Futon or Sofa Bed?

[Luv2Roam]

We have a room we want tomake into a guest room.
We don't want a regular bed, as it will probably only be slept in 2 weeks out of the year.
I like the looks of a sofa bed more, due to having a sofa in the room. It will be a reading room mostly.
For a futon I can buy two drawers on casters that slide under. This feature would be good for guests to use, or store towels in for the second bathroom.
One of our visitors is 6'1". We would buy a queen futon and go with low arms, so length should not be a problem.

We had a sofa bed for years. The only downside is folding it up and down.
We had a nice sofa bed that had a steel flex band, rather than a bar that hit people's shoulders. We would not buy a sofa bed that is uncomfortable.

I would like some input from sofa bed and/or futon users.
We don't plan on buying the highest grade futon mattress. But a medium to higher quality.
Day beds are out. Neither of us want that.

Your thoughts?

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

I just tossed my old worn out sofa bed & got a futon. I'm really happy with it, but I did go with the spring mattress instead of the 8" one. It's just so much more comfortable.

I also have a sofa bed downstairs, and that bar in the middle seems to be a little uncomfortable for some of my guests.

 

[mommytotwo]

I've experienced both, and you can not compare a futon to a sofa bed. Yes the sofa bed can also be used as a sofa, but the futon doesn't have any hard areas that will bother your back. If we didn't have our bed and could put a futon in our room, I would do it.

 

[crz4mm2]

I HATED our futon. Bought a sofa sleeper. I have slept on it though, and it is quite uncomfortable. I would buy an airbed to have for guests. then get whatever seating you like.

 

[Meriweather]

DS had a futon.....fell apart after a year. Uncomfortable too, not enough support.
Ditto on DD's.....but she did have an expensive top of the line queen size one in one dorm room and that one seemed alright for the 9 months she used it.

We have a twin size sofa bed in our computer room. They now have moved the bar so it doesn't hit the back and everyone that has slept on it has thought it was very comfortable.

 

[Luv2Roam]

Something else I should add -- we have an air bed.
Our guests that will come the most often -- she is in her EARLY 70's. He -- late 60's. They are in good health. But I hate to have anyone with hip and back problems, etc crawling around in and out of an floor air bed.
So the air bed is nice for a back up. But I would prefer something more bed like for us and guests.

We also would be buying a wood frame futon, rather than a cheap metal one.

Thanks for the thoughts. Keep 'em comin'.

 

[SandraM]

I have a sofa with a futon mattress. It folds out very simply, and looks good too.

It looks not unlike the one in this link, but it has metal curved armrests at both ends as well.
http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/s...001&langId=-1&catalogId=2501&productId=113006

 

[disykat]

I have a futon and would go that way again IF it will be in a room where it will stay folded out the duration of the visit. I wish we had gone with a sleeper sofa, because ours is in the middle of the family room. We have to totally unmake it every day and store the bedding away to keep the room functional.

 

[Nutsy]

We have 2 futons, but I would have preferred to get sofa beds

 

[RadioNate]

We have a high quality futon. It was hundreds of dollars. I love it. I'd sleep on it every night. I actually did when I was pregnant since I couldn't get comfortable in bed. The futon was our primary couch for 3 years and is now in our office. I agree it's a pain to unmake it daily but if it can stay open I like it. We bought out regular bed at the same time as the futon and we've already had to retire that mattress it got so lumpy.

The only guest that doesn't like our futon is my dad. He prefers the lumpy queen mattress in our guest room.

 

[buckylarue]

We just got an IKEA store here, and they have some great sofa beds and futons. Here's a link to their online catalog showing the selection.

 

[Amberle3]

I have both, and I much prefer a regular sofa bed.

Both DFi and I have futons, DFi actually has 2. The futons are very uncomfortable, and I have never gotten a good night's sleep on one, anywhere.

If it's going to be used more as a sofa than a bed, then the futon mattress will compress where it gets sat on after a while. That means taking it and flipping it, plus trying to "fluff" it. Mine has a very uncomfortable ridge down the middle of it from being squished where it's folded.

Because it gets so lumpy when used mostly as a sofa, in order to get any half-decent sleep at all on the futon I have to spread 3-4 comforters on top of the mattress to pad it before putting the sheets on. I'm seriously considering buying an air mattress to go on top of the futon so that no one actually has to sleep on the futon mattress.

I also have a daybed, which I like a lot. Very comfortable, not very good for more than 1 person though.

DFi and I are actually going through the same debate at the moment, as he's moving from a 1 bedroom apartment into a 2 bedroom house will full basement later this week and we'll be buying something primarily for seating that can also be used for the occasional overnight guest.