Advice needed - a small sofa bed or folding bed for permanent sleep?

[meadowquark]

Hi. I am going forwards and backwards and cannot make the decision.
We (DH and I) currently sleep on Ikea double bed (I find it fairly big!) but that has to go because we are giving up our bedroom to au-pair.

Therefore we will have to sleep in our living room. It currently has 2-seat sofa and 3-seat sofa (non-beds) and I am reluctant to get rid of them as the au pair arrangement may end after a year.

So, I need to fit it a foldable (sofa) bed into a fairly small space next to a bay window. The budget is limited.

I am thinking either double folding bed like this which is about 120cm x 200cm. Gives me a gap between the current sofa and the bed to pass to the window. Probably won't fold every day, only when having visitors, and when folded I can "hide" it behind the door so the living room remains spacious and nice.

Or Ikea Lycksele like this. 140cm x 188cm. I realise is bigger and probably more comfortable as the previous one, but having it as bed means there almost no space to pass to the window (between the current sofa and chimney), and that probably means folding it every single day. It is also quite bulky when folded at 142cm x 100cm and the room will certainly look smaller and will lose its appeal (to me).

We have no back issues (yet) so really think we could do with the folding bed, but I am probably underestimating the importance of comfortable sleep, too.

Any advice, please!!!

I'd go for the folding bed option if you can't swap a sofa for a full sofa bed (i.e. with arms, etc and look like more conventional sofa) as the Lycksele are pretty big and heavy and lots of people have said on other threads that they aren't very comfy as sofas (they have a low back so not supportive for upper back, shoulders and neck/head).

But, are the folding sofa beds sold as for occasional use only and are they a full size double or just a 3/4? That might mean they are not very comfortable night after night.

the folding double bed in link is pain to put up and down. takes lot of room etc and not pretty. got rid of mine.

clic clac sofa bed is best for regular use

www.sofabedsworld.co.uk/c/Clic_Clac_Sofa_Beds.htm

Agree you need something is billed for everyday use. And definitely (both of you) give it a good test in the shop first. Some sofa beds are annoyingly bouncy or you end up rolling into the middle. We've just spent nearly two years on a bed in our living room which every day we make up to look like a massive sofa. Worth getting attractive bedspread and cushions if you're not putting away every day. If we were to give up our bedroom in the future we would shell out for a proper "Murphy" wall bed that takes a proper mattress and can be put away made up.

We slept in our living room for about 3 months during building work on a double Lycksele. It's obviously not king size but was a surprisingly comfortable bed - I think there is a choice of mattresses. It has proper sprung slats, you don't roll together or anything, and is a full double. You just dump the bedding in the box that fits under and click it up into the sofa during the day time. It now lives in my sewing room as the spare bed. It's not a thing of beauty as a sofa but it's OK - DH used to put a big cushion on top to lean his head on.

I reckon you could put up with it for a year and sell it if you needed to.

Thanks guys. I read your advices and bought Ikea Lycksele off ebay. I reckon for 50 if it does not work out,I can always sell and get something more decent. In the end I am hoping that we will not sleep in our living room forever.