The sofa bed earned its bad reputation honestly, with thin mattresses, a bar across your back and cushions that never sat right. What changed is that makers started designing the sofa first and the bed second. Slipcovered sleepers are the easiest way in, because the relaxed cover hides the mechanism and reads as a regular living room sofa. Our Boat House's Majorca and Maui Deluxe sleepers each come with two mattress options, and the Maui adds lumbar pillows to its deep seat cushions. Lulu and Georgia's Fielder pairs performance upholstery and curved slope arms with a concealed pullout.

Interior Define builds its sleepers to order, which means you choose the fabric and the sofa arrives in roughly eight to fourteen weeks. The James offers more than 110 fabrics and a pull-out queen mattress, so it can match almost any room. The Sloan has a track arm and a queen mattress topped with memory foam, which is the detail that separates a real guest bed from a punishment. The Ella has a curved bench cushion, and the Lee is offered in performance velvet. If you want a sleeper that looks custom, this is the place to start.

If slipcovers feel too casual, a tailored sleeper keeps the living room looking grown-up. Jonathan Adler's Lampert Sleeper has a high tuxedo back and bolsters, and the Sunset Sleeper softens a streamlined form with rounded corners. Lulu and Georgia's Leodore uses clean contours and knife-edge cushions to hide its pull-out bed, the Landry converts to a queen-size bed, and the Lotte and Daniston bring two more clean-lined silhouettes from the same house. Castlery's Hamilton is a three-seater that hides its pull-out, and Burrow's Shift is the compact one for a smaller room. These are the ones to choose for a living room that doubles as a guest room only a few nights a year. Pick the fabric for the people who sit there every day, not the guests who sleep there twice a year.

Sleeper sectionals solve the small-apartment problem of needing a big sofa and a guest bed in one footprint. Lulu and Georgia's Engen has a chaise that lifts for hidden storage and a pull-out that makes a short queen bed. The Leodore Modular Sleeper Sectional brings the same knife-edge look to a larger layout. The Niven has loose back cushions and tapered legs, and Ginny Macdonald's Coniston for Lulu and Georgia is upholstered in linen with sloping arms. Interior Define's Sloan, James, Scarlett and Skylar come as chaise, bumper and corner sectionals, so you can pick the shape that fits the wall. Castlery's Hamilton Chaise and Burrow's Span with its reversible storage chaise are the two to compare if you want the sleeper and the storage in one piece. Measure the open bed length as well as the sofa, since a pull-out needs clear floor in front of it.

The best sleeper is the one that works as a sofa almost every night of the year, because that is how you will actually use it. Sit on it before you worry about the mattress, and check whether the seat depth suits the people in your home. A memory-foam topper, like the one on Interior Define's Sloan, makes a real difference to guests. Measure your room with the bed fully open, including space to walk around it. A beautiful sleeper that blocks the door is still the wrong one. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together RH Cloud Couch Dupe and Cloud Couch.