When I had a studio, I, too, had a convertible sofa. But I rarely, if ever, used it as a sofa. Honestly, it was just too much work in the morning to convert the bed back to a sofa.

I think that if you have the $, the ideal situation is simply a separate sofa or loveseat and a murphy bed situation.

Exactly the reason why my boyfriend won't let me get a convertible sofa bed for our apartment. He thinks I'll always keep it as a bed. Which is probably true.

We have a convertible sofa in our office, and we regularly have guests sleep there. We always turn it back into a sofa after they leave, so it gets used both ways. Same goes for my dining table, which is an antique with leaves that extends from a two-person table to seating for 4-10 for dinner parties. I keep it in my kitchen nook as a breakfast table and pull it out every couple weeks, minimum.

That said, if I used my convertible sofa as my own bed, it would probably remain in bed position.

My issue is that convertable furniture tends to be expensive. I do understand the extra engineering and materials involved, but I end up staring at the pieces and lusting after them but then buying something else.

I did, however, have a sleeper sofa in the living room of my old one bedroom apartment. It was a horrible thing, bought cheap, and I used it for company until I discovered inflatable mattresses.

Some things don't have to be used all the time for their convertible-ness to be useful and worthwhile. so what if you only get the full dining table out on holidays? It's still something there that you need. Equally with sofa beds - the fact you rarely use the bed bit is by the by, because the whole point is you don't need a spare bed quite enough to have a dedicated spare bed.
I think convertible furniture should always have one key purpose and be good at it, and you should buy it for the key purpose first and foremost

I have one of those in my library at home and it has already been used a lot by guests

I have a sofa-bed that we got from Ikea in our office/guest room and it really is a lifesaver when we have guests. But we alwas put it back after they're gone since the room is just too small to keep it that way!

I also love our extendable dining table--we only extend it for Thanksgiving but that to me is worth it enough.

My husband and I live in a small studio in New York. We have a convertible sofa that we sleep on every night. During the day we do put the bed away so that we actually have somewhere to sit.

It doesn't take too long and if we don't do it the bed takes up most of our space. When we convert it back to a sofa we have a normal living room and a much nicer place to live during the day.

Ikea convertible sofa in my spare bedroom / bike room. It gets used by guests, and then put back into sofa mode. In sofa mode it usually only holds my bag of bike stuff. Nobody ever just sits on it. A regular bed would take up too much room.

I want to marry that One Night Stand sofa from Blu Dot. I love it that much!

This has been my argument all along, especially for the artful but contrived multi-use options often showing up here. They are intellectually cool but rarely practical.

I had VERY tiny furnished studio apartments twice in my life with sofa beds. I DID put them into sofa position every day and pull them out every night. (One of them ate my sheets -- big holes when they got caught in the mechanism -- I might fold them up, but I didn't strip them every day!)

Now I have a sleep sofa from IKEA in our family room. We do sit on it often, and we do unfold it when we have enough guests to use it as an extra bed. Also, we have a leaf for out table (a pretty minimal "convertible" use, I admit) which we rarely need, but which is available.

Rather than Convertible furnishings, it makes sense to me to have "multitasking" furniture. A Parsons table (maybe with a glass topper) can be a desk, dining table, spare kitchen counter space, a TV stand, etc. depending on your needs of the moment. Adding castors makes it movable and even more versitile.

While I was a grad student, I lived in a studio apartment and used a futon as both couch and bed. I kept the linens to a minimum so that it wasn't too much of a hassle to set up and break down. Just the fitted sheet, two pillows (one for cat!) and a duvet with washable cover.

It did not always get put back up every single day, but it spent about as much time as a couch as it did a bed. I definitely used it to the max.

Now we have a $25 garage-sale sleeper sofa that gets used all the time. We live in 850 square feet near downtown, and after a night out friends will sometimes stay over. It's also great for houseguests, and it's amazingly comfortable. I think the eggcrate on top of the mattress helps quite a bit.

I have a daybed that my parents bought in Denmark around 1970. I looks like a sofa, but converts into a bed or back to a sofa in about 10 seconds. I slept on it for several years, and I still use it as a guest bed. It's been reupholstered 3 times and I've replaced the mattress. I love that day bed.

I have a gateleg kitchen table that is always extended to its biggest most open position. Kind of defeats the purpose.

I'm setting up a studio apartment now and have a futon and a table with fold-down leaves. The table leaves get folded out with some regularity but the futon does not--its too heavy for me to convert into a sofa by myself. I'd say get convertible furniture if you want but be sure you can switch it between modes on your own.

I lived on a futon for years, the room was so tiny that I had no choice but to fold it up into sofa position during the day. I loved it, kinda miss that stupid thing...

I have a futon in my tiny studio apartment, but I rarely use it in the bed position. It's as if I've been sleeping on a sofa for a couple of years. Kind of sad, really.

I had futons for years and then my mom bought me a real bed when I was in college. I still have that bed and I still hate it. Call me crazy, I just prefer a futon. They're so much more comfortable. But I never folded it up, either. My husband and I are planning to buy two of these futons for our living room to replace the couches. They *will* stay folded up until company comes over to stay the night.

I'd rather buy a good looking non-convertible sof and have friends sleep on it lengthwise than sacrifice looks and buy a convertible that would get folded out once a year.

My rule is to buy for myself first and if I can accomodate guests, great, but I'm not going to compromise of them. That said, my couch is really comfortable and I'll even sleep on it if someone wants to use my bed.

We actually have this exact BluDot couch (same color too!) and we use it all the time as a guest bed in our second bedroom/office. It's cute enough for us to live with as a couch, and just uncomfortable enough as a bed so our guests don't stay too long...

I have a table that can expand to twice it's size. I use the table in it's regular size for dining and expanded size for school/art work.

It's fantastic

When I moved into my studio, I agonized between buying a bed or a convertible sofa/bed. I have not regretted my choice of the bed yet. I do much less entertaining here than I imagined and love waking up in a real, comfortable bed. THe close friends that I do invite over don't mind sitting on the bed to watch a movie :)

My parents had a sofa bed in the family room. Every night after dinner, we'd pull out the bed and all five of us pile in to watch television.

Until recently, I would move my coffee table and roll out a memory foam mattress top after dinner to watch television with my two sons.

I remember both periods fondly and if my sons had their way, the living room furniture would be replaced by a wall to wall mattress.