Traditional Sofas

Modern Sofa Beds

How will I sleep comfortably in a studio apartment?

I am being forced to downsize and sadly have to sell my king size bed and bedroom furniture because this place is so small but its what I can afford at the moment. Is there a modern bed... Can a sofa bed actually be comfortable? Andy suggestions would be appreciated.

I myself have never laid once on a comfortable hide-a-bed, and I sure wouldn't want to have to pull it out every darn night,
but I wouldn't let standard sized mattresses limit what you want to do for yourself, the sky's the limit...
You can even build a loft bed larger than twin,
with a whole office or walk-in closet underneath,
lit up with great lighting and a big comfortable chair-n-a-half.

I built my own bed (I was a mom of two at the time)
in a 2-bedroom apt), because king is too big and queen is too small--we actually bought both but, not so good...
So I would say, measure your ideal most do-able size
and use foam mattresses and egg crates to top it off, I chose Ikea's basic ones and then added the egg crates you get
from the hospital pharmacies because of the deeper divets--I love them!
You can get foam rubber glue to join more to a twin size that you cut from a second twin, and you can
use an electric bread knife to slick through the foam easily.
I cut plywood to measure 9" wider than a queen
(you pick your size), and slightly longer than a king.
Then I cut 4 1x12's and screwed
them into a frame sitting on the floor and screwed the
plywood to it, which I covered with batting and a second
hand sheet..it wasn't goona be seen anyway.
Then I put the mattress on top and sewed the corners
smaller than the king size it was, and made a deep under part so it wouldn't pull off.
You can use 'sewing glue' if you don't sew.
After that, I cut four legs out of 2x3s to the height I wanted it,
and screwed them on underneath inside the corners of the frame.
You only need a drill and a jigsaw for this project...
and an electric bread-knife, you need nothing, if someone can help you who has tools!
This base can pretty much me made in a couple hours.
I also made it into a canopy, and with that
you can establish a bit of privacy, plus, a free-standing
dressing tri-fold can also give you privacy, or a wall of bookcases.
If you do four posts out of 2x2 or2x3s,
you can attach a covered headboard to the front ones...just wrap it in 1 or 2" thick foam, then batting, then staple on any fabric of your choice. Guess that's the fourth tool, unless you glue that on, too..I hear Mighty Mend It works great for stuff like this.

Most of all have fun, because small space doesn't have to limit you.

Sofa beds – a great space saving solution

Few of us have a room to keep free as a guest room, these days we use a spare room as an office, laundry room/wardrobe or even as a gym! That’s if we even have a spare room.

As our homes shrink (or we simply accumulate more ‘stuff’) we are becoming more inventive with our interiors, & dual purpose furniture, including storage beds and sofa beds are becoming more and more popular. sofa beds enable us to use just a small fraction of the area of a bed on the days when we (or our guests) don’t need to sleep, so work really well in these new properties.

Style is important too. Most of these new homes are modern, but fortunately sofa beds have changed over the last few years and provided you are prepared to spend a little more, finding a stylish contemporary sofa bed is not impossible any more. There has been a lot of growth in contemporary style decor over the last few years, and modern sofa beds have become much more widely available

So how do you make sure you choose the right sofa bed? There are several different types of sofa beds & they all have their place, depending on how much room you have, how often it will be used & which room you are planning on putting the sofa bed in.

If room is limited, but you need to put up two adult guests in a double bed then a fold down sofa bed (sometimes called a click clack bed) is perfect. To turn these into a bed the back of the sofa is pushed down, & the back becomes part of the mattress. Generally less comfortable for sleeping than pull out sofa beds, nonetheless these are easy to use, & not usually too pricy. They don’t, however, have any storage room for duvets, pillows etc, & fabric options on the budgets models can be severally limited.

Another alternative is a single sofa bed, sometimes called a daybed. These are essentially a single bed, with a proper single mattress, but with a fitted mattress cover to match the base, & a covered back &/or sides. To look at they look like a sofa, or chaise longue, but the seat cushion is actually a mattress. Suitable for children’s rooms & spare rooms these can often have storage options including under bed drawers or a lift up storage base, where sheets, duvets & pillows etc can be stored when not in use.

An interesting option for these is that many of them can include a second bed stored in the base, complete with mattress. By the time you buy the mattress a good quality day bed is not cheap, but they are very useful, & don’t take up too much room. As the guest is staying on a proper mattress they are very comfortable to sleep on, although not quite as good to use every day as a sofa.

Finally, a pull out sofa bed can give you the best of both worlds. If you are planning on putting it in your living room, & planning on using it every day as a sofa then it’s important to shop around & find a sofa bed that you like the look of as a sofa, & that is nice & comfortable to sit on.

These sofa beds usually have a much wider choice of fabrics than fold down sofa beds & daybeds, allowing you to make sure it looks perfect in your room (these can be quite a large investment, so this is an important point) & many have some room for pillows &/or a duvet, so can be a good solution if you only have one bedroom & often have guests to stay.

They have a pull out mechanism, so the bed is folded into the base & only pulled out when needed, & many even have some room to store pillows or duvets. The mattress sizes can vary from 120cm wide to 160cm wide, & the better models have mattresses that are comfortable enough for daily use (great if you live in a studio).

The mechanism is usually metal, & as they vary in robustness & ease of use it is best to either buy a high quality Italian sofa bed, or test a less expensive one carefully before you buy. The only disadvantage is that they can take up quite a bit of room when extended, so measure up carefully, & make sure that any other furniture in room can easily be moved to make space!

Something to consider is the size of the room your sofabed is in. If the bed will mostly be used guests who are staying over (rather than just overnight after a few too many) your guests need to be able to move easily around the room, & to get in & out of the door, & they will need room for their personal possessions, & possibly even their luggage!

So think carefully about who will be sleeping on your sofa bed, how often & where, & make sure you choose the sofa bed that is right for you. With so many types & models available you should be able to get something that fits the needs of you & your guests perfectly.

Tags: design, furniture, home, modern, modern sofa beds, modern sofa beds clic clacs, modern sofa beds for sale, modern sofa beds nyc, modern sofa beds uk, shopping

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 1st, 2010 at 5:45 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.