Even if you live in a small space, you still need to be comfortable in it – so a sofa bed is a necessity.
If you add it to your bedroom or home office, it offers dual functions, as well as giving bed space if you have guests over and no spare bedrooms.
It also is among the most hardworking furniture pieces you should have in your home, and a worthwhile investment if you want some furniture versatility.
That brings up the question: how do you choose one? There are numerous options in existence, which makes narrowing down your choice to be quite hard unless you are clear on what you want.
These considerations include size, the mechanism you want, and more, which we will discuss in this article.
Frame
Any piece of furniture will benefit from a durable and strong frame, but that particularly applies to sofas of all types – including sofa beds.
The best ones are made from a combination of furniture-grade plywood and kiln-dried hardwood or kiln-dried hardwood.
Therefore, avoid purchasing sofa beds made from softer wood types like pines.
You also need to know if you want a pull-out or fold-out bed. For fold-out sofa beds, they will lack a headboard but have a larger sleeping space, while pull-out sofa beds have three or two-fold mattresses; the two-fold ones are thicker, while the three-fold ones have lower support but are easier to fold.
Size
There are a range of sizes you will get sofa beds in, ranging from an armchair and a footstool bed to smaller sofa beds, love seats, corner versions, as well as large and medium sofa beds.
When selecting the bed, check the measurements carefully and choose one that fits the room you will place it in even with other furniture pieces present.
Do not consider the dimensions alone, but also think about the measurement from the sofa to the end of the sleeping areas you want.
Check the mattress quality
When you have a good mattress, you are guaranteed to get better quality sleep as well as support for areas such as your lower back, hips, and shoulders.
This also applies to your sofa bed, since you want to be as comfortable as possible while using it for its bed functions.
There are factors you need to consider when thinking about getting a mattress from Walmart’s mattress selection or any other mattress store.
For instance, thicker mattresses are not always the best option; sometimes you may need a thinner but better-built mattress, instead of considering the sleep space by whether it is a three or two-seater sofa bed.
Additionally, you can get mattress pads to place on your sofa when you want to sleep on it.
Upholstery options
Similar to purchasing a normal sofa or armchair, it is important to think about the sofa bed’s upholstery and whether it will be durable enough for the treatment it will get – so take time and make your fabric selection carefully.
A good criterion to consider is the rub count, for instance. Domestic upholstery can take a minimum of 10,000 rubs, with many options offering a minimum rub count of 20,000.
If you have pets or young children who may use the sofa bed, get upholstery with a minimum rating of 30,000 rubs. As a bonus, the upholstery should be washable and removable.
Another element to examine is the patterns of the upholstery – high thread counts and tightly woven fabrics are the best choices for longevity, while Aquaclean coatings are very easy to clean using water.
Style of the sofa bed
When buying a sofa bed, you will notice its availability in both traditional and contemporary styles, so feel free to make a choice that fits in seamlessly with your home’s interior.
For instance, getting the bed in a high-backed design gives it a classy look, while getting one with long low lines gives it a contemporary feel.
You should also consider the arm shape and whether it is raised by show-legs or sitting on the floor, especially if the sofa bed is going to a small room. Sofa beds that sit on the floor can make smaller rooms feel bigger, for example.
You need to be mindful of many considerations before choosing a sofa bed, as you need it to give you comfort while sleeping in style and making the most of your bedroom or home space.