If you’re looking for ways to host guests without a dedicated guest bedroom in your home, a sofa bed is a great investment.
However, if you have an awkwardly shaped house – whether that’s because you live in a Victorian terrace with a narrow hallway, an apartment that doesn’t have an internal lift, or a tightly twisting staircase – getting one of the best sofa beds into your home and to your room of choice can be easier said than done.
Luckily, there’s a simple solution: the flatpack sofa bed. And whilst there are a growing number of retailers who offer flatpack sofa beds, it's Swyft's flatpack sofa beds that stand out for me.
Two members of the Ideal Home own Swyft sofa beds, and not only have they both been impressed by the flatpack delivery, but they've also reported back that they're very easy to self-assemble.
As Ideal Home's Editor in Chief, Heather, explains in her Swyft Model 04 sofa bed review, 'my Swyft sofa bed came delivered in four (large) boxes, which easily fitted through a tight hallway.'
'My husband and I had the Model 04 put together in under 30 minutes, with no tools required. I definitely could have managed it solo, although due to the sofa bed's weight, it was easier to manoeuvre it into position with two people.'
This is a sentiment echoed by plenty of other Swyft customers. 'Bought due to wanting a sofa bed in my office and no sofa could fit up my stairs,' shares one reviewer. 'Arrived as planned and so easy to put together. No one believes it came in a box.'
'I spent hours and hours and hours looking for a sofa bed,' says another. 'It needed to look good, be comfortable, and get through the door of my flat. This sofa is all of these things. It arrives in boxes and is super easy to put together. I did it on my own, which was a bit tricky but doable. It would have been a 10-minute job if there were two pairs of hands. I am really happy with it.'
'So very happy with our new sofa bed,' shares a third owner. 'We were really struggling to find a new sofa for our small Victorian terraced home due to narrow doorways and the associated issues of getting anything in. The Swyft range is brilliant as it comes in boxes and is easy to put together.'
Plus, if you're in any doubt about having the necessary DIY skills to put this flatpack furniture together, then, as Ideal Home's Content Editor, Thea, discovered, Swyft also offers a 'white glove' delivery service. Paying a little extra for this service means your sofa bed can be assembled in situ by the delivery team on delivery day.
'When the sofa bed arrived with two delivery men, I assumed they'd be there for ages putting it together,' says Thea. 'I'd barely offered them a cup of tea before they were done! They said the sofa beds are always so quick and easy to assemble, and it will be super simple for me to do myself if I ever need to move it.'
Which brings me on to another great bonus of a flat pack sofa bed. If you're planning on moving house in the near or distant future, a flat pack design is far easier to disassemble and then reassemble in your new home than pre-assembled furniture.
Plus, Swyft sofa beds have another unique selling point, and that's the speed with which they can be delivered. You can order a variety of Swyft sofa beds at John Lewis with fairly speedy delivery, but if you order directly from Swyft itself, there are options for 24-hour delivery.
Swyft flatpack sofa beds
Swyft's most affordable sofa bed is the newly launched Model 11. A simple design sees the backrest fold flat to become a small double-sized sleeping area.
The Model 04 is a 3-seater sofa that folds out into a double-sized bed. Another bonus to its flatpack design is that its arms can be removed for a more space-saving design.
The Model 02 is Swyft's OG design, and still a bestseller. This is a 3-seater sofa that folds out into a double-sized bed.
In my experience, that flatpack delivery, no-tools assembly, and super speedy delivery options mean Swyft pips its competitors to the post when it comes to offering the best flatpack sofa beds.
However, there are also other options on the market. I've rounded up three alternative options below.
Alternative flatpack sofa beds
Think flatpack furniture, and IKEA is the brand that probably instantly springs to mind. So, no surprise that the retailer is another great option for flatpack sofa bed designs. Are IKEA sofa beds worth it? Yes, and I've always found the brand's seating easy enough to assemble, although, in my experience, there are a lot more fiddly parts to fit together compared to Swyft's super-easy slotted assembly.
Innovation Living makes some ingeniously designed sofa beds, and all of the brand's range is delivered flat-packed. However, based on customer reviews, the assembly process for this Innovation Living sofa bed is a lot more involved than Swyft's no-tool process, so if you're a DIY novice, I think Swyft is the easier solution.
It's a definite investment, but overall, I found this sofa bed to offer more comfort than Swyft's range thanks to squishier seating and a dedicated pull-out mattress. Plus, it's available in over 175 upholstery options compared to Swyft's 25 colourways. It's delivered ready-built as standard, but you can pay extra for it to be delivered flat-packed and built by the delivery team in situ.
