<p>We’ll be downsizing houses next year, and at least one of the kid’s rooms will need to do double duty as an office or guest room. Obviously, I don’t have this thought out yet, but I’m collecting ideas on how the kids can still have a room, but in such a way that we can use it. </p>
<p>I’m thinking that one of them will have to be a guest/game/whatever room, and maybe the best furniture in there would be a sofa bed. Does anyone know of a brand that is comfortable to sleep on?</p>
<p>Open to suggestions… we want them to still feel like it is home, but not have 2 rooms dedicated to their stuff.</p>
<p>We’ve been on Futons at campsites and one of them we big, heavy and sturdy and had a fairly thick mattress but I didn’t find it comfortable. It was a fair bit of effort to convert the thing too.</p>
<p>Our kids have cheap (under $100) futons from WalMart. They sleep one comfortable even though there is space for two. There’s a slight V so you tend to roll to the middle. We leave them in bed mode all the time. I don’t think that you can duplicate the comfort of a traditional boxspring/mattress with a relatively thin cushion. Perhaps memory foam would be a much better material but that would really crank costs higher.</p>
<p>Check out the Ethan Allen Bennett sofa. Extremely comfortable as both a bed and a sofa. Now that hubby has two computers and an LCD in the den, it has become the most used room in the house! You will not regret the price for the quality.</p>
<p>On the recommendation of a friend, I bought a sofabed at La-z-boy. The mattress has an attached, inflatable Aerobed-style mattress on top of it. It’s amazing. Not inexpensive, but doesn’t feel like a sofabed. And it’s comfortable to sit on, too.</p>
<p>When we were shopping for beds, S insisted on buying a FUTON instead of a traditional bed. It has a sturdy wood frame and firm mattress. It served well for a few years but we’ve recently replaced it because he said it no longer felt comfortable. The replacement mattress was pretty inexpensive & is now his when he’s home & the guest bedroom/study when he’s away at college (& will be starting school in the fall). We have another futon in the living room that we mainly use as a couch but CAN use as a bed when we have visitors.</p>
<p>The trick is to go to a store that specializes in futons and compare the various mattresses they have to find one that is comfortable both for sleeping on and sitting on. Be ready & willing to replace it when it is no longer comfortable, as they DO have lives and eventually are not as comfortable as when 1st purchased.</p>
<p>The original frame & mattress was something about $750 or so & then the replacement mattress was about $200 or so. S’s room has turned into a study/guest room, but is still HIS room whenever he’s in HI (which is perhaps a few weeks/year). Have not figured out what to do with D’s room, which has a lofted bed that we need to replace but have still not “gotten around to” yet. She’s away at college as well but has only been away 3 semesters & plans to be home the entire summer. Since it’s almost summer, we’ll probably wait & let her decide what she wants to do with her room (or let her take over her brother’s for the summer).</p>
<p>I have been very happy with our futons but hubby doesn’t like that they are so deep and feels it is awkward to sit in & get up from. The futons with very thin and/or old mattresses will make you feel every bump and lead to very little sleep for the poor person who tries to use it as a bed.</p>
<p>I have a follow-up question to this thread. What is the most comfortable CHEAP option? I have gotten futons from Wal-Mart, and they break and become really uncomfortable withink months. Right now, with a recent move, I am really not in a position to spend more than $250 or so. Do I have other options?</p>
<p>D1 has a futon from Ikea. It has lasted all 4 yrs of school and she is currently using it as her bed in her apartment. I think it is a Beddinge??? You can get different matresses for it. I think she has some memory foam on it too.</p>
<p>Costco has some great deals on futons at their roadshows. You have to figure out the delivery aspect with the seller. As I recall, they were about 1/3 of the price we paid elsewhere and they seem to have them every summer.</p>
<p>Definitely it’s worth spending enough to get a comfortable bed or if you can’t afford that, get an air mattress until you can get a decent bed; your guests can sleep on it after you’ve been able to buy yourself a bed.</p>
<p>You can score some very good deals by buying from students who are leaving the area, if you’re not too picky and are willing to find one you like, especially in the spring when kids are graduating and moving.</p>
<p>I had a futon once and that was enough - very uncomfortable. I’ve slept on a few sofabeds and have hated them all. Worse maybe, in HS I worked in a department store warehouse and had to move sofabeds around - heavy!</p>
<p>We have a ‘day bed’/sofa that we have regular, decent quality mattresses on. It’s essentially 2 twins with one half underneath the other. When the extra half is needed it gets rolled outfrom uner and popped up. This is comfortable, not too expensive, and easy to move around.</p>
<p>I like the looks of a Murphy bed, but my sister had one that was really uncomfortable, so I didn’t consider it. That’s a good line of thought. Hers probably just needed a new mattress!!</p>
<p>I second the IKEA idea.
Son spent an entire summer crashing on a friend’s futon.
He ended up finding the EXACT futon on craigslist for $125 that he now uses happily at his grad school apt. Very thick mattress, comfortable.</p>
<p>We have a murphy bed, which my husband and I slept in it for 3 years when we lived in NYC. The cabinet is made of good quality wood, and we bought a good mattress for it. It was very comfortable. We are saving it for D1 when she moves into NYC.</p>
<p>Funny, when DH and I were building our home, we stayed at my parents house while in transition. We slept on our futon for about 6 weeks…one of the most comfortable things I ever slept on. H agrees, and he’s quite picky. We got it through a specialized “futon store”. </p>
<p>Of course, now that it’s…um…old…it’s not QUITE so comfy.</p>
<p>I have heard good things about Carlyle, also Mitchell Gold. Three years ago we shopped around and eventually came up with a Ligne Roset sofa bed that works somewhat like a futon. It is pricey but is a real piece of furniture…handsome enough to carry a room. My daughter has slept on it for weeks at a time and gives it two thumbs up.</p>
<p>I’d like to replace an old sleeper sectional that we have in the basement playroom so I’ve been looking into this a bit, too. I know that a lot of people on Gardenweb furniture forums seem to like the American Leather AU line. You used to hear some good things about Flexsteel, but too many mixed reviews there IMO, especially with one of the lines. Here’s an article that reviews many of the ones mentioned on this thread - they like Carlyle and American Leather and give very good reviews as well to Crate and Barrel. Avery Boardman to the trade sounds exceptional (and priced that way). They like DWR and Ligne Roset as well. You can click on each manufacturer for more detailed review. </p>
<p>There’s also link at the end ( a little hard to read and I couldn’t find the original) to a review that was done by Elle Decor magazine - they liked Carlyle, Grange, Milling Road, Crate and Barrel and several others and had specific comments to each. </p>
<p>Thanks for bringing this up, maybe it will motivate me to finally get rid of that old sleeper!</p>
<p>Our sleeper sofa is Motioncraft and I would say that it WAS comfortable when it was new. This weekend, my brother-in-law slept on it and thinks it has seen better days though it is only about 10 years old and hasn’t been slept on much (I think the folding is what killed the mattress). The couch is still great, so I was thinking about just throwing an inflatible queen size mattress on top the next time someone needs to sleep on it. The extra height would actually make it easier to get in and out of.</p>