I think you'd get a lot more use out of a good sofa bed. It's comfortable and useful as a sofa, and also comfortable as a bed. As to whether or not it's slightly more or less comfortable than the other options? Well, I'd say it's definitely more comfortable than a futon, and about the same as a day bed -- but significantly more comfortable than a daybed for sitting on.

If it were me, I'd look on Craigslist for a used-but-good one before buying a new-but-cheap one.

I have a large family (I'm one of 6 kids and together we have 16 grandchildren) and what we have done is invested in good quality air mattresses. The cousins, as the grandchildren are collectively called, love that they can move them anywhere to sleep and you can typically get several in one room. On the other hand adults usually prefer a mattress. My sister has a murphy bed that is very comfortable but also expensive. I guess what I am saying is that it all depends on your guests. My kids don't mind sleeping on a regular sofa and then add 2 twin air mattresses on the floor for maximum guests. Good Luck

I agree with everything sweeby said but would also add, since I have owned a sofa bed, they are extremely heavy. Mine took an elephant and two mules just to move it from one spot in the living room to another. Also, since my impression from your post that this is an attic room, you might want to measure to make sure you can manuever it up the stairs.

I am also debating the sofa bed vs. daybed thing for the loft room in our condo. Or maybe I should just go with air mattresses for the occasional extra bed. I managed to forget about this for a few months so I'm glad the topic was brought back to my attention. Summer & extra guests are just around the corner.

Have you seen the Simplicity sofa website? I am not affiliated with this company, I only offer the idea to you for your research. They have sofa beds with blow up mattresses, which really intrigues me. And their sofas arrive in pieces so it would be easy to carry & set up, unlike the heaviness of a real sofa bed. But how do they hold up? I don't know anyone with direct experience with them. Now that I'm thinking about it again I should search this site for any comments from prior customers.

When one of my friends visits her family, she sleeps on an inflatable sofa bed & says it's very comfortable. She and her husband sleep on it for 1-2 months at a time so it must be okay. I don't know if the one she uses is from Simplicity Sofas or another mfg.

What concerns me is that when I've slept on an air mattress, on the floor not as part of a sofa bed, I found them very cold & uncomfortable. A real sofa bed is better looking but much more expensive and in addition is very heavy to carry upstairs to the loft room. And are they more comfortable? I'll never sleep in it but I want the guests to be comfortable. But not too comfortable or they'll never leave. Now you can see why I put this out of my mind!

Bottom line for me is looks-wise a sofa bed, with a real or inflatable mattress, does look the best in a room that isn't a dedicated guest room.

Hi,
Thanks for the advice so far. We have had an expenisve queen Aero Bed that broke. The slit became too large to patch so I'd rather put money into something more sturdy. But while it lasted it was defl a nice choice. I am concerned about a sofa bed fitting up to the attic. Technically it seems like it would fit but I know they are heavy etc... I may go again to look this week. Anyone have pics of a daybed in a family room set-up?
THanks

oops - didn't mean to ignore the original question.

Daybeds are never comfortable to me as a sofa, period. If you want seating AND sleeping, a sofa bed is a much better option, I think. A thin sofabed mattress can always be beefed up with a topper, either down or memory foam or an egg crate type.

My experience:

I had a daybed that I used as a "sofa" in a living room, along with a real sofa. It didn't work well as a sofa, because you couldn't lean against the back and have your feet on the floor. For young people or others who always curl their legs up onto the sofa, it might be OK, but there isn't much back support.

I slept on that daybed as a bed for quite a while, too. It had a regular twin mattress, so it was very comfortable. But, as with any twin, a daybed is only big enough for one adult or two small adults who don't mind spooning. BTDT, and it works OK for a couple nights.

I also owned a sofa bed for a while. It was heavy, but also fairly comfortable to sleep on. It was a full-size mattress, but on the thin side, like most sofa bed mattresses. OK for once in a while. YMMV, especially if your guests are bigger than average.

I agree that inflatable mattresses are both comfortable and cold (when placed on the floor). They do make "frames" for inflatable mattresses now, to get the mattress off the floor. Some people have a hard time getting up from a mattress on the floor.

If I were you, and wanted the piece to be versatile, I'd get a sofa bed. And maybe another inflatable mattress.

I had the very same dilemma with our guest room/ den. The general consensus is that sofa beds are not very comfortable. I didn't want to live with a "bed" in this roo. I also needed two single beds instead of one large bed for many of our guests. So, I went with a daybed and trundle instead. These are fine for sleeping, but not very comfortable for day to day sofa use. Daybeds are really too deep, even with many pillows along the back of it for sofa type sitting. They're also too high with the trundle, and I needed that trundle option. That said, the only one who actually uses this room as a den is our 15 y/o DD, and she and her friends could care less. When guests arrive, the two beds work wonderfully for them; with only one guest, I leave the trundle tucked under the bed. One other thing I should mention, our son is 6' tall and finds the oak sides to be very uncomfortable. He claims he knocks his head into the sides and so prefers to sleep on the trundle. Next time, I'll probably buy a well-made sleeper sofa instead.
Lynn