Oldest son will be moving out soon (!), and he is looking at studio apartments. Does anyone have any suggestions on the most comfortable sleeping option that still allows for seating? Futon? Pull-out sofa? To me pull-out sofas usually seem pretty uncomfortable.
Suggestions are appreciated!
In my son’s bedroom at home, he has both a futon and we have drilled hardware into our walls to allow him to set up his eno hammock. He alternates sleeping in both places, sometimes switching places in the middle of the night. Futon with comfy mattress can be a good option. I agree that it is hard to find a nice sleeper sofa in a price range you are willing to pay.
Would a day bed work?
My only other suggestion is the pronunciation of “futon…” it’s a Japanese word:
“foo▪TONE” with accent on the 2nd syllable.
It may also depend on how long he plans to live where he will be moving. If he plans to stay there for many years, it may be a different answer than a shorter period of time. There are nice “murphy beds” that can be put in a wardrobe and pull out of the wall, if that’s attractive to him.
When S was in HS, he bought a futon bed for his room. It folds out into a full-size bed and he uses it when he visits. It’s pretty comfortable for him but not as comfortable as D"s bed, which is a pillowtop twin bed. Is he interested in lofting his bed and having a loveseat or couch underneath, like dorm students often do?
The key for a comfortable futon bed is to have a dense, high quality mattress so you don’t feel the frame beneath the mattress.
My S has a pretty small studio and we found room for a bed as well as a couch. I got him a comforter and some decorative pillows for the bed so it would not be an eyesore.
A friend of his got a Murphy Bed which works well.
IMO sofabeds are not comfortable for a long-term.
I’d recommend a daybed with a real mattress, or even a regular bed with the ability to be made up to function as a quasicouch with pillows or cushions. Pottery barn has some decent daybeds allowing for real mattresses in their online catalog. Probably above a student budget though. I really do think it is important for everyday sleeping to be on a real, supportive mattress.
Sons friend just got a studio and he put his bed (real mattress/box spring, but no frame) in a corner and then bought a couch with a taller back that he pushed up against the bed. According to son, it looks okay and saves a lot of room.
What’s your price point?
Futon is the cheap & cheerful option.
For a serious bed that is primarily a bed but also makes out into a polished-looking sofa, then look at American Leather. These are the Mercedes of sofa beds. I just bought 2 of them.
http://www.americanleather.com/Comfort-Sleeper/Features-and-Benefits.aspx
They are semi-custom. You pick the chair style and pick the fabric or leather. U also pick the mattress: temperpedic, gel, conventinal. There are dealers all over the country.
My daughter lived in a studio for her first three years after college. She had a normal bed (full size, although there would have been room for a queen). It fit just fine, and there was room for a loveseat, a comfortable chair, and a kitchen table with four chairs in the rest of the apartment.
She didn’t have groups of guests in her place often, though. She would invite individuals to visit, but if she was with a group, they tended to go elsewhere. A highly social person who anticipates having lots of guests in the apartment might want different furniture.
Look into things like this:
http://www.decoist.com/2014-05-14/murphy-bed-couch-ideas-space-savers/
This Ikea Friheten sofa/bed isn’t cheap but might be a good solution. My son has one and loves it.
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70243038/
It all depends on the studio size. My D. was in studio apartment for 3 years. She had normal queen bed set and regular size couch in her studio. Bed set included a dresser and 2 bed stands. The other furniture included a desk, diner table, book shelf, TV on one of the bed stands, another one was by bed.
DD had a studio and we helped her by building in a bedframe that fit perfectly in the walk-in closet. There was still room for an IKEA hanging clothes unit. This gave her plenty of room for desk, couch, table and chairs etc in the studio. The opening to the closet was 4ft across - so we bought a shower rod and hung a beautiful shower curtain acrosss. That way, the bed area could be closed off, or left open. It was a great solution, and ended up working well with her and her partner.
sofa beds can be a pain to make and may end up just being open all the time.
If there is room, can he have a real bed with a stand up screen that blocks it from the rest of the room? If not, then I would go with a GOOD futon…one with easy and sturdy click-clack mechanism (or some other dependable/easy mechanism). Many cheap futons are nasty/painful. We bought one from Sams Club recently, and it is great. It even has built-in outlets for electronics.
I’ve been using a futon
D had a full loft bed with either a desk or love seat underneath, and other D had ikea full loft bed from craigs list and cut the legs a foot and put partly in a closet with hanging clothes underneath.
Our S has the IKEA sofa bed couch. We slept on it for a week and it was very comfortable. We converted it back to a sofa every morning and bed every nite.
Murphy bed and a sofa!
I would only get a futon IF you can lie on it for more than 15 minutes, and it has a return guarantee. Even the newer futons are not terrific for everyday use…but are OK for guests.
I would suggest a real bed…whatever size your son can fit in. He can divide off the sleeping from living areas with bookshelves or a folding screen.
I would get a real bed (good mattress). Sofa bed lacks support, especially for a large guy. My kids won’t even sleep in one at hotels. They prefer roll away bed. Get a smaller sofa if the studio is small. I think murphy bed is an investment he may not ever use it again. It would need to be screwed down to the floor. Living in NYC for 20+ years, I’ve had sofa bed and murphy bed. I recommend a regular bed.