Loaf’s ‘bed-in-box’ is the best-disguised guest bed I’ve ever seen – you'd never know there was a pull-out mattress inside

If you often (or occasionally) have friends and family stay the night at your home, you've probably explored the most common options for hosting them.

If you're blessed with a spare guest bedroom, this is easy enough, but if, like many of us, you have a small home where every square inch of space is already in use, then options can get a little trickier.

As Ideal Home's Sleep Editor, I've spent the past five years testing out some of the best sofa beds and best chair beds on the market, and there are some great options. The one downside is that this multifunctional furniture generally tends to *look* multifunctional.

In most cases, you can usually tell a sofa bed isn't a real sofa the minute you walk into a room, and whilst there's nothing wrong with this, you might want a hosting solution that's a little more 'invisible' in your home. I think Loaf's Bed in a Button is exactly that.

Unlike a sofa bed, which is a sofa that hides a bed inside it, Loaf's Bed in a Button is a bed-in-a-box; that is, a guest bed hidden inside a 'box'. And, in this case, that 'box' is an extremely stylish Chesterfield ottoman.

Personally, I think this is one of the best-disguised guest beds I've ever come across. Once it's folded away, there's no way visitors to your home would know there's a mattress hidden inside it.

This hosting solution is also very visually compact, which is a real bonus in a small home, whether you're placing it in a small living room or a small bedroom.

It comes in two size options, a 'single' which hides a 72cm wide mattress and a 'double' which conceals a 112cm wide mattress. Both of which appear to take up a lot less space in a room than the equivalent-sized seating would due to their low profile.

Even better, this piece of furniture also benefits from Loaf's fantastic upholstery options. There are 32 colour options, most of which come in five different fabric options, including cotton, linen, and boucle materials.

For me, that Chesterfield button detailing is the cherry on the cake, adding a luxe touch that elevates this piece of furniture from practical to pretty in one fell swoop. It's a gorgeous seat when closed, then a pretty headboard when opened.

And it's not the only bed-in-a-box Loaf offers. The retailer has some of the best options on the market, and in my opinion, the brand is leading the way in the bed-in-a box revolution, a growing trend that I think will give the classic sofa bed a real run for its money in the coming years.

The one downside (there had to be one, right?), is the price. Whilst prices for Loaf's bed-in-a-box are more affordable than a sofa bed of comparable quality, they still aren't cheap. As such, I've rounded up a couple of alternative options below.

If you want a spare bed that doesn't stick out like a sore thumb in your home, I think these compact and clever bed-in-a-box options are all great solutions.