Best chair beds – single sofa beds for hosting guests when you have limited space

The best chair beds are a brilliant solution for putting up the occasional overnight guest if you have limited space. Plus, a single sofa bed or futon for one can double up as a stylish accent chair the rest of the time.

Just like the best sofa beds, chair beds come in two main designs. There are 'pull-out' chair beds, where the mattress is pulled out from under the chair's seat cushions to form the sleeping surface, and 'click-clack' chair beds where the backrest and chair seat fold flat to create the sleeping area.

Most chair beds will only offer a single mattress' worth of sleeping space, but if you have a little more space to play with then a loveseat chair bed might squeeze in just enough sleeping space for two guests at a time.

However, a good chair bed can be surprisingly difficult to source. 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 15 chair beds (and counting), testing chair comfort, bed comfort, and how easy the sleeper chair was to transform from one to the other.

Based on my testing, I think the Habitat Roma Chair Bed is the best chair bed overall, offering stylish space-saving design and value for money. But I've compiled all of my first-hand testing experience into this guide, so you can jump straight to my top recommendations.

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 beds

Best chair bed overall

Stylish, comfortable, 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 compact 90cm width frame coming in as one of the narrowest on our list.

The small footprint still delivers a 91 x 190cm sleeping area – equivalent to the dimensions of a standard single mattress – and there's also a slightly larger 108 x 190cm option available which can sleep two guests at a push, although they're going to need to get on very well.

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. This makes for a fairly low-to-the-ground sleeping surface, but I found the medium-firm foam cushioning comfortable enough as a bed for a few nights – especially if you add one of the best mattress toppers into the mix.

In chair form, the lack of arms and medium-firm cushioning means it might not cut the mustard as a chair you'll want to use as your main everyday seating, but, it makes a good 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 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 mid-range chair bed

Comfortable enough to use as everyday seating, but with the versatility to transform into a guest bed with a pull-out mattress, this chair bed may not have quite as many bells and whistles as Darlings of Chelsea's Weymouth, but with Furniture Village running regular discounting events, you might be able to snap it up for quite a lot cheaper.

On testing, I was impressed by the chair seat depth – I found it the perfect compromise between loungey and upright to keep both sitters and curler-uppers content – and the fiber back cushions and fiber-topped foam seat cushions felt really comfortable, offering some sink-in squish-factor but still offering support. Plus, I found its armrests a good height and nice and wide, unlike many other chair beds.

In fact, I found this chair bed was barely distinguishable from the standard armchair in terms of seat comfort – a real rarity in the world of pull-out chair beds where the hidden bed frame often means a much, much firmer seat.

However, what this choice lacks is the breadth of style options that alternative chair beds can offer with just nine upholstery options available, and most of those fabrics (to my mind) aren't that inspiring. There is a wide choice of coordinating furniture though, so if you want a chair bed that can integrate into a matching living room suite, then this could be a good option.

Best budget chair bed

This simple futon chair bed may be basic, but if you're after an affordable way to put up the occasional overnight guest then it makes for a useful and budget-friendly extra sleeping space.

You can opt for the minimal Japandi vibes of the natural or pale grey upholstery, or there are multiple other colour options available, including practical darks and vibrant brights that are perfect for a teenager's lair or children's bedroom.

The FSC-certified solid pine frame is fairly roughly finished – there were a few sections that looked like they could splinter on the model I saw in the flesh and this experience seems to be reflected in the Mito's customer reviews – and, at this price point, the sleeping is a fairly firm experience. Guests also won't be that far off the floor once the futon bed is extended, which may not be ideal for less mobile visitors.

However, whilst guests might struggle to spend a whole week on this temporary bed (which may or may not be a good thing!) if you only need a guest bed for the occasional overnighter and want a cheap and cheerful option that's a little more permanent than a roll-up or inflatable mattress, this budget option could strike just the right balance.

Easiest to use

The only reason this loveseat sofa bed doesn't come higher in my round-up of the best chair beds is because the 150cm width means I'm not sure it can truly be classified as a chair bed.

However, if you can squeeze that wider frame into your room set-up then this option is well worth considering. Comfortable enough to use as your everyday seating as well as providing overnight guests with a decent night's sleep, it comes equipped with a single roll-out action mechanism that makes the transformation from sofa to pull-out bed a super simple affair.

The roll-action design also means this model is able to offer a longer mattress than most pull-out options, with a 190cm length sleeping area that taller guests will appreciate. And, at 12cm deep, the mattress is one of the deepest that pull-out sofa beds can be equipped with and also offers the option of pocket spring or memory foam construction for enhanced comfort.

Seat comfort can also be tailored to your preference with a choice of fibre-wrapped foam or feather-wrapped foam seat cushions for low-maintenance squish-factor, and there are a whopping 175+ upholstery options to choose from. Plus, if a narrow hallway, tight corners, or tricky stairs are an issue, this sofa bed can be delivered flat-packed and built by the delivery team in situ; a real boon for those with awkward access.

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.

How I tested

As Ideal Home's Decor Editor and now our Sleep Editor, I've spent the past four years visiting furniture and mattress showrooms across the UK and attending trade shows and product launches to test out new furniture ranges before they hit the shops.

In that time I've tested out sofa and sofa bed ranges from over 18 retailers, and sat on, laid on, and tested every chair bed I've come across in that time for comfort and ease of use.

Amy Lockwood

I'm Amy, Ideal Home's Sleep Editor and previously Decor Editor for Ideal Home, Livingetc, and Homes & Gardens. I've visited 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 myself or one of the Ideal Home team has also tested the sofa bed ranges of online-only retailers DUSK, Cocoon, Snug and Swyft to find the best chair beds for this guide.

I tested 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 and all online reviews for each chair bed to ensure that my own or the wider Ideal Home team's experiences with the piece of furniture is in line with that 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.

• Argos: affordable Habitat click-clack chair beds
• Cocoon: single chair beds and compact two-seaters
• 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
• John Lewis: own-brand, Swyft, and Innovation Living chair beds
• Loaf: pull-out loveseats with great upholstery options
• Sofa.com: pull-out loveseat sofa beds in 100+ fabrics

How to choose a chair bed

One of the most important factors you'll want to decide on before you start shopping for a chair bed or sofa bed, is whether you would prefer to opt for a click-clack or pull-out design. There are pros and cons to each style so I've called out the key points worth considering below.

Click-clack chair beds

A click-clack chair bed is a design where the chair's backrest and seat fold flat to become the sleeping surface. If made of solid foam then quite often these designs can be the firmest for sitting and sleeping, the ‘bed’ also tends to be quite low to the ground once the chair bed is unfolded, and your guests will be sleeping directly on the upholstery surface.

A lot of these problems can be solved with the simple addition of a mattress topper, however, that will add to the overall price. (That said, the combined cost of a topper and click-clack chair bed is often still a lot less than opting for a pull-out chair bed).

Click-clack chair beds are more often contemporary in appearance, and quite often the upholstery options will be a little more limited. However, they’re generally the most affordable option, have the shortest lead times, and are the most compact if floor space is the biggest consideration.

Pull-out chair beds

A pull-out chair bed usually looks the most like a classic armchair. In this design, the chair seat cushion is removed and a folding bed frame with a dedicated mattress is pulled out from the chair seat cavity when you want to use it as a bed.

On a pull-out chair bed, the backrest and armrests remain in place once the mattress is extended, which means this option takes up more floor space than a click-clack chair bed. However, on a pull-out chair bed the sleeping surface tends to be higher from the ground and more like a standard bed, so some guests will find them more comfortable.

A pull-out chair bed will usually offer a lot more upholstery options than a click-clack chair bed, and there is more likely to be matching furniture available if you prefer to incorporate a chair bed into a living room suite. However, those additional upholstery options tend to mean there are longer lead times (often between 4-12 weeks) for a pull-out chair bed to be made and delivered.

There can also be a lot of variation in comfort between pull-out chair beds. When it's used as an armchair, you will be sitting ‘on’ the folded bed frame, so look for thick seat cushions to add comfort.

There can also be significant variation in mattress thicknesses and construction between pull-out chair beds. Generally speaking, you want the thickest pull-out mattress you can afford to make the sleeping area the most comfortable – a mattress depth of 10-14cm is a good gauge. Some pull-out chair beds will also offer the choice of a foam, sprung, or memory foam mattress. Which you option find the most comfortable tends to come down to personal preference.

FAQs

Got a burning question about chair beds? I've answered some of the most common queries below.

What's the difference between a chair bed and a sofa bed?

The only 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 our 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.

Are sleeper chairs worth it?

If you don't have a dedicated guest bedroom in your home, or you want to transform a guest bedroom into a home office or playroom to get more multifunctional value from the space, then a chair bed can be a worthwhile purchase as it allows you to still host overnight guests.

The caveat is that you'll only be able to host a single guest at a time, as even a loveseat chair bed is likely to be an uncomfortable squeeze for two.

And yes, you could opt for a far cheaper air bed instead, but if you prefer to offer your guests a little more comfort, a chair bed is a worthwhile buy.

How can I make my chair bed more comfortable?

If you want to make your chair bed more comfortable to sleep on then you need a mattress topper. What is a mattress topper? It's a cushioned layer that you can add to the top of a sleep surface to mask any firmness underneath.

The main difficulty you might come across in sourcing a mattress topper for a chair bed is finding one to fit. Most toppers are designed to be used on standard mattresses and the sleeping area of a chair bed is usually smaller than a standard single mattress.

The best options I've found are the memory foam Panda Mattress Topper or the wool-filled Woolroom Deluxe Wool Mattress Topper. Both come in a wide range of UK and EU size options which mean there's more chance of finding the right size for your chair bed. The Panda topper offers great cushioning whilst the Woolroom topper is one of the best cooling mattress toppers we've tested thanks to its breathable construction made from natural materials.