Four ways to put a bed in a room that already has a job. They are not interchangeable, and the one people pick first is usually the wrong one.
The question is never which is best. It is what the room does the other 350 nights a year, and how often someone actually sleeps there.
Here is how the four compare on the things that matter after the novelty wears off.
Count how many nights a year someone sleeps in that room.
Under ten nights, comfort matters least and floor space matters most. Over fifty, you are furnishing a bedroom that happens to fold, and you should buy for sleep first.
Most households are at the low end and shop as if they were at the high end. That is how a good office turns into a bad spare room.
Altari Sofa Sleeper. Shop sleepers.
A proper sofa for daily use, and a bed that is fine for a weekend.
This is the right answer when the room is a living room, a den or a family room first. Nobody looking at it thinks "guest room." You sit on it every evening, and twice a year it opens.
The trade-off is the mattress. A sleeper mattress sits inside a folding frame, so it is thinner than a real one, and you feel the mechanism if you sleep on it for a week. Our sleeper collection runs to 45 pieces, so there is room to pick the one that sits best rather than the one that happens to fold.
One thing to check on the floor: open it. Measure how far the bed extends and then look at what is standing in that space at home.
Because the bed is good and the room stays usable.
A Murphy cabinet bed folds into a cabinet about the size of a chest of drawers, and the mattress inside is a real one rather than a folding insert. That is the whole reason this category exists. When it is closed, the room is an office or a craft room with a nice cabinet in it.
We carry the Night and Day cabinet beds, including the Sagebrush and the Clover, which open out from a cabinet instead of mounting to a wall. No bolting into studs, and it moves with you.
It costs more than a sleeper and it does not give you anywhere to sit. If the room needs seating, this is the wrong piece.
Night and Day Sagebrush Murphy Cabinet Bed. See the Sagebrush.
When the room is small, the guests are occasional, and you want it to look intentional.
A daybed is a twin mattress with a frame on three sides. It reads as a sofa against a wall during the day and it is a real mattress at night, which is more than a sleeper can say. Add a trundle and you have two sleeping spots in the footprint of one.
The catch is width. A twin suits one person, and a trundle gives the second person their own surface rather than sharing. For a couple visiting, this is not the answer. For a kid, a teenager or one visiting parent, it often is. We stock 33 daybeds, a good share of them with trundles.
Cinderella Day Bed in Antique White. Shop daybeds.
Underrated outside of kids' rooms, and worth a look if the room is genuinely a spare room.
Bunks put two beds in the floor space of one, and modern ones are not the rickety things people remember. Some have a full on the bottom and a twin on top, which handles an adult and a child without a second room.
They only work when the ceiling allows it and the room is not doing another job. Our bunk beds run to 64 options including loft styles that leave a desk underneath.
Lanceburg Bunk Bed with Ladder. Shop bunk beds.
Side by side, on the four things people actually care about.
| Option | Sleep quality | Floor space when closed | Doubles as |
| Sleeper sofa | Fine for a weekend | None extra | Seating |
| Murphy cabinet bed | Full mattress | A cabinet | Nothing |
| Daybed | Full twin mattress | Sofa-sized | Seating |
| Bunk bed | Two full mattresses | A bed | Nothing |
Read down the sleep column if people stay often. If they almost never do, the floor space column is the one that decides it.
Three things, and they come up on our floor most weeks.
Is a Murphy bed more comfortable than a sleeper sofa?
Generally yes, because a Murphy cabinet bed holds a standard mattress and a sleeper holds a thinner folding one. The sleeper gives you daily seating in exchange, which the cabinet bed does not.
Do Murphy cabinet beds have to be attached to the wall?
The cabinet styles we carry are freestanding and fold out from the cabinet, so there is no mounting into studs and the piece can move with you.
What size mattress fits a daybed?
A twin. A trundle underneath usually takes a second twin, which gives you two separate sleeping surfaces rather than one shared one.
Which guest bed is best for a small room?
A daybed if the room needs seating too, a Murphy cabinet bed if it needs floor space and a real mattress, and a sleeper if the room is a living space first.
Can adults sleep on bunk beds?
Yes, on bunks rated for adult weight. Check the rating and the ceiling height before you plan on it.
Both of our showrooms are open seven days a week, and this is a category you should not buy without opening and closing it yourself.
Our Vancouver store is at 7017 NE St Johns Road, open Monday to Friday 10am to 7pm, Saturday 10am to 6pm and Sunday 11am to 5pm, on (360) 694-4006. Our Longview store is at 849 Commerce Avenue, open Monday to Saturday 10am to 6pm and Sunday 11am to 5pm, on (360) 501-4200.
Browse sleepers, daybeds and bunk beds online first, and have a look at our mattresses while you are there, since a better mattress on a daybed changes the whole experience. Message us if you want to check what is on the floor before you drive over.
Four ways to put a bed in a room that already has a job. They are not interchangeable, and the one people pick first is usually the wrong one. The question is never which is best. It is what the...
When it comes to creating a functional living room layout, few furniture choices have as much impact as your sectional sofa. Room layout efficiency means more than just fitting furniture into a space; it encompasses clear walkways, balanced seating arrangements,...
Delivery
Check what it costs to get this order to your door.
