The Sleeper Sofa and its Many Forms



The sleeper sofa has come a long, long way since its invention many years ago. It has come so far, in fact, that it is now both more fashionable and more practical; a rare feat indeed.  A lot of people don’t even know the amount of choices that are out there, or the different hybridizations that have been spun off from the original idea of this couch that becomes a bed. In this overarching article we will get you up to date, leaving you with a very informed mind in order to go forth and make a purchase if that’s what you’re planning to do. If this is not your plan, I’m sure there will come a time down the road where a sleep sofa may be just the piece of furniture you need to give an extra functionality to your home or apartment, and you will be all the better for having gotten yourself up to date in a full-fledged overlook of this item’s offerings today.

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First let’s take a look at the good old-fashioned sleeper sofa, the one that probably comes to mind whenever you first hear the term. This may be the kind that you had to sleep on when your family stayed over at your grandparents’ house as a kid. Or maybe you or your parents had one in your basement when you were growing up. I am not trying to paint it as outdated, only pointing out that there is a lot more that has come since then.

 

The “classic” sleeper sofa looks much like a rectangular or normal couch. It has square angles and probably a design that looks like it was made no later than the 1970’s. Yes, this is the wonder that started it all. It provided the world with a way of killing two birds with one stone. You could have relatives staying over for the night, and during the evening you would, say, congregate in the living room watching TV and catching up with each other. Then when it was time for bed, this hulking and heavy couch could have its cushions removed and… lo and behold it folded out into a bona fide bed. A sleeper, as they say! Throw some sheets on it and the problem of not enough space and not enough bedrooms is cured in an instant. Very practical!

 

But where has the sleeper sofa come since that time? Well, the most obvious example is the futon. A lot of people don’t really realize that a futon is the same thing as a foldout bed. Just think about it: it’s a sofa when you want it to be a sofa, and it’s a sleeper when you want it serve that function. The futon is the really the epitome of a bare bones getup version of what we were talking about earlier. It took on a life of its own amongst the college crowd, always on the move and “crashing out” wherever they were when sleep called their name. I even spent about a year of my life sleeping solely on a futon bed. I pretty much just left it in its bed position at all times. I had one major complaint when it was all over, though: not enough space. It was just a bit too short for me, and I never liked that.

 

This brings us to the last point I want to illustrate about where the sleeper sofa has come. The modern sleeper sofa is a thing of beauty unto itself. It is regal and majestic, or even sometimes downright artistic-looking. If you didn’t know better, you would have no clue that many of these kinds can actually transform into beds. These are not the style of old; their insides are not a crisscrossing mishmash of coils and sharp steel bars. They have been designed with a definite eye for style, but luckily the functionality does not suffer, but rather improves in this contemporary version of the sleeper sofa. You will find that they are lighter, easier to fold in and out, and as already noted you will definitely be able to find one that absolutely complements the already existing design of your apartment or house.