Traditional Sofas

Queen Size Sofa Bed

A Basic Guide to Sofa Sleepers

Most of us have faced the situation where we had to provide an extra bed for a guest in our home. But many of us were not prepared for the situation.  Usually the guest or we had to sleep, if you can call it that, on the couch rather uncomfortably. That is why foam sleepers were invented. These while normally functioning as a chair or a sofa can be folded out in to a bed fairly quickly and easily. They provide a space saving way to have an extra bed in your house or apartment just in case, especially in cases where there are no extra guest rooms to accommodate guests.  

Foam chairs can also be used as comfortable lounging chairs, for watching televisions or reading, especially for children. They will make the experience more pleasurable and preserve your other furniture from damage.  In fact some chairs made for this purpose can be folded out into either partial and fully reclining positions as per requirements.     

Convertible sofas, futons, and bean bags, offer similar functionality; that is conversion from a chair to a bed or reclining chair. However they differ in the way it is achieved. In foam sleepers the bed is folded in to the sofa and has to be pulled out, while in others the whole sofa or chair is converted into the bed or reclining chair.  

Buying Sleeper Sofas
Foam sleepers are available in variety of sizes, shapes, and even names. The choice of upholstery and mattresses is wide as well.  We will go through some of the factors that must be looked into when buying a foam sleeper.

Foam sleepers are more expensive than normal sofas; you must first decide whether the expense is worth it. You should check in several stores in order get the best prices and try them out in the stores to ensure their quality and comfort.  

You must also keep in mind that foam in these beds while fire resistant and specially made, will not last long and will need to be replaced periodically to maintain the user's comfort. In other words they are made for occasional use when there is a need, and not for everyday use.

While most of them can comfortably function as sofas they cannot be as comfortable as pure sofas generally. This is due to the fact that both the bed frame and the mattress have to be folded inside the sofa. Some may feel the sofa to be firmer than normal sofas. They are also heavy and will require two or three people to move. However there especially made light weight foam sofas to address this difficulty.  

Most sleeper sofa mechanisms are manufactured using similar designs using hardwood and metal. So there will not be much to choose between them. You should check whether it is easy to use, both in folding out and folding in.  

Sleepers usually come in several sizes.  In ascending order they are chair sleepers, twin sleepers, full sleepers, and queen sleepers. A normal size sofa will convert into a queen sized bed while a love seat sleeper will fold out to a twin sized bed. You should decide which will suit you and the size of your room beforehand. You should also have clear idea about how much rearranging will be required when the sofa is converted into a bed.   

Mattresses used in sleeper sofas can be quite different from each other. They are also more flexible and as such less firm than normal mattresses. Memory foam mattresses do not have any coils in them and conforms to the sleeper's body much more easily than others. Inner spring mattresses have coils inside them.  Comfort will depend on the number of coils inside; more the better. Air coil mattresses feature an inner coil mattress and an air mattress combined with the air mattress on top of the coil one.        

Foam Sleepers can be upholstered using various materials ranging from fabrics, to leather, to micro-fibers. Fabrics upholstery will be available in many colors and patterns to match your other furnishings requirements. Leather will last longer, but your range of choices when it comes to colors, will be limited. Micro-fiber upholstery will also last longer and will be wrinkle free and will keep their shape for longer.  Generally you can get beautiful upholstery with animals, racecars, flowers, and such designs, for children's foam chairs.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 28th, 2010 at 12:03 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.