sofa sleeper= bed?

flying_babyb

DIS Veteran
Joined
Dec 4, 2006
Im moving into a tiny aparment (dont ask) and am currious what is a good small bed when one wants a full sized bed? I woulld like something that could also work as a couch (since theres no room for a couch).Would a sleeper sofa work for daily sleeping?
 
Those things are notorious for having thin mattresses, thus making the support bars get you in the back. I'm sure you could put some additional padding somehow underneath to help with that.

My first apartment was an efficiency and it one, but I went ahead and brought my twin bed in.

You could, perhaps, go ahead and get a full size bed, but make it into more of a big lounge/daybed during the day by putting it up against the wall and having a nice throw and a lot of decorative pillows. I, personally, would go that route.
 
ooh, unfortunately every sofa bed I've ever had the misfortune of sleeping on were horribly uncomfortable. We even have one with a serta mattress (serta sofa mattress) and even that one you can feel the bar in your back. My sister had an efficiency in college and she had a full size bed at the far end from the door with a screen somewhat dividing it from the living space with her couch against the screen on the other side. She had her tv stand so she could watch it from either. I think she eventually just took down the screen actually since her couch kind of worked as a divider.
 
I used a futon as a couch in my first apartment...it then came with me to both my houses. It was more comfortable than a pull-out couch and perfect for guests. Any yes, I did sleep on it a few times :)
 
I used a futon as a couch in my first apartment...it then came with me to both my houses. It was more comfortable than a pull-out couch and perfect for guests. Any yes, I did sleep on it a few times :)

Some of those aren't bad. If you go that route...please cover it when you sleep. I just had this flashback of a friend's boyfriend. He didn't much and it had drool marks on it. :scared:
 
I went the futon route as well.

1. After a while it gets old folding it up every morning, so I just left it in bed mode.

2. Since I stopped folding it anway, we had a piece of plywood cut to fit the frame and put the mattress on top of that. Best. Bed. Ever. No bars in your back, no back pain, no stiffness. A bedboard was prescribed to me in my college dorm due to back spasms and I've used one ever since. It's sounds crazy, but it's actually terribly comfortable and supportive.
 
Before My DH and I had a house we had a fouton bed. Slept on it until I was 5 months pregnant with my first son. We were given a bed frame and bought a mattress when we moved to the house. The futon was actually sturdier than the (antique) bed frame which broke one night...
 
Im moving into a tiny aparment (dont ask) and am currious what is a good small bed when one wants a full sized bed? I woulld like something that could also work as a couch (since theres no room for a couch).Would a sleeper sofa work for daily sleeping?

You just moved into this apartment.

Sofa Bed does not = a Bed
 
I slept on one of those for a good number of years, when I moved back in with my parents. Now we did get the best of sofa bed matteresses. And for a while it wasn't bad...but yea...that bar is still there!! I have never slept on a futon...but I would not do a sofa bed for long term... your back will thank you for it!
 
Not all sleep sofas have a "bar in your back". My very first apartment was a tiny studio and I bought a full size sleep sofa from the Ethan Allen clearance center to use in it. The mattress was an inner spring and it had a trampoline style suspension under it - springs and elastic webbing, no bars. Despite the name "trampoline" the bed was not at all bouncy :jumping3: I slept on it just fine for 5 years before moving to a one bedroom apt. I have severe scoliosis and the bed never bothered my back. The futon is another good option but with anything you plan to sleep on, you don't want to play it cheap.
 
I had a futon, I liked it much better than a sofa bed, it was also much easier to put away IMO. :) I had one with a wooden frame, it was very comfy to sleep on.
 
Not all sleep sofas have a "bar in your back". My very first apartment was a tiny studio and I bought a full size sleep sofa from the Ethan Allen clearance center to use in it. The mattress was an inner spring and it had a trampoline style suspension under it - springs and elastic webbing, no bars. Despite the name "trampoline" the bed was not at all bouncy :jumping3: I slept on it just fine for 5 years before moving to a one bedroom apt. I have severe scoliosis and the bed never bothered my back. The futon is another good option but with anything you plan to sleep on, you don't want to play it cheap.

ITA. We decided to go with a futon for our family room and we went directly to a store that specializes in futon's and were shown options for mattresses ranging from inexpensive to expensive. We choose the middle of the road option and it very comfy as a couch and as a bed.
OP there are also hundreds of cover options as well so its pretty easy to find one that will match your decor and style.
 
How about a daybed - that way you can put a regular mattress on it and dress up the back with throw pillows during the day to make it look like a couch.
 
I'd also go with a futon over a sleeper sofa. Just make sure you get a good mattress with it, most likely an upgrade over the one that comes with the frame. We had a futon as a couch in our old apartment, and got the upgraded mattress because we planned to use it as a guest bed. I slept on it a few times and it was pretty comfortable. Another tip with a futon is to flip/rotate the mattress frequently; they tend to get "dented" where you sit on them in couch mode, which causes it to be lumpy when you use it as a bed.
 
BigLots has some nice futons, the mattress portion even has springs and they said that Walmart/Target sell extra covers for them, but the one that was on the mattress at BigLots was nice. You could always get a Murphy Bed too...LOL I've seen them on that 'auction' site and they are kind of cool actually. If we had an extra wall in our house we would get one for guest/friends that stay over...etc. They make them so that the outside of it looks like an entertainment center or a cabinet....so again, they are nice and space saving.
 
I second the futon with a GOOD mattress. When I first got my studio in 1995, my Mom and I found a store model frame at a good price and then paid more for the higher quality mattress. After, DH and I got married it became our couch/guest bed. When we moved to Denver last year, DH and I finally got rid of it. We had to replace the frame once, and the second one broke, but the mattress was still holding up very well. We freebied it on Craigslist and the person who came for it, was shocked by how nice it was, even with the broken frame. It was more comfy at that point in its life, than our bed mattress we got in 1998. If you could miss furniture, I miss my futon.
 
http://www.istikbalfurniture.com/ :thumbsup2 :thumbsup2 :thumbsup2 Completely different than sleep sofa or futon.
This years catalog. Takes a while to load. http://www.istikbalfurniture.com/Downloads/2009-ISTIKBAL-CATALOG.pdf

They make convertible sofas. We have one as our guest bed. Its firm. Not like a sofa because it's made like a regular bed mattress that is hinged to fold. Has built in storage underneath. My elderly mother who has a bad back sleeps on it and finds it very comfortable when she stays.

We got ours from a local furniture store. It comes apart to make it easier to bring up stairs.
Ours was about $500 maybe 3 years ago. We have the Francesca style with the wooden arms & body.
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Another idea is those loft beds that college kids use depending on how high your ceilings are. You know, like a bunk bed with bed on top & sofa down below, but I don't know if they come in full size. I always thought those were cool for kids rooms, but I was too old when they came out.
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Another idea is this line from IKEA. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/series/11701/
Personally, I wouldn't want to be putting that cover back on everyday to make it a sofa again though. The bed I mentioned at the top of the post is an easy lift & click & its a sofa again. No cover or cushions to remove.

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Lots of solutions exist for this problem besides a bad futon or a bad pullout sofa. This is a very common problem / solution in places with small apartments like NYC, Europe & Asia. Just google & you'll find tons of solutions for small apartments.
 
Im moving into a tiny aparment (dont ask) and am currious what is a good small bed when one wants a full sized bed? I woulld like something that could also work as a couch (since theres no room for a couch).Would a sleeper sofa work for daily sleeping?

well I gotta ask. It's so small you can't fit a full size bed and a couch?? How small is this apartment?

If it's that small I think a good quality sleeper sofa is your best bet.
 

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