Most American families feel that the living room is the center of their home. It’s where you gather to spend time with the family. It’s where you watch movies together. It’s where you introduce guests to your house. And it connects with many other important areas of your house, like the kitchen or your bedrooms.
But over time, it may feel like your living room is missing something – or that it needs a new touch to be revitalized. If that’s the case, a futon may be exactly what you need. What exactly can a futon add to your living room? And what’s the best way to get one?
How a Futon Can Improve Your Living Room
The addition of a futon can improve your living room in one (or more) of several ways:
1. Replacing bulkier furniture
Futons are known for being small, light, and portable. Accordingly, they may be able to replace some of your bulkier furniture while serving the same functionality.
If you have a large recliner couch that takes up a lot of space but still only sits three people, a futon could easily serve the same purpose. If you have old, bulky furniture you want to get rid of, a futon could be a perfect fit.
2. Allowing more walk space
With a futon replacing one or more other pieces of furniture in your living room, you should have much more space to walk around – especially if you keep the futon in a folded-up position.
This is especially important if your living room connects to other rooms of your house, or if you’re planning on hosting several people at once.
With more maneuverability, everyone in the house will feel more comfortable, and you’ll have a much easier time with tasks like cleaning.
3. Providing more seating space
If you already have a sofa or similar piece of furniture that you’re happy with, a futon could provide you with additional seating space – without taking up much more room.
Most futons can easily fit into the corner of a room without overtaking the space, giving you and your guests plenty of room to spread out.
4. Offering a guest bed
Even better, most futons can fold out to become a sleeping space. Doubling as both a sofa and a bed, futons tend to be very comfortable and easy to set up.
In a matter of minutes, you can make the bed and prepare your guest for a cozy night of sleep in your living room.
5. Complementing existing furniture
Your futon may also help to complement your existing furniture. If you have a particular look or feel you want to establish in your living room, you can buy a futon frame that suits it perfectly.
If the rest of your furniture and arrangements are on point, you’ll end up with a much more aesthetically pleasing space.
6. Showcasing your style
Futons can also be stylish, especially if you protect them with a tasteful futon cover (which you should be doing to keep your futon in good shape for as long as possible).
Choose a cover that provides an accent color to your living room, or select a cover with a pattern that shows off your personal taste.
7. Changing with the times
Futon covers are easy to remove and are machine washable; they’re also easy to put back on. Because of this, you can collect an assortment of different futon covers and change them out with the seasons, or bring out festive futon covers for the holidays.
This provides your living room with a ton of versatile visual options – and will strike up a conversation with returning guests.
8. Providing you flexibility
The ultimate advantage of a futon is flexibility. It can function as a sofa or a bed. It can fold away in a corner. It can be used and reused over and over again. It can sport a wide variety of different covers.
In short, you can use a futon however you want – and provide that “missing piece” that brings your entire living room together.
Shopping for a Futon
The only hard part is shopping for a futon since there are so many options to choose from. You can get a futon in almost any size, choose from a wide range of materials, and even choose a unique futon frame.
Try to get a set if you can – and try out a handful of different futons so you can learn your own personal preferences.
Futons are inexpensive, so it’s not a huge loss if you don’t get the perfect fit the first time. Just in case, work with a company with a solid return policy before committing to a purchase.
