What do you think of this sofa/futon?

[tortoiseSHELL]

To give you a bit of background - our house is a 4 bedroom house. Atm, we have the second largest room as our bedroom, the back room which is a small double is our office, the largest room (which is a very large room) is ds1 and dd's bedroom and childrens' playroom. The smallest room is ds2's bedroom - it is really a very small single room. Atm in there we have his bed, which is a cot bed sized junior bed, and a single bed (from when ds2 and dd shared it). Which leaves us with no spare room when we have visitors (such as my parents). My dad only rarely visits, so it hasn't been a problem taking ds2 out of the little bedroom and giving her the single bed. But I'm aware that we don't have space for a couple, and my dad MIGHT visit one of these days - he has been unwell, so my mum is unlikely to visit without him, but equally I think she will try and persuade him to come down.

SO - I'm trying to think of how to both create a bit of space in that room, for ds2 to have a little bit of storage furniture, and also to provide sleeping accommodation for a couple. I found this which I love the look of, and would go beautifully in the room - and isn't extortionately priced like most of the sofa beds you see. What do you think? Or have you got any better solutions?

Thanks!

I think futons are a great idea for a bed that will only be slept in occasionally.

I like it. It looks more comfortable than a traditional sofabed, and maybe takes up less room too?

(Should add, hover the mouse over the 2 seater one, and it wouldn't be in that colour, I quite like the camel colour.)

hurrah, that's what I hoped you'd say! I think it looks more comfortable both as a sofa and a bed than a traditional sofa bed, and I love rubberwood!

I would buy your son (daughter?) a small double instead. futons are never comfortable to sleep in, esp if you're (ahem) older. they get a cool big bed to sleep in and couples staying over have a proper bed.

The problem is hana, there really isn't room in that room for double bed to be out all the time - and part of the idea is to create a little bit of space so I can put in some sort of storage for his clothes - atm they are in plastic boxes on the floor!

Ultimately I would like to convert our loft, but that is many months and £££££s away!

no, small doubles are about 3/4 of the size of a regular double - we've just bought one for dd for similar reasons.

am confused - so you would have futon as sofabed plus son's bed?

That's right, so that if we had visitors we would move ds2's bed out, into the children's bedroom, open out the futon into a double for the visitors, and could hopefully fit some storage in there as well. It really is a tiny room.

any more thoughts anyone? I've measured up the room and it would be a squeeze, but it would fit.

Hana - I've measured the small double beds and the room and a double bed, even a small one would make the room feel TINY - the whole width of the room is only the width of a bed plus a door! And ds2 is only teeny, he would be LOST in a big bed! But thanks for the suggestion, it was something I hadn't thought of, and a really good idea - if the room was just a little bit bigger then it would be ideal.

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BUMP

What about buying a single for ds2's bedroom with a second pull out single underneath which has collapsible legs to bring it up to the height of the other one thus creating a double? Ds2 could then bunk in with the other children or an a blow up bed in the office?

We too have a 4 bedroom house we have one large double/ensuite room dd has the other (with ensuite)so she has his sort of bed, fab for sleep overs or when a couple come over they can have it and she either sleeps in ds's room on a blow up bed or in the 4th bedroom (which is dh's study). We also have a sofa bed on the bottom floor in the playroom, but is isn't suitable for all gueasts as there is no bathroom on that floor, and it gets a bit chilly in the winter, so "older" guests get dd's room or our room and we decamp to the playroom.

That's not a bad idea either ComeOVeneer - will look into that as well! Ds2 is too small for a single bed atm (he is very little, and rolls out of his toddler bed still, so I would feel uncomfortable about him being higher up with no guards on the side, but I'm sure he will grow out of that soon - he's only 2.1.

CoV - I think you may be a genius. I totally hadn't thought of this idea, but have just done a little bit of research and found this - which is the same style as the children's bunk beds (and therefore appeals to dh's 'neatness' tendencies!). And it could go in where the single is now, and ds2 could move into it when he was ready to.

I am a little because I REALLY like the Futon! But dh really wasn't keen, and I know they're not the last word in comfort, so this is probably a better solution altogether!

Thanks - will let you know what we decide!

Just to confuse you, I've got a Futon like the one in the picture. It's actually from the Futon Company, but looks very much the same. It's always known as the fabulous futon because people tend to fall asleep on it..it's in my sitting room and used as an extra bed from time to time.
It has been a great buy. Very plain and simple but so useful.

It has been a very useful addition to our household effectively giving us 2 extra double beds for guests, allowing the children to bunk down in their inflatable beds all over the house, so we can accomodate grandparents plus my sister/BIL and their children for xmas. The only down side is you loose the storage space under the bed, which dd used to use to house the 3 huge boxes of books, so we had to buy her a book shelf.

CoV - I just spoke to dh and he REALLY likes the bed - so I think we will prob get that for ds2's room. You're right about the storage - we will need to solve that problem somehow, but it is temporary as eventually this bed could become dd's when the boys have the bunks.

BUT dh suggested we could get the futon for the playroom, because the sofabed in there is falling to pieces, so it would be really useful in there.

Thanks!

Think we have decided on the bed (CoV's fab suggestion) for ds2's room, which he will go into when he is big enough, which will make a bit of space where his bed currently is, and the futon for the playroom where there is currently a VERY cheap broken annoying sofabed. So that will give us a LOT more flexibility, and if we needed to move the futon into another room if we had LOTS of guests (say into the music room or office) then we could have all our children, plus any other children on air beds in the playroom, a couple in the nursery (possibly + 1 child on an airbed), and another couple on the futon in another room, again using airbeds for children.

Having said all that, no-one ever visits us! But maybe that is because we a) smell or b) don't have great accommodation!

Thank you for your help everyone! VERY much appreciated!

Ok, last update (if anyone is still reading) - the bed linked to above (not the futon, the bed) comes in 2'6, which is even better as it will fit better into the room! Yay! Think we will also get the futon for another room, to give us EVEN more space.