Comments on: Gah! Gah gah

By: parodie

parodie — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 16:43:46 +0000

I would vote futon over pullout couch - but I would also vote for a nice futon frame (I’m partial to the ones that have arm rests and slide down… e.g. avoid the ) and a decent mattress. Are you planning to use it as bed, mostly, or as a couch, mostly?
FWIW, I think that the really cheap futon frames are worth what you pay for them (or less). If you are going to use it as a bed, I would say splurge a bit to get a good mattress - the stores on st. denis or the main are good places to see the varieties of mattresses.
Also, if you want cheap - keep an eye on infomcgill. Especially in May-July.
Email me if any of this is unclear. :-)

By: wolfa

wolfa — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 16:59:03 +0000

Wordpress did something weird to your link, sorry.

The futon will be some of both. I won’t be sleeping on it, but visitors will. It will be in an office, so probably I will sit on it some. I am told pullout couches are nicer now than they used to be. I don’t want to go super cheap, but I also don’t want to spend a fortune on it. Anyways, it’s the least of my worries.

By: Cougar

Cougar — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 17:29:16 +0000

I love my futon. You must buy a futon at a real futon place not at a discount store, but it doesn’t have to cost a lot.
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I personally think the thinnest firmest futon is the best both for sitting and sleeping, but maybe that’s just me.
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I chose a simple unfinished wood platform frame with no armrests or bookcases or anything built into it because it takes up less space and I can put end tables or whatever I want next to it. I figure it’s more versatile that way. Metal frames are abominable — I used to have one and it was COLD!

By: ACW

ACW — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 18:30:38 +0000

Pullout couch no. The things tend to be uncomfortable both as couches and as beds; the inevitable result of trying to serve two masters.

By: wolfa

wolfa — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 18:38:57 +0000

ACW, that’s what I thought, but I am told they are now actually comfortable as both, in that you can sleep on it long term and have a back still. I suspect that they are now mostly air mattresses hiding in couches, though.

By: shrinkykitten

shrinkykitten — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 18:50:11 +0000

I have had to sleep on an extremely upscale pullout couch — and it was so uncomfortable and caused backpain and extreme loss of sleep. If you go that route, try the bed out if you can!

By: sheepish

sheepish — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 19:28:01 +0000

Pullout couches are so damned inconvenient to move around too, even just for vacuuming purposes. I’m going to go counter to Cougar and say that you want a thicker mattress. My futon mattress (a formerly firm 6″ mattress) is now such that you can feel the wooden slats through the pad.

By: parodie

parodie — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 22:21:21 +0000

Sorry my link got messed up. Basically, futon bases like the one we have, just three slabs of wood like so: _/\ are bad. Don’t get one - get one that is permanently raised off the floor (bonus fun spot for cats!) and that is on a slider. You should know what I mean.
The futon we use for sleeping, long-term, is a dense foam mattress with a futon “top”, and I LOVE it. It is way better for long-term sleeping than just a plain futon. Ours are two separate pieces, but wouldn’t work as well as a couch, I think. You can get futon mattresses these days that are a mix of layers of foam and layers of cotton (i.e. standard futon stuff) - these will, I think, hold up better over time. I don’t know how well they will fold, i.e. bend into a couch. A plain futon should work well enough long-term. There is a cool (discount) futon store on Pine, at St-L, which may be good.

Heh. I have spent waaay too long thinking about futons. I will be quiet now. :-)
Oh - except to add: a good couch is so very nice. I would encourage you to not try your luck with a pullout couch unless you have a very strong recommendation of a particular brand/type from someone you really trust - and preferably a kind you’ve slept on yourself. I have sleep on very bad pullout couches, myself. And they’re $$$$!

By: bitchphd

bitchphd — Fri, 30 Sep 2005 00:16:49 +0000

Futons hold up better than pull-out couches, too. So another vote for futon.

And re. couches: consider buying a really good used one–one that was top dollar in its day–over an equally priced (inexpensive) new one: ime, the old ones often hold up a lot longer. Not always, though. But often. I had an Ikea couch once, and bleah; now I have a really expensive one that belonged to my grandmother, and it’s a lot, lot better, even though it’s probably 10 years old.

By: Cougar

Cougar — Fri, 30 Sep 2005 01:12:50 +0000

New hot topic! :>
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My futon (which I love) has layers of foam in it, and the frame raises it off the floor as Parodie also recommends, and it has wheels in the back so you can lift the front a little and wheel it out away from the wall before unfolding it into a bed.
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Maybe you should bring Matilda & Sammy to the futon store: http://www.comics.com/creators/othercoast/archive/images/othercoast2005203490929.gif

By: wolfa

wolfa — Fri, 30 Sep 2005 01:36:02 +0000

I will lie down on any mattress before I purchase it. Though perhaps when I am not as exhausted.