The Ultimate Guide to Day Beds

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Cool Kids Day Bed

With Christmas fast approaching there’s that wonderful familiar festive buzz about my house, carting kids off to Christmas fairs, wreath making, present buying, then back to the kitchen with Michael Buble’s oh so lovely voice helping the mulled cider go down (a little too well). Then there’s the food, the usual but never boring Christmas nibbles, mince pies, stolen… it’s all go go go!

Thankfully my lovely festive mood is no longer engulfed by the horrible realization that my over-zealous invitation to family and friends has us three guests up and two beds down! With our bedrooms already fully occupied (thanks to my visiting sister, who’s now resident sister!), we’re no longer blessed with a “guest room” and our visitors deserved something a little more welcoming than having to share the sofa with Barkley (our inappropriately randy golden retriever), who seems to have “paws down” claimed it as his own. But who needs a guest room when there’s a day bed just itching to be made up!

My primary role as product procurement director at cuckooland.com is firstly to source out of this world beds and secondly to solve the many bed dilemmas that customers may face at any given time. During my quest to find a suitable guest bed that would solve my Christmas guest hot bunking I was drawn to the versatility of day beds. Armed with answers, I thought that I could share my knowledge with fellow hosts and hostesses who are trying to work out Christmas sleeping arrangements, so fear not, you will find everything you need to know about daybeds right here.

The most common Day Bed FAQ’s we receive include the following questions:

What is a Day Bed?

Firstly let’s establish what a daybed is – disappointing to some, as the name suggests, it’s not purely a standard bed you spend the whole day in! A day bed is a specific design of bed, offering similar benefits to a sofa bed, namely that it is multi-functional. A daybed has a much more structured design than a sofa bed, they have head and foot ends, just like a bed, they also have one long side creating a “sofa” like structure. The other discerning difference from a sofa bed is that a day bed requires a mattress, again just like a bed, I will be covering the best mattresses for daybeds further down. Due to their 3-sided design they can be used as an occasional sofa during the day with the addition of some scatter cushions, then by night can be transformed into a bed.

How big are Day Beds?

Most day beds are sized the same as a standard single bed (twin size bed) making them larger than many single size sofa beds. A UK size single mattress is 90cm x 190cm, then you need to allow a little more for the frame, some daybeds require a European size mattress which is 90cm x 200cm. If you are looking for a double day bed, the clever design of the Pino Day Bed incorporates a pull out bed that extends into a double bed.

Pino Day Bed
Parisot Sleep Day Bed with Storage

What is the best mattress to use on a Day Bed?

The mattress you buy for your new day bed will largely depend on how it’s going to be used. If it’s purely going to be used as a guest bed, with occasional use then you could consider an entry level grade, such as this superior sprung mattress, they offer a good level of comfort at a very reasonable price. If the daybed is going to have regular use by guests or if it is going to be used as a regular bed, then I would recommend spending a little more on the mattress and upgrading to a luxury pocket sprung mattress. Take a look at Cuckooland’s Ultimate Mattress Guide for more in-depth advice. Please always check the dimensions of the day bed as this will determine the size of the mattress required (either a UK single or EU single).

Is a Day Bed suitable for everyday use?

As we’ve already learned, a day bed is essentially a single bed with 3 sides, therefore they are perfectly fine to use as a regular bed and in fact make a great choice for a children’s or teen’s bedroom. If your growing kids are anything like mine, they prefer their own space to hanging out with us oldies. A daybed gives them both a bed and sofa all in one! Perfect! With some very cool designs available, there is sure to be one that your discerning young person will approve of, in fact Cuckooland’s unique tipi daybed was recently featured in the Independent Best Day Beds. As I mentioned above, if you are planning to use a daybed as a regular bed then it is important to buy a mattress that offers a good level of support and comfort.

Where can I find a Day Bed with storage?

Daybeds with storage are brilliant as you not only have somewhere comfortable to sleep, there’s space to stow away belongings! Whether it’s for a guest room or kids room you can