Why do sleeper sofas get all the glory? They are not the only type of convertible comfort available for the common man's home. There is an oft-forgotten companion to the sleeper sofa who has gone on to greatness despite being largely ignored. I am speaking of course, about chair beds. There are 8 very good reasons you should consider these pieces to grace your parlor, and I am going to tell you what they are.

Reason #1: Space! Sleeper sofas take up too much room. Their smaller cousins, on the other hand, can be stuffed into corners or even used as an extra seat in guest bedrooms, offices or any other room in your house were you might want an extra chair. If you have a few square feet of floor space open and plan to ever have guests stay the night you would be crazy not to buy a little sleeper chair for your home.

Reason #2: Quantity! You can have more people stay over. This follows directly from reason #1. The more of them you can fit, the more people can spend the night at your place. This especially applies if you're young and not yet married. One in every room may be too few, see what you can fit. Of course this only applies to cool people with a lot of friends. Are you cool? How many sleeper chairs do you own?

Reason #3: Privacy! Not everyone likes to sleep together. How many times have you been on a trip or over someone else's place and asked to share a bed with someone? It's not the worst thing in the world, but why not avoid it entirely?

Reason #4: Variety! Chair beds come in so many shapes and sizes, you can have a different decor for every room and yet still find some that will match each room.

Reason #5: Subtlety! With so many different styles, many times no one even realizes they are beds until you tell them. Otherwise it's just a nice chair that happens to match the decor of the room.

Reason #6: Price! You can't even buy one quality sleeper sofa for the price of three good sleeper chairs.

Reason #7: Revenge! If you have couples over and don't own a sleeper sofa or a spare full or queen size bed, they won't be able to sleep together. This may not be revenge per say. It might just be a dominant act of passive aggression. Either way, it's amusing to contemplate.

Reason #8: Because I recommended it! Need I say more? I personally love a foam chair bed.  They rock. You know it, I know it. Pick up some chair beds for your place today!

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I should first say that I normally don't shop at Neiman Marcus, especially not for chair beds of all things. My wife doesn't shop there either, despite what she might like people to think. Or, to be more precise, she does "window web shop" there, but I don't think we've ever made a purchase until now. We needed another fold away bed for our living room because we're having family stay over in the summer, but we didn't have enough room for a full sized sleeper sofa. We actually already have one, and that's what's taking up all the room. The way the room is set up we have barely enough room to put a small bed on the wall to the right of the sofa, but the space is a bit narrow.

So my wife was browsing the Neiman Marcus website, as she has been known to do, and came across this fantastic piece. It's simply called "Sleeper Chair" and doesn't appear to have any other identifying brand or name characteristics. Nevertheless, you can order it straight from their website and we did. To describe the piece itself, basically like a brown leather love seat, but with this very relaxed and weathered look, plus some styling that makes me think of FDR leaning back, smoking a pipe. I have no idea why. My parents weren't even born yet when FDR died so I really have no explanation for that image in my head, but it's a feeling of class, a feeling of history that seems to be imbued in the chair. You would never guess these were actually chair beds, to look at them.

The price is a bit of a whopper. I can get two cheap sofas for the price of one of these things, but it's worth it just for the style. I'll keep my fingers crossed on quality, comfort and durability. Another downside is they show the piece with an ottoman in the product photo, and then tell you the ottoman isn't available. Well, why tease us then? I would have been at least a little happier if I didn't know there was a matching ottoman I couldn't have for my futon chair bed. Anyway, this piece fits exactly where we need it to go and it matches our decor so I am rather excited. I recommend others check it out also, I think the style is rather universally classic. Definitely check it out if you need some chair beds but also want something that looks almost like a fine antique.

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Having owned a few chair beds in my time, I had never bothered to think about them beyond the fact that you can sit on one, or you can sleep on it. That was all there was to it, or so I thought. There is actually a bit of history behind this style of furniture. When I was a kid we didn't have futons. We had sleeper sofas, but that was about it. After thinking about it for a while I became curious about this newly introduced style of furniture. It didn't come out of nowhere. It came from the Far East!

The word Futon is an actual Japanese word. It doesn't refer to chair beds in general. It actually refers to any bedding that can be folded. This can be fold-able mattresses but can also refer to a stack of quilts or some other material which serves the same purpose as a mattress (and can be folded). The concept behind the word also involves the room itself, and it's ability to be used as a bedroom at night and for another purpose during the day. This evolved in part due to the crowded nature of the island nation, which has a number of cultural practices that are very savvy regarding the use of space.

In Japan, these folding beds are so popular and integrated into the culture that they are often sold in stores called Futonya. These stores carry futons exclusively, and often have an enormous selection. Futons sold there are even usually sold as a package deal with two blankets and a plastic bead (or sometimes bean) filled pillow. They are designed and intended for use on floors called "Tatami", which is a specific type of flooring used only in Japan. It is not flooring in a western sense, but rather a specifically sized board (which varies depending on the part of the country you re in) traditionally made with a core of rice straw (or some more modern filler materials these days) which is placed on the unfinished (or even sometimes dirt) floor of a home.

In the west we have made the futon our own by adding in a fold-able bed frame. We don't tend to use them as primary bedding (well, maybe if you're in college) though, which is a big cultural difference from the original. We've found our own uses for it though, and futons will meet the future as our new chair beds that we've come to love.

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Hideaway beds or sofa beds have excited for quite a while. Bed chairs work well for both normal living rooms but also smaller rooms or city apartments where space is limited. It's just so convenient to have an additional sleeping space that converts from a chair for any guests that you might have over. You really can maximize your living space this way, while having a comfortable bed to sleep on, and not have to have your friend or family member sleep on the floor.

They actually are quite sizable as a bed for one person, and work well in this function. There is mainly one design to choose from, with upholstery variations for it. The first is the standard chair, bed which usually has a lot of padding and is really accommodating for both sitting during the day for lounging, and sleeping once folded out into a bed. There are of course many designs and styles to choose from, and different materials like leather, cotton and synthetic for the fabric. And you'll be able to find a color and pattern that suits your living room easily as many are available. They are very easy to decorate with, and to coordinate with all of the items in your living room for either a classic or modern look.

The other main type is the futon chair bed. Futons are already quite mainstream and are the cheaper, modern and lighter version of a sofa bed. The futon chair bed mattress is a one piece item. Not quite as comfortable as some of the padded chair beds, it still does the trick for getting a decent night's sleep. And the frame is typically wood or a light metal like aluminum. These are very convenient especially if you are moving from place to place so much as they are quite light and easy to maneuver. So we've covered the basic of the chair bed, including the two main types and how they work.

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