Guest Beds with a Spare Bedroom

If you have a spare bedroom, there are some very clever designs for guest beds to accommodate multiple person sleeping situations. Chances are you want some extra floor space in the spare room for times when you do not have guests over, so ideally you could have a single bed, however this is often not enough sleeping spaces. That is where a bed like the Kozee Sleep Supremo comes in. It has an extra single mattress that stores under the bed and can be brought up to make a double bed bed. This is a great option if you have a couple that wants to sleep together. It is also convertible to two single beds for convenience.

There are also many similar styles of beds that have an additional single bed that either rolls or slides out from under the other bed, called a “trundle bed” and sometimes “day bed”. However, many of them do not have a way to lift the lower mattress up higher. This is problematic if you want a couple to be able to share a bed. The other problem is that it is not great for elderly guests as getting up and down from a low bed might cause issues.

Guest Beds Without a Spare Room

There are a number of other available beds that can be set up directly in any room and folded up for storage after. There are metal frame “cots” which will fold up easily and can be stored in a closet or area in your basement. These are convenient because your guests remain elevated from the floor. Spring count can be pretty minimal since they need to be able to fold. The mattress area which is folded has a reduced spring count which unfortunately is the area which should have the most support for maximum comfort. Some higher quality models have an actual “crease” where two separate mattresses are joined together. This provide better comfort and is the ideal style.

A trifold style is designed to be laid out on the floor as well. These are generally more convenient to store and are a bit more supportive, since the creases are in two areas where little support is required. Again, one of the problems is the on floor design which is a problem for older guests.

There are also stowaway and fold out beds from chests. Essentially, a futon frame is folded up within the contents which can be unfolded when required. If you have some space in your living room or rumpus room, then this is a great alternative as you essentially end up with a full on futon bed when folded out.

Good Luck!

With most adults getting less than 7 hours of sleep per night, a good 6 or 7 hours would add great benefit. Unfortunately, there are too many people not getting good sleeps since their mattresses are garbage.

The primary problem really exists in the durability of the discount mattresses. In the short term, an expensive and cheap mattress seem quite similar. The major problem is how fast the discount mattresses tend to wear out. Most people only replace their beds once every ten years or more! A quality mattress should be replaced every ten years, but this is often unfortunately put off for 15 or more. With a cheap mattress, the bed could be shot in as little as 3 years leaving the sleep quality to constantly degrade causing back problems, restless sleeps, and ultimately a poorer quality of life.

But most people can’t afford the expensive mattresses on the market right now, which can run greater than $2000! However, there are ways to avoid paying a high premium and still end up with a quality bed.

These are your best solutions:

1. Get a Futon Bed – These beds are becoming exceptional with the new technology being infused into them every year. They are well priced, provide good back support (the quality futon mattresses) and can be found for $500 or less including components to modify your current bedframe (allowing the futon to breathe better).
2. Buy a bare bones, but quality discount mattress. Forget about the pillow top’s, memory foam toppers, or any of the bells and whistles. Find a mattress with a good (high) spring count. If you want the extra’s, you can always purchase mattress toppers later that will add the memory foam or other comforts. Try to stick with the 3 big name (Simmons, Serta, Sealy) manufacturers. Almost exclusively, there beds are superior.
3. Know how to barter with the sales persons. Mattress stores are absolutely insane with their mark-ups and notorious for making you feel like you are getting a “once in a lifetime deal”. You may be surprised how cheap you can actually get mattresses for (many times 40% or more off the sticker price). They will often guide you to the mattress they want you to buy so you must be very careful to not end up with the most marked up bed (but cheap quality). Never buy the mattress on the spot. Write down the make and model of the mattress and do some homework. Check reviews online (and prices!). They will give you the same (or better) deal no matter what they say to seal the deal immediately. They know that the chance of making the sale decreases substantially if they let you walk out the door. Look up the product and be patient. You’ll be surprised how much you can save by seeming really uncertain and uneasy about the price!

Ultimately, buying a bed should not be haphazardly chosen. Consider that you spend nearly one third of your life in bed. Spending 5-10 hours to select the best mattress that you are able to afford will be time exceptionally well spent.

Good luck finding a good sleep! Please leave a comment if you have any questions.

First of all, what the primary use of your futon?

1. Is it a futon sofa bed for your living room, or;
2. Is it a permanent futon bed in a bedroom.

This makes a big difference on what type of futon frame and mattress you will want to select.

Futon Frames

Futon Bed Frames

If it is a permanent bed, you can select almost any kind of regular bed frame you like. There is only the requirement of allowing the futon to breath. This means that the frame will need the ability to have wooden slat’s under the futon to provide support and allow breathing. You should not have the futon on a solid flat surface like a floor for long periods of time. Aside from that, any bed frame can be used.

Of course, there are specifically designed futon frames that can be used, but you should not feel limited to those.

Convertible Futon Frames

This is one of the dominant benefits of futons in that they are quite easily convertible between a sofa and a “hide-a-bed”. In bedrooms these can be used to provide additional space as well and are not limited to living rooms. In fact, spare bedrooms are a great candidate for these types of frames as well to allow for the room to be used as a sitting room when it is not being used by guests.

There are 2 groups of convertible frames:

1. Bi-Folds

Bi-Fold

These are fold in the middle designs and are typically easier to convert between the bed and the sofa configuration. These can look like regular sofa’s and come in a wide variety of designs for converting between the sofa configuration and bed configuration. Wood frames and metal frames are available however, wood frames tend to be a bit pricier. Most frames require you to move it away from the wall prior to folding it down, however, there are models called “wall huggers” which can fold down directly from the sitting position without sliding it out.

There are a few different conversion mechanisms.

1. Ratchet – This is controlled from the front of the futon which lets you push against a spring to fold between sitting, reclining and sleeping easily
2. Kicker – This is essentially a small wedge at the back of the futon from which lets you slide the sofa into a bed position with relative ease. A bit more work then the ratchet design.
3. Sliding Pivot – This is primarily used in the “wall hugger” designs which allow the sofa to sit directly against the wall and does not require moving the frame away from the wall during conversion. If you are planning to convert often, this mechanism would be worth the premium.

2. Tri-Folds

Tri-folds are one of the original designs. These require the frame to be folded twice in two places rather than one like the bi-folds. Many of these frames sit directly on the floor and can be really cheap if you are looking for a inexpensive solution. These designs allow for the beds to be larger since the futon is often folded onto itself. So the width of the couch can be the width of the bed rather then the length. There are similar mechanisms as listed above. However, the designs which sit directly on the floor often require the futon to be completely removed. These are not recommended if you plan to convert between a bed and sofa frequently.

Futon Mattresses

There are many different kinds of futon mattresses with varying factors. The cheapest mattresses is likely the lowest quality, however the opposite is not necessarily true. A good Cotton/Foam futon mattress can be relatively inexpensive and rival the most expensive models available.

There are essentially 5 types of futon mattresses:

1. 100 % Cotton Futon Mattress – This was the original design. Although extremely flexible it will certainly begin to sag in a short period of time and compresses the cotton making the be much more firm as time goes on. High levels of maintenance is required to keep it in good shape for regular sleeping. These are often a bit cheaper. It is only recommended to use this if it is not to be a frequently used bed. They are also very heavy and hard to move.
2. 

   Cotton/Foam Build-Up

   Cotton/Foam Futon Mattress - This is a better alternative than the 100% cotton mattress since it will resist sagging because of the foam. This is probably the most common futon mattress. It is quite economical but still adds additional life span and continued support with lower maintenance. There are several different combination’s and construction methods depending on foam location, density, type of foam (ex. Latex).

3. Cotton/Wool Futon Mattress – Wool is quite soft and allows for a softer mattress without the compaction over time and sag issue like the 100% cotton mattresses. It also has antimicrobial properties to avoid mold and moisture wicking characteristics which allow you to have a better sleep. This is a bit more expensive but might be worth it if you are sleeping on it regularly.
4. Cotton/Polyester Blend Futon Mattress – Like the 100% cotton, it has a greater tendency of sagging over time. However, it is considerable lighter and will last longer than a pure cotton futon.
5. 

   Inner Spring

   Innerspring Futon Mattress - There has been quite a bit of advancement in inner-coil technology into futons in recent years. Many of the big mattresses producers like Simmons, Sealy, and Serta are all making different versions of these trying to combine the best of both worlds of futons and spring mattresses. As a general rule, you will not be able to use the tri-fold design with any of these mattresses as they do not fold as well. They are quite a bit more expensive, but probably the most comfortable of all the futons.

Futon Covers

There are lots of different materials available for futon covers. Typical ones are cotton, corduroy, stain resistant, faux suede (usually made from polyester). You will want to ensure that whatever you buy is machine washable and has a strong stitch. Ripping of the covers can be quite common during moving of the futons since the cover is often what is used for leverage.

There are thousands of places to buy futon covers on the internet making it easy to match the decor of any room.

Additional Details

No matter what kind of futon you get, there will be some maintenance that you will need to do.

1. If it is a regular mattress that you sleep on nightly, the futon mattress should be flipped monthly to reduce the likelihood of sagging and compaction.
2. Periodically (once every year) hanging it somewhere and beating it like a rug will enliven the comfort and maintain freshness.
3. Try to allow the mattress to get as much open air as possible. This means taking the covers off completely for an afternoon to let any moisture dissipate. Each morning, leaving the covers off your sleeping spot will also help.
4. Use a futon cover to protect the mattress.
5. Protect the bed from moisture. If it does get wet, allow lots of air circulation with a fan to let it dry out.

Futon mattresses have a typical lifespan of about ten years if cared for properly. This is similar to coil mattresses. Most quality manufacturers will offer a warranty, however, it is a fight to claim the warranty just like the coil bed market. However, try to find a mattress with at least a year warranty which will protect you from primary defects. The mattress warranty is almost impossible to claim, but the frame should not have any problems.

Recommended Futon Bed and Mattresses

If you are feeling a bit over-whelmed, check out the following suggestions to help you with your search.

Recommended Sofa Bed assemblies:

The first one is a modern Bi-Fold that has a convenient storage space under the frame. This is perfect for blankets and pillows for making it up in a hurry. This is a perfect Futon sofa bed for a condo or as a space saver. It is for a pretty good price as well, listed for approximately $500.

Storage Sofa Bed

This is a simple futon set with Serta Mattress. It’s cheap (~$400), good quality and should last for a long while.

Serta Bi-Fold Cotton/Foam

Recommended Futon Mattresses:

This is a quality 8″ Loft Cotton/Foam Futon Mattress for ~$175. It has a double foam interior to reduce the time related sag.

Cotton Foam Mattress

This one is a Loft Pocketed 9″ coiled futon. Independent springs allow for the “do not disturb you partner” technology found in modern spring mattresses. This one retails for approximately $300.

9" Loft Coil Futon Mattress

Another exceptional design is this premium inner spring mattress.

Evolution Spring 2

Good luck and Happy Hunting!

First of all, most people who have futons use them for converting into a futon couch as well. It follows that you wouldn’t want to be folding up a king size since these things can be pretty heavy. The other main reason is that not many adults are using these right now.

14% of teenagers sleep on futons compared to only 4% of adults as their primary mattress. Although peculiar, the new fangled mattresses with the memory foam, pillow tops and new spring systems take a majority of the lime light. This is not to say that those may not be better mattresses, however, they also come with several times the prices tag.

Since kids beds tend to grow with the children, price becomes a factor in the 5 year upgrade of the kids beds. Teenagers also love the feature of turning there bed into a couch. In fact, my teenager went so far as to leave it in the futon chair position even while he slept at night! There is something in the teenage psyche that parents may never fully understand, but apparently it was “cool” and “no big deal”.

Convertible furniture, like futon furniture is particularly good for teenagers in this way because it allows them to modify their surroundings, effectively controlling their environment which is part of their natural development. I have always thought it might encourage more reading by him, but it seems as though this is to no avail.

Some say that size does not matter, but a teenager would beg to differ on whether a single or double futon is suffice. Bigger, is always better.

There are also studies that show bed type during the rapid physical growth of the teenage years is linked to back problems down the line. It seems that a firmer mattress with strong back support is more important than we originally thought!

So, how does a futon do in this regard? Well, it is actually extremely supportive. I slept on a futon for a number of years (before I was married) and really enjoyed it. I sometimes sleep on the futon chair downstairs when either my wife or I am sick, and sometimes I get to thinking I might want to get another one of those for our room. But then I lay on the glorious memory foam again and realize my foolish ways…

But as for my son? It was really only a question of whether he wanted the single or double futon. He can have all the plush tops he wants when he is ready to buy it on his own!