7 best chair beds – single sofa beds for hosting guests when you have limited space
The best chair beds for sitting and sleeping – I visited 18 furniture showrooms to find the best-in-class single sofa beds for space-saving overnight hosting
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The best chair beds are a brilliant solution for hosting an overnight guest, especially if you have limited floor space to work with. Plus, a single sofa bed or futon for one can double up as a stylish accent chair the rest of the time.
As such, over the past four years, I've travelled across the UK to visit 18 furniture stores and test out chair beds from Habitat, Loaf, MADE, Sofa.com, Darlings of Chelsea, Dunelm (and many more), to compile this guide. All in all, I've sat and laid down on over 20 chair beds (and counting), testing chair comfort, bed comfort, and how easy the sleeper chair was to transform from one to the other.
Depending on your budget, I think the compact Innovation Living Cubed 90 Armchair Bed or great value Habitat Roma Chair Bed are two of the best chair beds overall. However, I've compiled all of my first-hand testing experience into this guide, so you can jump straight to my top recommendations whether you're in need of a quick delivery chair bed or a budget-friendly futon.
The quick list
Short on time? This quick list is an overview of the very best chair beds I've tested. You'll find more information on each option and why I recommend it if you keep on scrolling.
Best chair bed overall
Compact, robustly built, and easy to transform from a chair into a bed, this Scandinavian sleeper chair is one of the best I've tested, as long as your budget will stretch.
Best value chair bed
Available in three width options, this click-clack chair bed makes a stylish accent chair that's ideal for small spaces. It's also quick to transform from chair to bed, and is one of the best value options I've found.
Best quick delivery chair bed
If you need a guest bed pronto it's hard to beat Swyft's next-day delivery. Even better, this chair bed is stylish, comfortable, and easy to transform from sitting to sleeping.
Best loveseat chair bed
If you have more space (and budget) to play with then this loveseat chair bed is comfortable enough for everyday use as living room seating, plus, it's available in over 175 upholstery choices.
Best IKEA chair bed
IKEA's best chair bed offers a great combination of comfort, functionality, and affordability. The only downside is that its sleeping area is a little on the narrow side, with only a 70cm wide sleeping area.
Best chair bed-in-a-box
If you're not bothered about your spare guest bed being in chair form, this ingenious bed-in-a-box offers a space-saving design. It sleeps one and can double up as a bench seat or ottoman in the living room or bedroom.
Best chair beds
Best chair bed overall
This chair bed isn't cheap, but it is one of the best I've tested and feels very robust and well-made in person. It's also one of the few chair beds I've found that offers a true single bed-sized sleeping area.
Most chair beds only offer a small single sleeping area, which means guests can have as little as 70cm to lie down on. The Cubed 90 Armchair Bed offers a true 90 x 190cm sleeping area. In fact, you get a little extra, as this chair bed offers a 90 x 200cm sleeping space once extended, which tall guests will appreciate.
It does feel fairly firm, both as a chair and a bed – it's a chair you sit 'on' rather than sinking 'into' – but I still found it comfortable enough for both purposes. I probably wouldn't want to use it as my main living room seating, but as extra seating in a home office, it's perfect.
I'd add one of the best mattress toppers when using it as a bed, but this is the case for pretty much all chair beds. Especially ones like this, where the upholstered cushions become the sleeping surface, as you'll want to protect the fabric.
It's also very easy to transform from a chair to a bed, although it does involve a little lifting. You lift the chair base up and pull it forward to extend, and then swivel the backrest down to create the sleeping area. If you have the budget, this chair bed is a great investment.
Best value chair bed
Stylish, quick to transform from chair to bed, and very affordable compared to most options, Habitat's Roma chair bed is an easy choice for the best value chair bed.
If space is at a premium, this is also one of the best chair beds for a small room, with the smallest 78cm width frame coming in as one of the narrowest chairs in my round-up. If you have a little more space to play with, there are also two larger options to consider, and guests may well appreciate the wider 90cm or 100cm width options due to the extra sleeping space they offer.
When I tested, I found the click-clack design made for an easy transition from seating to sleeping, with hidden pockets (disguised by the coordinated scatter cushion) opening to reveal hinged legs, and the backrest and seat easily unfolding to create the sleeping surface. However, the build quality doesn't feel as sturdy as the Innovation Living option above. But then this chair bed is a fraction of the price.
In chair form, the lack of arms and fairly firm cushioning mean I wouldn't want to use it as main everyday seating, but it makes a great accent chair. Style it in the living room, bedroom, home office, or guest room, or add it to a teenager's or kids' bedroom for impromptu sleepovers.
Best quick delivery chair bed
Like a lot of furniture, many chair beds come with long lead times; 12-16 weeks isn't unusual if you're opting for a chair bed that's made to order. Pretty remarkable then that Swyft's furniture range can be delivered to your doorstep with next-day delivery if you order direct from Swyft, or under a week if you purchase via a third-party stockist like John Lewis.
And, not only is this chair bed super speedy to arrive – ideal if you have a guest soon to arrive and no sleeping space! – it's also one of the most stylish chair beds I've come across.
The Model 08 chair bed is available in 25 great fabrics – with a mix of linens, velvets, boucles, and faux and real leather options – and its slimline armrests and loose cushions mean it looks good enough to use as a chair in your main living space.
Because it's a flatpack design, it's also a useful option for anyone struggling with awkward delivery access, and the sofa arms can be detached if necessary, which is a bonus if you're short on space.
Best loveseat chair bed
If you have a little more space – and a *lot* more budget – to play with, then Darlings of Chelsea's Weymouth loveseat sofa bed offers a classic look that I found scored big on comfort.
Fiber-wrapped foam or feather-wrapped foam seat cushions make this chair bed comfortable enough to use as your everyday living room seating, and the hidden pull-out mattress means that no one will guess it hides a bed in its depths.
There are over 175 upholstery options to choose from, along with a choice of coordinated or contrasting piping, and four options of leg colour. Plus, if you want to blend a sofa bed in with a larger living room suite then the Weymouth collection also offers armchair and sofa options (as well as four larger sofa bed variations). The 12cm deep mattress with either pocket-spring or memory foam construction means guest comfort is extremely well catered for too.
If you can accommodate the 128cm loveseat width but have difficult access to navigate, then for a slight price increase this chair bed can also be built with removable arms to give you some vital extra wiggle room on delivery day – genius.
Best IKEA chair bed
IKEA offers a range of chair beds, but the brand's newest launch is the one I think offers the best combination of comfort, functionality, and value.
Although it's seating you sit 'on' rather than sinking 'into', I found the TORNSBORG offered a nice level of give and bounce when I sat on it. And it's well designed, with the backrest and armrests all at just the right angles to provide a comfortable sitting experience. So much so that I'd consider it as my main living room seating (as long as you don't mind a slightly firmer seat).
It's also comfortable in bed form, and it's really easy to transform from sitting to sleeping. Simply remove the back cushion, pull up on the fabric tabs, and the wheeled legs do most of the work for you. Then the backrest swivels down flat. I could do it all with one hand.
It's a firm sleep surface, but nothing a mattress topper can't solve. However, its main downside is its width. The sleeping area is 70cm wide (remember a standard single mattress is usually 90cm), and this is made to feel smaller because of the fixed armrests, which made me feel a little claustrophobic. It's fine for a child or small adult, but larger guests may find it too much of a squeeze.
Luckily, there's also the wider TORNSBORG two-seater sofa bed. That's 154cm wide all in all, so more of a loveseat than a chair bed. But if you have the floor space to accommodate it, it offers a true double bed-sized sleeping area that guests will appreciate.
Best bed-in-a-box
If you don't specifically need a chair bed, and just want a pull-out bed that can blend in with existing furniture, then a footstool or ottoman bed-in-a-box is a solution well worth exploring.
Sofa.com's Henry Bed in a Box comes in at 107cm wide and 74cm deep, making it a useful option for smaller rooms, whether that's as a footstool in the living room, or a place to perch in a compact home office or children's bedroom.
The ottoman holds a single pocket spring pull-out mattress, which at 8.5cm deep isn't quite as thick a mattress as other options on our list, but I still found it comfortable enough for the odd night's sleep when I tested it, and adding a mattress topper will increase comfort levels considerably. The lid of the footstool also lifts and slots into the base to serve as a headboard which is a nice design feature.
If you have more space to play with then as an alternative Sofa.com's Jack Bed in a Box offers a larger double mattress worth of sleeping space in its 158cm width frame.
And, the good news is that both options are available in Sofa.com's wide range of upholstery options, which is especially useful if you want to blend this piece of multifunctional furniture in with a living room suite.
Best kids chair bed
If you're looking for a chair bed for a kids' bedroom, then this affordable Habitat option is perfect.
It's budget-friendly, lightweight, and easy to move around, and transforms from an extra seating space into a bed in an instant. You simply need to undo the fabric straps on either side and lay it out flat to turn it from chair to bed.
It's a great option for kids' sleepovers, although it is a lot narrower than a standard single bed – measuring 56cm in width compared to a standard single mattress, which is 90cm across – so I'd say it's better for younger kids rather than teenagers.
It comes in two upholstery options, but I think this 'confetti' version is the most fun. According to Habitat, it's also designed to be easily wipe-cleanable, although I'd recommend popping a sheet over the top to protect the sleep surface when it's in use because the cover can't be removed for washing.
How I tested
I'm Amy, Ideal Home's Sleep Editor and Certified Sleep Expert. I've spent the past five years testing and researching the products that add up to a good night's sleep, from reviewing the best mattresses to trying out the best duvets on the market. For this guide, I visited each major furniture showroom in the UK to test out as many chair beds as possible, in person. That included visiting Bensons for Beds, Darlings of Chelsea, DFS, Dreams, Dunelm, Furniture Village, Habitat, Heal's, IKEA, John Lewis, King Living, MADE, Next, Loaf, Sofa.com, Sofology, Sofas & Stuff, West Elm, and plenty more. Either I or one of the Ideal Home team has also tested the sofa bed ranges of multiple online-only retailers, such as DUSK, Cocoon, Snug, and Swyft, to find the very best chair beds for this guide.
During testing, I assessed each chair bed's comfort levels in seat form, tested how easy each chair bed was to convert into a bed, and how comfortable the chair bed was for sleeping on. I also assessed the range and quality of each chair bed's upholstery options, any additional features such as a flat-pack design, coordinating furniture, or quick delivery options, and considered its value for money.
I've also thoroughly researched any online reviews for each chair bed to ensure that my own or the wider Ideal Home team's experiences with the piece of furniture are in line with those of other customers. I've only included products in this guide that have overall positive customer reviews.
Where to buy a chair bed
As I mentioned, a chair bed can often be quite a tricky piece of furniture to buy, as not only do many of the best sofa stockists not sell sofa beds, but a lot of those who do sell sofa beds often don't sell smaller chair beds too! As such I've rounded up my top suggestions for where to shop a chair bed below.
- Darlings of Chelsea: luxury pull-out chair beds with price tags to match
- Dunelm: basic but budget-friendly click-clack chair beds
- DUSK: relatively affordable click-clack chair beds
- Furniture Village: mid-range pull-out chair beds
- Habitat: stylish and budget-friendly chair beds
- IKEA: comfortable, functional, and affordable
- John Lewis: own-brand, Swyft, and Innovation Living chair beds
- Next: limited to the Palma chair bed, but it's cute!
- Sofa.com: pull-out loveseat sofa beds in 100+ fabrics
How to choose a chair bed
I've spent the past five years testing out chair beds, and in that time I've learnt a few things about what to look for before you shop. Here's my breakdown of the things to consider.
- Consider how you'll use it: If you only want to use the chair bed as occasional seating, then you'll be able to save quite a lot of money by opting for a more affordable option, such as the Habitat Roma Chair Bed. Options like this look good, but can feel quite firm for sitting, so are better for occasional perching or use as a 'clothes chair' in the bedroom rather than as your main living room seating. If you want a chair bed you can actually snuggle up and get comfy on in the living room, you'll need to factor in a bigger budget, such as investing in the Darlings of Chelsea Weymouth Loveseat.
- Check the measurements: Don't assume that all chair beds offer a standard single mattress-sized sleeping space. Some, such as the Innovation Living Cubed 90 Armchair Bed, do, but I've discovered most don't. A standard single mattress measures 90cm x 190cm, whereas many chair beds scrimp on both the width and length of their sleeping areas. This might be fine if your overnight guest is petite, but if they have a bigger build, you may want to factor that into your purchase.
- Make sure you have space to extend the bed: Obviously, you'll want to make sure any piece of furniture fits into the room it's intended for, but with a chair bed, don't forget to measure up to make sure there's room for it once the sleeping area extended as well.
- Consider the height of the sleeping area: Pull-out chair beds tend to have a higher sleeping area than click-clack chair beds, which are usually much lower to the ground. Both are likely to be a lot lower than a standard bed frame. This may not matter to everyone, but if your overnight guests are older or less mobile, you may want to opt for a chair bed that has more height to make getting in and out of bed easier.
- Factor in a mattress topper: Whether you opt for a click-clack chair bed where the backrest and seat form the sleeping area, or you opt for a pull-out chair bed, both are likely to need a good mattress topper to make them more comfortable for sleeping. A topper will also protect your chair bed's upholstery when it's in bed form.
- Think about where it's going to be used: If you want to use your chair bed upstairs, you may want to opt for a self-assembly chair bed, or one that's delivered in parts and built by the delivery team in situ to ensure it makes it up the stairs.
- Consider lead times: Some chair beds, such as the Swyft Model 08 Chair Bed, have very quick delivery times, but most – especially if it's a chair bed with multiple upholstery options – can have much longer lead times as they're made-to-order. Make sure you leave enough time for it to be made and delivered before your guests arrive!
FAQs
Got a burning question about chair beds? I've answered some of the most common queries below.
Which is the best chair bed?
After testing multiple options, I think the Innovation Living Cubed 90 Chair Bed is one of the best chair beds you can buy. That's because it's compact and comfortable in chair form, easy to transform, and offers a full-sized single bed's worth of sleeping space. If you're looking for a more affordable option, the Habitat Roma Chair Bed is a great value buy, although it offers less sleeping space and doesn't feel as robust.
What's the difference between a chair bed and a sofa bed?
The difference between a chair bed vs a sofa bed is the width, with a chair bed being the much smaller of the two.
On average, chair beds range from 90cm wide to around 130cm wide. Whereas sofa beds tend to start from a width of 150cm and can go up to widths of 200cm+. Loveseat chair beds fall in the middle of the two, tending to measure between 130-150cm wide.
Because of their narrower frames, a chair bed can only sleep one guest at a time, whereas a sofa bed can usually sleep two guests at once.
Are chair beds expensive?
A good chair bed does tend to be expensive, although there are more affordable options out there. For instance, the Habitat Roma chair bed currently retails for under £300, whereas the most expensive chair beds in my round-up cost over £1000.
If you're not sure that you can justify the expense of a chair bed, or you're short on space for even the most compact design, then our guide to the best air beds offers some viable alternatives.