There are various types of day bed but the best (in my view) are those that use a standard sized single mattress. That means you’ll have a decent choice of good value mattresses. Most day beds are metal or wood, but there are also some fabric daybeds and guest beds. Some just have one mattress whilst others have two mattresses thanks to a trundle, which rolls out from underneath.
So what’s the difference between a day bed and a sofa bed? Generally speaking, a day bed doesn’t look much like a sofa but it is as comfortable as a ‘proper’ bed because you use a normal single mattress. Meanwhile, a sofa bed is OK for a night or two but compromises on sleeping comfort in an effort to actually look like a sofa.
In case you’re wondering, the phrase ‘guest bed’ seems to vary depending on which website you look at. Day beds and sofa beds are usually considered types of guest bed.
We’ve picked out five of the best daybeds, which all take a standard single mattress. We’ve chosen a range to show you the different types of day bed on the market. Choices were made by looking at customer reviews, specification, value for money and awards.
1. Eggree Metal Frame Day Bed – £67 (single metal daybed)
Roll up, bargain hunters! The cheapest type of day bed is usually these simple white bed frames. There’s a huge choice of them around.
We’ve picked out this cheap as chips Eggree day bed on Amazon, which goes for around £70-£90. It comes in black or white, whereas most of these metal day beds are just available in white. As with the other daybeds on this list, it takes a standard sized single mattress.
It deserves inclusion in this daybeds guide thanks to its positive reviews and the fact that it’s about half the price of similar designs from big names. It scores 4.4/5 from more than 1000 reviews, which is going some.
Check out the rungs
One thing to keep in mind is that a cheap metal bed like this has thin metal rungs rather than wide, flat wooden flats. My experience (and others) is that thin metal rungs don’t work well with sprung mattresses. Some suggest that you could remedy this by putting a board across the rungs, which should spread out the weight better.
If you like this style but want to buy a day bed from a brand name you might have heard of, have a look at the Versailles Day Bed from Julian Bowen (£260, five year guarantee) which gets positive reviews.
Pros: metal can be recycled, positive reviews, cheap
Cons: thin rungs rather than supportive slats, lightweight compared to more expensive metal bed, unknown brand, weighs just 16kg
The Sleep Guy’s Value Rating: ***** (out of five, see foot of page for more on this)
2. Kylie White Metal Day Bed – £349 (double day bed)
Another type of day bed is one of these metal ones that cleverly turns into a much larger mattress thanks to a second base hidden underneath. The second mattress either lives underneath or you can keep it out the way so that it looks like a normal day bed the rest of the time.
Rather confusingly, two single mattresses don’t make a double mattress in the UK.
A single mattress is 190cm tall x 90cm wide whilst a double is 190cm tall x 135cm wide. If it were twice the size it would be 190cm x 180cm, so it is some way short. What you get when you push two singles together – as you do with this one – is nearly a super king mattress (200cm x 180cm). The only difference is that they are 10cm shorter, which you will notice if you are Peter Crouch or Richard Osman.
This Dreams day bed is called Kylie. It gets very good reviews of 4.8/5 from more than 70 reviews.
Several reviewers say that they found it easy to assemble, so it hopefully won’t lead to a falling out. This one only comes in white.
Further waffle about rungs
I’m spending so much time talking about metal rungs that I’m considering a cover version of Radiohead’s My Iron Lungs with the lyrics changed to My Iron Rungs.
The Kylie bed has metal rungs. As I said earlier, wide wooden slats provide a better base for a mattress, particularly if you have a mattress with pocket springs. The risk is that you’ll end up with some springs without much support underneath.
Again, a thin board (or perhaps even thick cardboard) would held reduce this problem.
It comes with a one year guarantee.
Weight for it…
A good rule for determining the quality of a metal day bed is to look at its weight. The Dreams Kylie bed is 28kg, whilst the cheapest metal day bed in this guide is just 16kg and the most expensive is 50kg. In other words, this is somewhere in the middle on quality.
Pros: versatile use as single or double bed, respected seller
Cons: short guarantee length, only one colour, metal rungs rather than supportive slats
The Sleep Guy’s Value Rating: ***
3. Julian Bowen Tyler Day Bed – £339 (wooden daybed with trundle)
If you want a white wooden day bed with a pull out trundle, you’ve got a huge number of options. IKEA do a cleverly designed day bed called Hemnes but it doesn’t accommodate standard sized single mattresses, so we haven’t included it in this top five. I have never really understood why you would sell bed frames in the UK that don’t fit UK mattress sizes, but let’s not get into a tangent.
A similar alternative is the Tyler Day Bed from Julian Bowen. It has a similar look but it uses a standard sized single mattress, which is a dealbreaker for me. It costs about the same and it gets very positive reviews (close to 5/5, based on about 50 reviews). There’s also a cheaper version without a trundle underneath.
What’s it made from?
It’s made from solid pine, which is a softwood that is often used in furniture. Hardwood furniture is stronger, but you’ll find the vast majority use either pine or mostly fibreboard. The IKEA Hemnes is mostly painted fibreboard with some pine.
The Julian Bowen brand scores highly on TrustPilot with an average of 4.5/5.
One downside is that the beds can’t be raised to the same level. That means it can’t be used as a double.
Wooden beds like this have either solid slats or sprung slats which the mattress sits on. This one has solid slats which makes the mattress feel a little firmer. I would have preferred sprung slats but it’s certainly better than thin metal rungs.
A similar alternative
A cheaper alternative is this Brooklyn day bed from Argos (£240). Customer reviews average 4.7/5 (from 30+ reviews). The Brooklyn day bed also can’t be used as a double (i.e. you can’t raise the trundle up to the same level). However, each bed can cope with up to 120kg which is nearly 19 stone. It comes with a 2 year guarantee.
Pros: supportive slats, solid pine rather than fibreboard, extra year warranty than rivals, good weight limit, standard size mattress
Cons: extra bed is on a different level, fewer reviews to go on than rivals
The Sleep Guy’s value rating: ****
4. Holyrood Charcoal Grey Upholstered Day Bed – £299 (fabric day bed with trundle)
I reckon this Holyrood day bed at The Range is one of the more attractive daybeds you can buy in the UK. It looks a little more sofa-like than most day beds but still manages to have enough space for two standard sized mattresses (which you can add on to the order, or use your own). I also like it because the second mattress is neatly hidden rather than it being obvious that you have a spare mattress shoved underneath.
The bottom trundle layer slides out, although it doesn’t rise up to the same level as the top mattress so you can’t use it as a double bed unfortunately.
Bear in mind that the bottom mattress needs to be a lot thinner than the top one. If you buy it with the bundled mattress then it is a 12cm memory foam mattress, which is about half the depth of a standard mattress. That will be OK for a night or two, but I wouldn’t want to use a 12cm deep mattress all the time.
It has what’s called ‘sprung slats’ to support the mattress. That means it will feel slightly bouncier and softer than a daybed with solid/rigid slats. I am a fan of sprung slats, which I admit makes me feel like a total nerd. I don’t have posters of sprung slats on my wall or anything like that, but I do think they provide a good level of comfort and consistent support as long as they aren’t too wide apart.
Pros: sprung slats, attractive style which will fit well into a lounge, soft corners
Cons: second mattress is lower down, less well known brand, thin mattress on bottom
The Sleep Guy’s value rating: ****
5. Wrought Iron and Brass Bed Co Lily Iron Day Bed – £895 (single wooden day bed without trundle)
If you don’t need a second mattress and have deep pockets then this day bed from the Wrought Iron and Brass Bed Co is a great option.
As with all the others on this list, it is designed to take a standard sized single mattress.
It doesn’t have the storage of some day beds but it has a higher built quality and uses solid wrought iron. The style is somewhat Victorian rather than any of these modern trendy rubbish.
In case you are interested, wrought iron is ‘superior for most purposes to cast iron, which is overly hard and brittle owing to its high carbon content’ (Brittanica). In other words, this bed isn’t going to fall apart. It weighs 50kg whereas the Dreams Kylie day bed featured earlier weighs 28kg and the cheapest mattress in this guide is 16kg.
That means that this day bed weighs three times as much as the cheapest models on the market and twice as much as mid-market options.
Good quality slats
This is another day bed with solid slats (as opposed to sprung slats) which means it will add a bit of firmness to the overall feel. The main thing to look for when you’re buying a bed with slats is how far apart they are so that the mattress is supported and doesn’t get damaged. In this case, they are wide slats with only small gaps between them.
The company’s head office is in Norfolk.
They also sell a version with a slightly different design called the Sophie Day Bed. It’s not hugely different but it does give some choice at least.
Pros: high quality materials, solid as a rock, slatted base, nicely raised off the ground
Cons: expensive, only one colour, no second mattress option
The Sleep Guy’s Value Rating: ***
Our Value Rating: this is our expert view of how good value each product. It is intended as a guide. We look at the price alongside features, specification, construction materials, construction methods, customer reviews and brand reputation to achieve a rating. A five star rating is a product which we think offers exceptionally good value. Four stars is ‘very good value’ whilst three stars is ‘good value’ items. One star and two star items don’t generally get onto our guides, as we think they are only ‘reasonable value’ and ‘poor value’ items.