Futon Beds: The Orient Brought Home
A futon bed, though traditionally a style of Japanese bedding, has become trendy and popular across the Western world. The styles and forms of futon beds are countless. The basic Western futon bed consists of a mattress and bedding that is used as a bed at night and can either be stored away or be used as a different piece of furniture entirely during the day.
Futon sofa beds and chair beds are the most simple and common forms. Though “simple” may be misleading. The futon chair bed or sofa bed can be found with wood (commonly oak and maple) frames, or more modern looking metal frames. They can be basic Bohemian, or rather, Japanese, style of merely a mattress and quilt, or be fully upholstered pieces of furniture that during waking hours could never be mistaken for a bed at all! Real leather or artificial leather, cotton or synthetic fabrics… they are all used in designing the right futon sofa or chair bed for you. The futon sofa or chair is generally a furnishing in the living room or salon, used as an extra bed for visitors. It can, of course be the day couch in a bedroom as well!
More often, the futon bunk bed will be your Japanese style space saver of choice. Futon bunk beds allow you to have two beds and a sofa all in one bedroom, still using minimal space! In this form, your upper bunk will be a typical bunk bed, while the bottom bunk doubles as sofa and bed. This bottom mattress can also be larger than a regular twin size, for even more sleeping space.
The futon loft bed is by far the newest form of futon bed. You have your bunk bed with futon bed underneath, and an added twist: either an L shaped frame creates the loft space under the upper bunk, OR you can have a removable futon bed! The L shaped futon loft bed is a permanent structure where empty space and futon bed are always adjacent. The removable futon loft bed gives your sleepers a choice: two separate beds with space underneath one loft, or the typical futon bunk bed form.
Traditional Japanese might be horrified at how far we’ve brought their simple futon, but the ease, fun, and comfort we’ve created with so many futon options creates an entirely different home living space. Futon it up!
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