Murphy Wallbeds

Futon beds are a great space-saving piece of furniture – if you need a quick, inexpensive sleeping solution that ensures your guests never want return!

Just like a wallbed, a futon acts as a space-saving guest bed that can fold away during the day, however, not all beds are created equal and as the old saying goes, you get what you pay for.

1. You can’t disguise a futon as anything other than what it is. You can add throw pillows or slip covers to your futon, but the bits of frame that poke through will still announce the presence of a futon. If you’re looking for an attractive piece of furniture to augment your home decor, this isn’t it. Our wallbeds are designed to look like an attractive wooden closet or cabinet when folded away. We even have custom and semi-custom options to allow you create the exact look that you want.
2. Futons also don’t have any mechanisms to help you fold or unfold its frame. You must move the heavy frame and mattress with muscle power only. Full or queen-sized futons may require more than one person to unfold (and still manage to fall with a resounding boom – not ideal if you’re trying to go to bed quietly). Our wallbeds come with pistons so that one person can easily raise or lower a bed. They are balancedand completely safe so that there is no concern for the bed ever raising or falling.
3. Futons are often close to the ground when converted into a bed. That’s good if you’re worried about a child falling off at night, but less ideal if you’re housing someone elderly. If your guest has knee problems or low blood pressure, they might have trouble getting up from their bed. Our Murphy Wallbeds sit at a normal bed height so that you do not trouble lowering yourself into bed,
4. Because futons are folded up most of the day, the mattresses often crease permanently along the folds, forming uncomfortable seams. Whichever way you sleep on it, you’ll be able to feel it. Our Murphy Wallbeds fit a full-sized, normal mattress in them. It is a real bed!
5. In argument to this, some futons now come in two solid, separate pieces that fold up to make a chair or flat to make a bed. They still don’t have the comfort of a real mattess. Try a futon out at your local Target store. These beds still have a crease down the middle where the two sides of the mattress meet, our wallbeds have one complete, real mattress.
6. In addition to the inadequate mattress, futon frames also provide bad support because the mattress usually sits right on top of a wood or metal frame. The frame has gaps to allow the futon to fold up – incidentally right where creases in the mattress are – which makes the contraption even less pleasant to sleep on.
7. Finally, futons aren’t really designed to be permanent pieces of furniture. Not only are they unattractive, they are also fragile. After a few years, the integrity of your futon frame begins to fail. The slats of your wooden frame might become brittle and snap like toothpicks if stepped on. Don’t even think about jumping on this bed; just lie down very carefully and try not to move too much! In contrast, our wallbeds are made of furniture grade plywood, which is seven layers of solid wood laid in a cross-grain pattern for extra durability.

All in all, futons are a temporary solution to your guestbed problem, but they are uncomfortable either as beds or sofas. If you are ready for an elegant piece of furniture that doubles as a bed, you may want to consider a wallbed.

Stay Tuned for the final summary of this fight of the futon bed vs. the Murphy Wallbed as the best space saving guest bed.

A futon always looks like a futon