Couch Beds Are the Perfect Solution
When you browse through the furniture stores looking at couch beds, you’ll have a difficult time choosing from all the styles available. You may be planning to decorate a recreation room or the extra bedroom. This is the space-saving and attractive solution to limited space that you need. When a friend or relative stays for the weekend you can offer them a comfortable night’s sleep.
This may seem to be a modern concept, devised to save space in an apartment or small bedroom in the home. The truth is that the day bed, which is one of the other names given to the convertible bed, has been around since ancient times. The early civilizations of Egypt, Greece and Rome slept on them.
Native Americans used a couch bed and ancient Chinese used the same furniture for sitting and sleeping. During the early Medieval times, when lifestyles were different, the titled gentry moved frequently, from castle to castle. The furniture, as a result, had to be lightweight and portable. Even with all the peasants to help with moving, they could only move limited amounts of furniture.
Couch beds are also called hideabeds, pullout couches or sleeper-sofas. The innovations include bunk beds and half-couches. They are made for children as well as adults. Some are made in a style where the couch pillows are used at night as sleeping pillows, which is another space saver (no bed pillows to hide away in a closet during daytime hours.
The Italian tent daybed was in popular use during the Renaissance. Arab tribes in the Mediterranean made good use of tents and made a sort of daybed by piling cushions, blankets and rugs in the corners of a tent. They sat on them by day and slept on them by night.
The Gothic version of the couch beds was a wooden chest, much like the cedar chest or hope chest seen today. It was made with raised arms at either end and was long enough to stretch out and sleep on. It was perfect for seating during the day as well as being a very attractive piece of furniture.
You can find day beds in so many styles and colors. There is something to suit every taste and every size home. You’ll find leather, simulated leather and faux suede in addition to all the upholstered colors and patterns. With the style called the futon, if you tire of one color, you can purchase a new cover to change the entire look of any bedroom or recreation room in your home.
The contemporary and modern styles have clean lines and an uncluttered look. There are those without arms, in chair, loveseat or full sofa sizes. The French have a couch bed that looks as if it is sitting on a box. It is very attractive and comes in a variety of upholstery choices. Many of the modern styles are on short rounded legs approximately three inches in height. They are often upholstered in vinyl. One fine feature about modern couch beds is how quickly and easily they convert from couches to beds.
