The best sofa bed is the one nobody notices is a sofa bed. In a soft weave or a chenille that matches the rest of the room, these look like sofas and sleep like beds.

Fabric is the natural cover for a sofa bed. It is soft against bedding, forgiving of the folding and unfolding, warm on a winter night and available in the colours and textures that let the bed disappear into the room as a sofa. If the sofa bed is going into a living room rather than a spare room, fabric also lets it match the rest of the suite.

Every fabric sofa bed here uses a proper mattress, sprung or high-density foam, on a pull-out or fold-out mechanism, rather than seat cushions laid on a frame, and every mechanism opens in one movement without the sofa being pulled from the wall. Two seater fabric sofa beds open to a small double and suit box rooms, studies and flats; three seaters open to a standard double; corner sofa beds give a family sofa by day and a double by night, usually with storage in the chaise.

VIDA Living's Koda is a popular two seater from stock, our Exclusive range adds more in-stock styles in several colours, and a number of made-to-order British collections include a sofa bed so the whole suite can share a cover. If the bed will be slept on most nights rather than for the odd weekend, choose the sprung-mattress pull-outs; the click-clack designs are firmer and suit occasional guests. We state the mattress type on each product.

Choose a tight weave or a high rub-count chenille if the bed will be opened often, because the seat fabric takes the strain of the mechanism. Measure the room with the bed open, not just the sofa closed: a three seater sofa bed needs about 220cm of clear floor when extended, and both sets of dimensions are on the product page. Free fabric swatches are available on every sofa bed, the mechanisms are on the floor at our Rotherham showroom to try, UK mainland delivery is free with our own two-person team, and Klarna is available at checkout.