It's November, which means that my festive diary is starting to get booked up, and Christmas hosting plans are beginning to get finalised.
And *that* means that my mind is starting to mull over how I can make my Christmas guests more comfortable this hosting season. In particular, how I can make my sofa bed more comfortable for the friends and family who will soon be spending a few nights on it.
Luckily, IKEA has just launched a new £29 buy that I think will help me do just that. And if you also own a sofa bed, chair bed, or even a guest bed that could use a little extra comfort, I think IKEA's KOMPISHÄNG is well worth having on your radar, too.
It may not look like much at first glance, but I think this £29 IKEA buy is exactly what my sofa bed's been missing.
As the owner of a small home, I don't have a dedicated guest bedroom for festive visitors, but I do own the Swyft Model 08 Chair Bed (to my mind, one of the best chair beds on the market) that has done a great job of putting up the occasional guest.
However, like many of the best sofa beds and chair beds, the one thing my chair bed lacks is any kind of headboard that guests can lean back on when it's in bed form.
Yes, they can lean against the wall behind the sofa bed, of course, but that isn't exactly comfortable, and it means that my guests' sleeping space lacks some of the home comforts I'd like to be able to provide.
And that's where IKEA's KOMPISHÄNG Back Cushion comes in. Now, admittedly, this £29 buy may not look like much at first glance. However, add this clever back cushion to a sofa bed, and you have an instant backrest that guests can lean on to sit up in bed and lounge comfortably.
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If you have a guest bed without a headboard, this is also a great, affordable solution for adding to a standard bed (including your own if your master bedroom is headboard-less).
The KOMPISHÄNG has only just launched in the UK, but it's already amassed a host of 5-star reviews from IKEA shoppers in other countries, with one happy owner saying they 'bought two of these at launch and love them! Great neutral colour and love how adaptable this is from the sofa to the floor for any of your needs. Zero regrets.'
Now this isn't the only comfort-improving extra I'm adding to my sofa bed, on my wishlist are also a mattress topper, chair risers, and some handy storage to stash guest bedding during the day when it's not in use.
However, I do think that for £29 this IKEA buy is going to make a big difference to my overnight guests comfort levels, and seeing as my own headboard is wooden and not that comfortable, it's something I can use on my own bed to sit up and read once my guests have gone home!
More tricks I'm using to make my sofa bed more comfortable
Investing in one of the best mattress toppers your budget can strech to is a surefire way to increase a sofa bed's comfort levels. I usually recommend this Panda option because it comes in a wide range of sizes that are more likely to fit a sofa bed's non-standard-sized sleep surface.
If your sofa bed ends up being very low to the ground when it's transformed into a bed then (as long as your sofa bed has legs) these bed risers can help to lift up the sleep surface up to a more comfortable height. That can make it a lot more comfortable for guests to get in and out of bed.
Habitat has a great range of storage ottomans this year, and I'll be snapping one up to stash guest bedding in. It's somewhere to store bedding away during the day whilst guests are staying, but it can also be used to hide extra guest bedding when the sofa bed isn't in hosting mode.