Need a Place to Crash? Cheap Sofa Beds Fit the Bill and Budget
So you’ve just graduated college and your parents are proudly ushering you into adulthood, AND out the door. Words like “responsibility” and “rent” are being thrown around, and before you know it, you’re scouring the classifieds for the best studio you can afford, and your folks are off to Maui celebrating their “empty nest-hood”. You need some furniture and a place to put it fast, but you haven’t exactly gotten your resume up to par for that six-figure salary just yet. The best option for small budget accommodations and multi-functionality for you could be shopping for cheap sofa beds to make your shoebox in the 5th floor walk-up feel like home.
If you’re thinking of grandma’s old pull out couch with the cross bar that impaled you all night long in the summer of ’74, have faith. Furniture has come a long way, kiddo, and with style, budget AND comfort in mind. Cheap sofa beds make have gotten a bad rap in the past, but these days, many sofa beds don’t even have the big folding contraptions of the past, and follow more of a futon-like operation, eliminating the “bar in the back” scenario. Take Ikea and Target’s recent models for example. They feature dense cushions attached to the frame of the couch, with arms and a back that fold down to create the bed. No bars and no need to remove and stash cushions for a comfy night’s sleep. And with the cushions fixed to the frame, there’s no flopping around of the cushions onto the floor like the futons of old. Models like these at Ikea and Target start at a very pocket friendly $150.
More traditional sleeper sofas that have a mattress and pull out mechanism stored under the cushions can run a bit pricier, but have a more traditional look to them. The mattresses are more like a real bed and can offer more “cush” than the denser cushions of the other models. Some of these may still have bar in the middle, so test out one before you buy. JCPenney and Sears may be you shopping source for these types of sofa beds, and you can still squeeze one into the budget for about $600.
When you’re all grown up and look back at the sofa bed you began your independence with, you can know you made a good choice to get you a good night’s sleep when the budget was tight. Who knows? You make even keep it for a while and make your parents sleep on it when they come to visit!