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Summary: We have been on the lookout for a sofa bed that would not only fit in my small home office, but could easily convert back and forth without fuss, and still be comfortable and supportive enough for our parents to sleep on. I was beginning to think the product simply didn’t exist, until we found the Wanda Sofa Bed from Koala. Not only does it check all the boxes, but it also comes with a Koala Kloudcell™ topper and built-in storage to keep it. It’s only been a few weeks, but when it’s true love, you just know. 

What I love:

  • The Wanda Sofa Bed is an absolute dream to assemble, with very few parts and no tools needed. 
  • The sofa has a reversible chaise, and switching the sides up is easy peasy! 
  • Also easy? Flipping between bed and couch form. It takes less than 5 minutes!
  • The bed is a true queen size, and the couch comes with a Kloudcell topper and two seam wedges to make the surface truly smooth for sleep. 

Things to keep in mind:  

  • The Wanda Sofa Bed comes in four packages, ranging from 47 lbs to 104 lbs. In other words, she’s substantial! The boxes are also large, so while assembly is extremely easy, you do need some space for breaking down an absolute mountain of cardboard.
  • If you are especially strong, you could assemble this piece by yourself, but I recommend having an extra set of hands for sliding the arm and back pieces exactly into place. 

We live in a three-bedroom house with our daughter, three animals, and a lot (a LOT) of stuff. We are all hobbyists and collectors, so every room is packed to the brim with stuff we use, love, or might need one day. We keep everything — broken dishes, baby clothes, grocery lists, party favors, old tech — stuff that we could repair or reuse or simply imagine possibly needing in some very specific scenario that has yet to come. 

This habit of my family’s is the reason I spent more than a year with a ten-year old mattress propped up against the wall behind my desk in my home office. 

But before we met the Wanda, we actually had another sofa bed from Koala. Being able to compare and contrast the two models makes me feel something of a sofa bed expert now! Read on for the full scoop on the Koala sofa beds.

Our first Koala

My office has always doubled as the guest room. For many years, we had an old IKEA frame and mattress that we kept in there, but at some point two years ago I decided that it didn’t make sense to have a whole bed in my space all the time. I use my office as a work and yoga space 99% of the time — why am I giving up a full bed’s worth of space just for that aspirational 1% of use?

“I use my office as a work and yoga space 99% of the time — why am I giving up a full bed’s worth of space just for that aspirational 1% of use?”

We decided it made sense to find a sofa bed. We took the bedframe apart and stored it (obviously) in the garage. In the middle of breaking it down, we put the mattress in my daughter’s room, under her loft bed. She was absolutely delighted, and begged for us to let her sleep on it for a little while. We shrugged. It was easier than hauling it out to the garage. 

I started scouring the internet for sustainable sofa beds that would fit the dimensions of my office and still fold out into a queen size that would be comfy enough for any of our friends, or even our parents to stay. I couldn’t really find anything that fit our budget, which was very tight at the time. But when I came across the Koala Sofa Bed on a holiday sale, I decided to give it a try. 

The Sofa Bed was easy to put together, and it was extremely easy to fold it out and then back up between modes. The bed surface was directly on the ground, however, and this made it hard to imagine our parents (or any grown person) being able to comfortably sleep on it. So when my best friend of 30 years came to visit, I stole back the old full-sized mattress that my daughter had been using mostly as a trampoline and set it on top. It worked perfectly! In fact, with a mattress on the folded out sofa, the Sofa Bed looked like a really beautiful upholstered frame. 

It’s listed as a 70” queen, and it fits both a double and a queen-sized mattress. As a sofa, it feels quite petite. I’d also purchased the ottoman, which has storage inside, but it’s weirdly top-heavy and not very easy to maneuver. Still, for more than a year, the Sofa Bed met our needs as both an office couch and a guest bed — as long as we kept a spare mattress around. 

“For more than a year, the Sofa Bed met our needs as both an office couch and a guest bed — as long as we kept a spare mattress around.”

Which we did! Until my husband and I had the opportunity to review a My Green Mattress and we suddenly had to make a decision about what to do with not one but two unused mattresses.

Full disclosure: I had to decompress the My Green Mattress in my guest room, and once we’d slept on it with our Sofa Bed-cum-upholstered frame, I couldn’t go back to the knee-bashing hard-edged wood frame we’d been using for years. So we lived with our abundance of mattresses until the opportunity to test the Wanda Sofa Bed came up, and we suddenly had a deadline to get these extra mattresses out of our house and make space for this new Koala product for my office. 

(In case you’re wondering, we ended up donating both of our old mattresses and frames to a domestic violence service that was in the process of furnishing a new home for a survivor, and I highly recommend searching your local services for something like it if you find yourself rehoming your own furniture. It feels so much better than dumping it on the curb!)

The takeaway? I think the Koala Sofa Bed would actually be the perfect addition to a playroom — and we’re still really loving it as a bed frame!

The Wanda Sofa Bed: a masterclass in style and substance

The Wanda Sofa Bed requires some thoughtful coordination for delivery — she’s a substantial, sturdy girl, at over 300 lbs, arriving in four enormous packages. A local delivery service called to set up a time for two movers to bring the boxes to the room where she would be assembled. This felt like less of a perk than a necessity — if the Wanda had been left on my porch, I’m afraid she would have stayed there. A porch sofa bed is a thing, right?

“The Wanda Sofa Bed requires some thoughtful coordination for delivery — she’s a substantial, sturdy girl, at over 300 lbs, arriving in four enormous packages.”

Two professional movers arrived right on time, giving me a 5-minute courtesy call so I could secure all my pets out of the way and start to clear their path. It took a good half hour for the two large, experienced men to maneuver the four huge and heavy boxes up our curved staircase (they had to take many breaks on the landing) and through our narrow hallway into my office. (FYI, they take a photo after delivery as proof of service completed.) Don’t forget the cash to tip these guys for their service — it’s hard work delivering this queen!

I spent two days regarding the boxes in my office, trying to figure out how best to proceed. They are just so big, and I couldn’t imagine how I was going to be able to unbox everything and still have room to assemble. I was certain I’d need my husband’s help, and between my very inquisitive daughter and velcro pets, I couldn’t imagine how this was going to go without basically bringing in the entire family circus — which would make the entire process impossible. 

Three large Koala-branded cardboard boxes are placed on the floor of a home office with wooden floors, plants, and framed certificates on the wall.
A woman sits and smiles on large cardboard boxes labeled "Backrests & Fittings" in a living room with wooden floors, houseplants, and a lamp in the background.
I was intimidated by the four large and heavy boxes the Wanda arrived in, but unboxing is the hardest part of assembly!

The video instructions on their website finally gave me the confidence to go for it one evening. I hired a babysitter, and gave the dogs juicy chew bones, sent my husband out for Indian takeaway and then sequestered myself in my office with a motivational playlist and a box cutter. 

Hands down, the most arduous and painstaking process of the entire setup is unboxing. Boxes this large are just awkward and unwieldy, even if they aren’t heavy. But these babies are both: 

Box 1 – Seat
Dimensions: W47 × D47 × H47in
Boxed weight: 47lb

Box 2 – Chaise & Backrest Cushions
Dimensions: W67 × D36 × H17in
Boxed weight: 104lb

Box 3 – Armrests
Dimensions: W40 × D26 × H20in
Boxed weight: 93lb

Box 4 – Backrests, Topper & Fittings
Dimensions: W47 × D40 × H11in
Boxed weight: 73lb

A person wearing headphones sits smiling inside a large cardboard box, with one leg propped against the side and their back against the wall.
I am 5’2″ and I could easily sit in all four boxes!

The cardboard is the good quality, thick stuff that seems almost more like plywood than cardboard. And so, because I am of the saving-sort, and because I came of age as a mom during Covid, I kept all of this good cardboard for future crafts. It felt like a reward for getting rid of the mattresses and frames — and since the space they’d left behind was just enough room for all this new craft material, it felt like a win-win. (It’s only a problem if you say it’s a problem!!)

A partially unpacked metal desk frame sits on cardboard and plastic wrap in a room with plants and boxes nearby.
A light gray cushioned ottoman with a black metal frame sits partially assembled on a wooden floor, surrounded by cardboard packaging and plastic wrapping.
The pieces come basically assembled, with clear and easy instructions to simply lock them into place.

At this point, I took a break for an Indian feast on the floor. The sofa is pretty much assembled, so all I had to do was put the legs on, then connect all the pieces into the configuration I wanted. It took less than ten minutes, though it was a bit of a workout — I was able to do everything on my own except for sliding the final arm onto the sofa side. It’s just wide enough and heavy enough to miss one of the connection points if you aren’t able to get it completely aligned, so I recommend an extra set of hands here. 

An open box with metal parts, wooden knobs, gray plastic pieces, and an instruction manual with assembly diagrams are laid out on a gray couch.
A light gray upholstered couch turned on its side, exposing black fabric on the underside and wooden legs, on a hardwood floor.
The legs are the only part that seemed remotely “tool” adjacent. They have soft bottoms, which protect your floors, and I appreciated this detail!

I was instantly impressed by her. I’d ordered the color “Morning Fog,” which is a timeless and beautiful dove grey. She is soft but quite sturdy, and even without putting the rugs back down yet and letting her hang out on the hardwood (I know I’m choosing the harder way to do this but that is for a future version of myself to deal with), my dogs and child can throw themselves onto her seats without any slipping or sliding around. In a house where we are hard on our furniture, this is a real plus! 

A beige dog sits on a light gray sectional sofa with a green blanket in a living room with wood floors, plants, and a bookshelf.
My dog Theo, making sure I know that we have to share this couch.

The Wanda is made of sustainable, thoughtful materials, too. The frame lining and upholstery fabric is 100% recycled polyester. The frame is made of steel, FSC® certified MDF, LVL, and CertiPUR-US® certified polyurethane foam. The topper (we’ll get to that!) is made of 100% polyester ticking fabric with Kloudcell™ top and polyurethane foam.

“The brand is also a certified B Corporation and a member of 1% for the Planet, through which they have donated over $6 million to environmental causes to date.”

The brand is also a certified B Corporation and a member of 1% for the Planet, through which they have donated over $6 million to environmental causes to date. And you’ll never guess the other big cause they support — koala conservation! Through a partnership with WWF, they’ve donated over $4 million in efforts to double koala numbers across eastern Australia by 2050.

So we love Koala’s ethics, we love the Wanda as a sofa — how does she rate as a guest bed?

Reader, I won’t beat around the bush (lol, sorry Aussies, had to!): the Wanda might be perfect?

“She flips into a bed in less than five minutes, and she’s a true 99” queen.”

She flips into a bed in less than five minutes, and she’s a true 99” queen. Everything you need to make her into a proper guest bed comes with the purchase (minus the linens!). The Kloudcell™ topper is cushy and soft, and the two foam wedges fit into the sofa and chaise creases so that the bed surface is perfectly smooth and flat. The best part? They live right there in the Wanda — the chaise opens up to a generous storage space with enough room to also keep the guest bedding and even a few pillows.

When I flip her into a bed, I swap out the bedding for the back cushions in the chaise, and boom! The guest room is ready, no weird parts and pieces without homes hanging around.

A woman and a dog stand by a light gray sectional sofa with the storage compartment open and cushions removed in a living room.
A light gray sectional sofa with an open storage compartment containing cushions; two long fabric-covered pieces sit on the adjacent seat.
The chaise stores the mattress topper and the cushions to fill out the sofa creases, and they easily store the back rest pillows … and a curious pup too!

Some tips: The instructions in the original setup didn’t tell me to cut the zip ties around the steel frame in the sofa seat, so like a good little monkey unaccustomed to using a critical thinking brain, I didn’t. This meant that when it was time to slide the seat into the bed, I tugged and tugged at it, also like a mindless little monkey, before realizing what was wrong. I had to wedge an X-acto knife underneath the sofa to sever the zip ties, and I’m not sure it is a move I’d necessarily recommend trying yourself. 

Converting the sofa into a couch is unbelievably easy: Take off the back cushions, pull out the sliding piece beneath the couch seat until it’s in line with the edge of the chaise, and then grab the two handy dandy loop handles to pull the rest of the seat up to lock into place next to the seat and chaise. It requires no strength or force or thought at all, just slide, pull, pop. Done!

“Converting the sofa into a couch is unbelievably easy.”

Open the chaise, pull out the topper and the wedge smoothing pieces. Put the back rest cushions in the chaise storage, and close ‘er up. Then fit the wedges into their respective cushion seams, and put the topper on as you would a fitted sheet. Done and done! 

A woman kneels next to a light gray sofa, lifting the storage compartment under the seat, while a small white and brown dog sits on the sofa.
A woman makes a gray pull-out sofa bed while a small white dog with brown spots sits on it in a living room.
Pulling out the seat cushion into a bed is made even easier with fabric handle loops. The foam wedges are a brilliant, simple way to create a smooth sleep surface.

Because the bed is aligned with the head or foot side being the length of the chaise, the bed doesn’t feel like it takes up an enormous amount of room once it’s set up. This is the thing that makes it tricky when the sofa beds unfold the other way — with the head or foot being the length of the couch. It means that the longer sides are tucked away. So if you’re in a smaller space, like my office, everything can feel really squished in bed form.

But whether I have the Wanda in bed or couch form, her footprint stays essentially the same. In other words: She’s not a regular sofa bed, she’s a cool sofa bed. 

A person stands next to a pull-out sofa bed, lifting the mattress cover in a neatly arranged room with framed art and certificates on the wall.
A hand holding a mattress.
The Kloudcell mattress topper is included in the sofa bed purchase, and it is soft, cushy, and very supportive.

Not to mention the sleeping surface, which is shockingly comfortable! As someone with a relatively new high-end mattress, I thought the Wanda bed surface would feel just okay — not something I’d want to sleep on regularly, but for a few nights as a guest, it would do. Not so! I ended up sleeping on the bed for almost a week when my husband was sick recently, and I slept like a dream.

It’s somewhere between medium and firm, with enough give in the topper to make side sleepers like me feel supported but comfortable. And that’s basically where Wanda shines: Whether sitting, napping, or sleeping through the night, all of her configurations are designed to be easy to set up and even easier to enjoy. 

“Whether sitting, napping, or sleeping through the night, all of her configurations are designed to be easy to set up and even easier to enjoy.”

The ultimate test is whether or not we could feel good about putting our nearly 70-year-old parents on the Wanda Sofa Bed if they were coming to stay. Because it’s a true queen size, with an elevated sleep surface comparable to a mattress on a bed frame (without a box spring), plus its supportive surface makes it a true winner. And we think our parents would agree!

A person lounges on a light gray sectional sofa in a living room with wooden floors, wall art, framed certificates, books, and plants.
A woman sits on the edge of a large, light gray sofa bed with a mattress topper in a tidy room decorated with framed art and books.
Is she the perfect sofa, or the perfect guest bed? Can she be both? (Yes, I think we can agree she can!)

Final thoughts

The Wanda Sofa Bed is a true dream piece of furniture, excellent as both a couch and a bed. It’s sturdy yet comfortable, with just enough structural support to make it my favorite place to work or nap throughout the day. Its footprint makes it the perfect fit for this multi-use space that needs to be both office and guest room, and the easy assembly and thoughtful storage make it ideal for anyone looking for a good convertible sofa and guest bed piece. In addition to function, she’s also got style! She looks like a “grown-up” sofa, and she’s clearly a high quality, well-made piece that is meant to last. 

“Whether you want a daybed, a couch, a reversible chaise, or a queen-sized bed, she’s going to deliver 5 stars on all fronts.”

She is not cheap, but for everything she’s offering, I wouldn’t say she’s prohibitively expensive either. For $3,295, you get a 4-in-1 piece of furniture that is cute, comfortable, and as beautiful as she is functional. Whether you want a daybed, a couch, a reversible chaise, or a queen-sized bed, she’s going to deliver 5 stars on all fronts. 

She comes in four colorways, with a 5-year warranty, and a 120-day return window. Plus, Koala offers financing options that make her more budget-friendly if you need her fast. Shipping in 2-4 business days from your order, she won’t make you wait. 

All in all, I thought finding the sofa bed that would check all my boxes was a pie in the sky fantasy, until I met Koala’s Wanda Sofa Bed. So count me among the satisfied customers giving rave reviews on the brand’s site: 10/10, 100% would recommend.

Stephanie H. Fallon is a Contributing Editor at The Good Trade. She is a writer originally from Houston, Texas and holds an MFA from the Jackson Center of Creative Writing at Hollins University. She lives with her family in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, and she is the author of Finishing Lines, where she writes about her fear of finishing, living a creative life, and (medical) motherhood. Since 2022, she has been reviewing sustainable home and lifestyle brands, fact-checking sustainability claims, and bringing her sharp editorial skills to every product review. Say hi on Instagram or on her website.