I’ve been in working in furniture for many years. I’m still approached by people who say they’re looking for a piece of furniture that can go into a tight space or down stairs into rooms that are hard to reach with tough corners. Leather sofas and upholstered sofas can’t fit and they don’t want a bunch of chairs filling the space. This isn’t really unusual. Many homes may have been designed with hard to navigate hallways or basements that initially weren’t meant to be finished. There is a specific category of furniture that works great for these situations however.

I often suggest a futon as a possible alternative and often I’m met with strange looks. These folks appreciate the suggestion but proceed to tell me how uncomfortable futons are. My reply is usually, “What was uncomfortable for you?” To which I’ll hear the answer, “The mattress was horrible” or “I could feel those metal bars in my back!” Our conversation will continue for a few minutes and I finally understand why they believe futons to be uncomfortable when so many people love them.

What you should know is that there was a break or separation in the quality for futons that emerged in recent years brought about by many mass merchant retail stores. The futon industry up to this point had been dominated by futon specialty stores and retailers who committed themselves to purchasing products made by the many United States futon manufacturers. These different companies were responsible for the innovations and stunning designs being created in solid woods like oak, ash and maple throughout the futon industry. Many of these frames were built as good or better than many conventional sofas in the market since they utilized hardwood construction in their frames.

Mattresses were also made quite well including quality innerspring mattresses made with steel components manufactured by Leggett & Platt, a supplier of steel components for many of the top mattress manufacturers throughout the United States. An extensive network of futon cover manufacturers also began to work hard at producing quality zippered covers from upholstery fabrics as well as more modern materials like microfiber. This level of quality is what would make futons a viable alternative to other conventional furniture and the popularity for these products soon began to grow.

During the 1990′s however cheap import futon frames made from hollow tubular steel were introduced into the American retail market. These came with imported mattresses that were constructed to be no more than 5″ to 6″ thick and contained ground up textile or fabric scrap. Various colored outer coverings that were not removable were tufted around the mattress materials making these difficult to clean. They retailed very cheap and individuals on a budget recognized the futon design from higher end wood models and felt these were indeed bargains since futons had a very good reputation for longevity and quality construction. Unfortunately these black tubular frames would begin to give futons a bad name.

The problem came from the fact that the seat and back section contained round metal bars spot welded in a couple of places. Since these were hollow, if enough force or weight was applied to a section of these bars they would bend or break out. People were finding that the fail rate on these frames to be quite high and when they would try to return them to the stores they would discover these frames only carried a 90 day warranty. Hardly the type of warranty that would suggest this piece of furniture could provide at least a couple years of use. Instead the manufacturers seemed to be satisfied that 90 days was an adequate time of warranty for their products. I would compare this to an automobile manufacturer who warranties a car for the first 3,000 miles. They’re basically telling you that after a few months of driving your vehicle is now out of warranty and if anything happens to your vehicle you’ll need to buy another one or pay for parts and servicing as you’ve met the expected life of your vehicle. Quite unbelievable, really.

The other issue would be in the way people could feel the bars through these thin mattresses. Because the bars were round and the mattresses had nothing in the way of support, you could lay on the mattress and feel each bar across the mattress. For some this may have been all they could afford in the way of futon. Unfortunately the import manufacturers of these frames and mattresses weren’t helping anyone to get a comfortable sofa bed with the materials being used.

After explaining this to people many come to understand the nature of why futons have been given a bad name because of the import black metal futon frame and are open to at least trying out the possibilities of higher-end models. Futon shops or specialty sleep stores carry a wide selection of proven wood futon frames and often have anywhere from half a dozen futon mattresses or more to choose from all made from quality materials.

There are alternative types of furniture that can be placed into hard to reach places. These don’t have to be uncomfortable mass merchant futons either. Visit your specialty sleep store or futon store for a full line of quality wood futon frames and mattresses. You’ll also discover hundreds of fabrics that are available to be zipped on over your mattress. Many of these are upholstery materials which can give you the look and feel of conventional furniture.

P.Pendleton is a furniture professional with over 15 years experience in the industry. He works with other furniture professionals to help promote new trends in futons as well as futon convertible sofas.

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By Phil Pendleton

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