I have a confession. When we bought our cramped Victorian terrace, the third bedroom was a cupboard-sized afterthought, barely big enough for a single cot and a laundry basket. Then we had two kids. Then the grandparents decided they wanted to visit from the coast twice a year. Suddenly my tidy living room had to transform from a Lego minefield into a proper sleeping space for two adults every few months. The sofa we owned was a hand-me-down beige monstrosity with no give in the cushions. Sleeping on it meant waking up with a neck that felt like a rusty hinge. I knew we needed something smarter, something that could flex between afternoon story time and midnight snoozing without requiring a degree in mechanical engineering. This is how I fell down the rabbit hole of multifunctional furniture for a family home with kids.

The first mistake I made was buying a cheap click-clack mechanism sofa from a big box store.