What a luxury it was to move into my new Melbourne home recently and have a spare room big enough to use as an office and guest bedroom. With most of our friends and family in Sydney, we’re expecting a few interstate visitors from here on in, so making this zone function and look good was imperative. Keep scrolling to read my IKEA sofa bed review.

Updated: See 6 more sofa bed designs here – all for under $1000!

I gave the office component of this space a makeover recently, so the bedding aspect was all that remained to make the room feel complete.

I’d been on the hunt for a sofa bed the last few weeks. Truth: as soon as we got approved for this place I began looking for furniture to fill it with. That’s what occupies my mind most of the time, actually; thinking about what decor I can buy, where it can go, and what pieces in my home it’ll work with. That’s what a decorating addict does and I won’t apologise for it! I searched high and low for a decent IKEA sofa bed review, couldn’t find it, so decided to turn my own thoughts into one!

The biggest issue I faced on the search for the idea sofa bed was coming across a whooole lotta ugly. And I mean ugly. I think you’ve seen the types I’m talking about; puffy arms, chunky cushions, thick bases that go all the way to the floor. It felt like nobody had invented a new sofa bed since 1992, and I really didn’t want that typical two-seater that folds out with all the springs and steel.

The IKEA Friheten Sofa Bed

A friend of mine actually purchased the Friheten Sofa Bed for his living room. This was when I was living in Sydney a few months back and I was really impressed with how it looked. So it was always a frontrunner unless something better caught my attention. Clearly nothing did, because I purchased it this weekend just gone (and no, IKEA did not give me the sofa. Trust me, I asked and they declined lol).

I went into Richmond IKEA when the doors opened at 10am, purchased it, organised delivery and was back home within half and hour. The sofa bed got delivered the next day and my partner Gavin and I put it up a LOT quicker than some of the other IKEA furniture we’ve purchased in the past. And there were no arguments – bonus!

What’s good about the IKEA Friheten Sofa

• It comes in a variety of colours – five to be exact – and the fabric is pretty soft
• It folds out easily – not in the traditional sofa bed style (you’ll see what I mean in the pictures)
• There’s no creaky metal bits and pieces like in sofa beds of the past
• The chaise can go on either end of the sofa (so it’s versatile if you move house)
• The chaise lifts up so you can store bedding or anything else inside
• One end features no arm, which means it works well in small spaces (your eye glides over it)

What’s bad about the IKEA Friheten Sofa

• You might find the three large boxes the sofa comes in hard to transport
• You won’t fit the boxes in a standard hatchback car, so delivery or a ute is your friend
• The boxes are heavy and you’ll need two people to put the sofa together
• It’s not going to win awards for the comfiest night sleep. It’s firm. But it’s fine for a few nights

The Verdict

If you want something that’s suitable for a few nights of rest, or to sit on during the day (which I do when I need a break from the computer) the Friheten is ideal. Your guests aren’t going to declare they’ve had the coziest of sleeps on it by any means, but if you put a mattress protector on top to thicken the base of the bed I think it’ll work a treat. I give it an 8/10.

>>> The IKEA Friheten Sofa retails for $699 for the three seater, or $849 with the chaise. Click here to discover more.

Have you encountered an awesome sofa bed or do you own this one? What did you think of our Ikea sofa bed review? Drop me a comment below and share your thoughts with me and other TLC readers! 🙂