious in feel, which is also reflected in the price. Memory foam mattresses that mould to the body as you sleep is also an option worth considering – although, like Marmite, you either love it or hate it, as it can make you quite hot when you sleep.
SIZE
Think about how much sleeping space you require, as it will dictate the sofa-bed configuration you buy – choose from a footstool, armchair or love seat through to larger 3-seater, 2-seater or corner sleeper sofas. If space is particularly tight, you may want to buy a sofa bed with hidden storage underneath the cushions for housing linens.
COLOUR AND MATERIAL
While practicalities do play an important part in a sofa bed that will endure the test of time and enhance your living space, here at GQ we know how much the aesthetic of your sofa can really define your room.
Remember that if you’re planning on placing the sofa in a small, compact room, a light or bright finish over a dark option will encourage light to project around the room and increase the sense of space.
Where children or pets are concerned and their messy mitts are likely to come anywhere near the sofa, you’ll probably want to opt for a durable fabric that has removable, washable covers, or choose a wipeable leather finish. But that isn’t to say it can’t be stylish.
Remember that if you go for a ‘click-clack’-style sofa bed, then the material you choose will provide the base of what you’ll be sleeping on too – so find out what the cushions are made from and check how supportive they claim to be.
Is a sofa bed worth it?
As far as pieces of furniture go, you’ll struggle to find anything more practical than a sofa bed. Essential the furniture version of a 2-4-1 deal, a sofa bed gives you the chance to incorporate another sleeping area into your home, while disguising it as a sofa and extra seating area the rest of the time.
It’s extra space for potential guests, but without having to actually lose space from your home on a daily basis. And now, with so many amazing options on the market from our favourite furniture stores, many sofa beds are just as comfortable for using as a main sofa as a conventional sofa is. Sounds pretty damn worth it to us.
Can you sleep on a sofa bed every night?
While sofa beds are designed to be slept on, they are really meant for occasional use. A few weeks’ sleep on one definitely won’t be a problem, but for a permanent sleeping situation, you really need to invest in a mattress which is designed to support you for the long run.
And if that’s what you’re after, you’re in luck. We’ve tried and tested many a mattress to try and find the best ones to sleep on for all types of sleepers, all of the reviews for which can be found in our best mattress guide.
