12 of the best minimalist sofa beds for small spaces

I had a bit of a revelation at the end of last year when I was evaluating how I could better improve my work/life balance as someone who works from home. It’s easy to blur the lines between business and pleasure when you live and work in the same space – you need to put in place a few boundaries so you can mentally and physically split the two, and switch off completely when you need to.

My desk is currently in the spare bedroom – the home office – but it’s not really a space I’ve ever really wanted to work in. At the beginning when I decorated the room, yes. But I’ve actually found myself spending all my time working from the dining table in the kitchen; the heart of the home. It’s a bigger room; it’s light, bright and a lovely space to spend time in. I can spread all my stuff out on the dining table and the coffee machine is close to hand. I feel less cut off and isolated than in a small room upstairs. But that also means that I spend 90% of my week in the same one room downstairs. I pack up my work and close the laptop, then go on to prepare dinner and relax in the same space. By the end of the week I’m usually getting a bit of cabin fever and feel in need of a change of scene!

I realised that my ‘home office’ didn’t feel like a home office, because it was still the spare room with a double bed taking up most of the space. When you work from home occasionally or at the weekends, you can make do with a tiny space, a small desk in the corner, maybe a stool tucked underneath to save space. But – long story short – working from home everyday, I realised that I needed to prioritise my business and working life (over the few guests that rarely stay) and get rid of the bed in the spare room to gain a bit more room and a clearer headspace.

What I need is a minimalist sofa bed that fits into a small space. I’m looking for something that’s neat and compact, with a streamlined form and a simple silhouette. I love working on the laptop from the sofa in the living room, so I’d love a comfy corner in the home office to do the same. Then when guests do come to stay it can fold out to come a big bed. It might also allow me to get a bigger desk and a coffee table to display some books and magazines.

But. But. Finding a sofa bed that’s both stylish and affordable is hard! There are some ugly sofa beds out there. Because they need to hide a mattress and the mechanisms to pull it out, sofa beds seem to be clunky things with heavy bases. A lot of the sofa beds on the market seem to be grey – which of course I’m quite happy with! – but there doesn’t seem to be huge amount of choice in terms of style, colour and shape.

There are some companies though that are creating innovative solutions and minimalist sofa beds for small spaces and compact living. They’ve simplified the structure and mechanisms to make them more seamless and easy to use. Many sofa beds can now be opened with one quick move rather than several complicated actions. Everything has been reduced to just what is needed, which I like.

In terms of style, lots of designs now have thin armrests to gain a few extra inches of seating room, while others have slender, tapered legs to give the illusion of space underneath. Some sofa beds like the Douglas from Sofa.com open up to conceal bedding and pillows underneath, which is really rather clever. There’s also single bed sofa beds for really small spaces and even beds in boxes (like the Hetty from Sofa.com, where the lid lifts off to become the headrest) that take up even less room.

Here I’ve rounded up 12 of the best minimalist sofa beds for small spaces. When I say best I’m really meaning the best looking and the well designed, in terms of quality, craftsmanship and material. I can’t vouch for comfort because I haven’t tried them all myself, but when choosing a sofa bed I think you really have to consider how much it will actually get used as a bed and who will be using it. If you have your elderly mother in law coming a lot, for instance, you might want to choose one with a really good sprung mattress, but if you have a friend staying only every once in a while, maybe a more compact day bed style would fit the job.

1. Oswald sofa bed, £1,599, Heal’s [affiliate link]
2. T2 sofa bed, £750, Muji
3. Douglas sofa bed, £714, Sofa.com
4. Bentham sofa bed in shadow grey, £359, Swoon Editions
5. Pillow 3 seater sofa bed, £1,999, Heal’s [affiliate link]
6. Innovation Recast sofa bed with pocket sprung mattress, £999, John Lewis [affiliate link]
7. Frode sofa, Innovation Living
8. Harlow sofa bed, £499, Made.com [affiliate link]
9. Lars sofa bed, £699, Made.com [affiliate link]
10. Louvre 3/4-seater washed linen sofa bed, £1,250, Maisons du Monde (also available as a 2 seater version) – DISCONTINUED
11. Innovation Cubed 140 sofa bed Serpentine sprung mattress, £1,299, John Lewis [affiliate link]
12. Frieda sofa bed, £1,903, Love Your Home

So which one will I pick? My favourites are number 1 (the Oswald by Heal’s) and number 8 (the Harlow by Made.com) – I love their clean, straight lines and the simple, fuss-free shapes.

Designed in Denmark and exclusive to Heal’s, the Oswald (pictured above) is good because it has pocket sprung seat cushions for comfort and it folds out to a generous king size mattress. An added bonus is the hidden storage compartment in the base. I love the detail of the leather strap to help pull out the sofa bed. It comes in dark blue or a lovely textured grey fabric.

The Harlow by Made.com uses a click-clack mechanism to fold the back of the sofa down to create a bed. It creates a smaller platform than the Oswald and has a foam base rather than pocket springs, but it has a much more minimalist look with sleek black legs.

I also like the Frieda by Love Your Home as it uses a one-piece seat and back cushions meaning there’s no seams or gaps between cushions, resulting in a much cleaner look. It folds out to become a full double bed with a proper mattress inside, with the sofa cushions hiding neatly under the base. The thing I really like about Love Your Home though is the huge choice of over 100 fabrics.

While doing my research I was also really happy to come across Innovation Living, which seems to be THE place to go if you’re looking for a good quality sofa bed that’s beautifully designed. Founded in 1989, Innovation Living is a Danish furniture company (they designed the Oswald, above!) that specialises in the design of multifunctional sofa beds. They started off making beanbags in the 1970s and collaborated with famous Danish designer Verner Panton. They believe that ‘form and function must go hand in hand to create innovative and durable designs for everyday use’.

Innovation Living has been refining their mattresses for the last 30 years and have several different types to choose from. Everything is handmade in their factory in Denmark. There’s the classic mattress made of a recyclable fiberfill and an environmentally friendly resilient foam core. Their Pocket Spring mattress combines pocket springs for durability and support with high resilient foam to create a comfortable, breathable mattress, while their Pocket Spring Dual has an extra layer of hyper soft foam for softness.

A big plus for me is their stance on sustainability – they recover and apply any excess foam in the cotton cores of their classic mattresses.

I didn’t mean for this post to turn into something quite so long. But I wanted to do my research properly and not just say, hey this one’s pretty! I totally agree with Innovation Living that design has to have both form and function. Yes, a sofa bed wants to look the part but there’s nothing worse than a poor night’s sleep on a dodgy mattress. Hopefully these tick a few of the boxes in terms of style and substance. Let me know which one catches your eye!