A sofa bed is a single piece of furniture that functions as both a traditional sofa and as a bed. The sofa bed mattress is a specially designed mattress that fits inside the framework of the sofa. A sofa bed saves space because the bed portion of the furniture is kept tucked away inside the sofa and pulled out only when needed. Does this Spark an idea?
Size
Mattresses that are designed for sofa beds come in three standard sizes: twin (also known as single), full and queen. These are also standard sizes found in traditional mattresses. The standard dimensions for sofa bed mattresses are as follows: twin - 36 inches by 72 inches, full - 52 inches by 72 inches and queen - 60 inches by 72 inches. Some mattress makers may offer a super queen size or queen XL size that is five inches longer than the regular queen size mattress.
Mattresses made for sofa beds are also thinner than traditional mattresses. This thinness allows the mattress to be flexible and fold up when the bed frame portion of the sofa bed is folded for storage.
Features
Sofa bed mattresses come in a variety of styles and designs. These styles include a variety of coil spring, air coil spring and even memory foam layers attached to some premium mattresses.
The flexible material and frame of the mattress itself is designed to fit into the fold up metal bed frame that is connected to the sofa frame. Some sofa makers are shifting away from the traditional sofa bed with a metal frame attached to a mattress. Modern "sleeper" sofas have designs ranging from fold down backs that make the sofa flat or cushion systems that fold out with out a separate mattress.
Solution
A big complaint of older style sofa beds was the thinness of the mattress combined with the discomfort associated with the support rods that held the mattress up when it was unfolded; the metal rods could be felt through the mattress itself. The solution was the new mattresses that have air over coil designs, extra padding on top and more responsive spring coils inside the mattress.
Benefits
Sofa bed mattresses are thinner and lighter than traditional mattresses making them potentially easier to move and install into a sofa bed frame. The mattresses' ability to be folded up into a small space make it ideal for putting a sofa bed in a spare bedroom or even in a living room. Some users in studio apartments may even use a sofa bed to save space. When folded up, visually one does not notice that the sofa contains a fold out bed and the sofa cushions cover the underlying frame of the bed itself.
Misconceptions
It is a misconception that all sofa beds are sold with built in mattresses. It is also wrongly assumed that sofa bed mattresses are permanently connected to the fold out frame. Many mattresses are removable and a wide range of replacement mattresses are available which allows one to replace a worn mattress without having to replace the entire sofa bed.
Limitations
One key limitation of the sofa bed is that only one size mattress will fit in the frame. The frame is only as wide as the space between the two ends of the sofa itself. Therefore if the user purchases a twin size sofa bed, they are limited to only twin size mattresses.
Prices
Complete sofa bed systems including the mattress and frame can run as low as $200 and as high as $2,000. Mattress replacements can range from $150 to $450.
Tags: sofa beds, inches inches, queen size, that sofa, traditional mattresses, coil spring