Your Next Futon

Do you want to avoid the whole box spring and mattress route? Consider a futon mattress. A futon mattress is a great choice for your bed. More and more people are finding that traditional mattresses, with their springs and foam just don’t cut it. Sure, if you like a soft bed, the standard futon mattress with batted cotton might not be the best choice. But soft mattresses are bad for you, right?

Lots of people, and I’m one of them, use a futon instead of a traditional couch. It’s a great alternative to a sleeper sofa. For sleeping or sitting, futons are the best.

So the first thing to realize is that sleeping and sitting are two really different activities. And so there are futon mattresses designed for each. If you live in a tiny place, dorm room, studio, etc then you might give your futon couch double duty as your bed. There’s a decent mattress for that, too.

We’ll talk about futon covers and futon frames and stuff like that in other posts, but really for now, let’s just talk mattress.

First, there’s the original — the 100-percent cotton futon mattress. Here’s the thing, and I am speaking from experience — cotton futon mattresses are heavy, and the thicker the mattress, the more difficult it is to fold. This could be a fine choice for sleeping but not for a couch. And, really it might not be so hot for sleeping, not for the long term. It starts out fine, but after a few months it can get really firm because the cotton gets compacted.

Next we have cotton/foam combos. They are top sellers because they combine the best of the two materials. The foam gives you a comfortable seat and the cotton gives you firmness. What’s more, they are lighter than 100-percent cotton and the foam keeps them from sagging. There are tons of variants in this kind of mattress. Some have more foam and others more cotton. There’s a whole science to it but go with what feels best to your body.

Next, we have cotton and polyester futon mattresses. Polyester and cotton-poly blends are light, flexible and soft. With cotton-poly blends, more polyester means more rigid futon. So if you’re shopping for a couch futon, look at the polyester percentage.

A cotton and wool futon mattress is awesome for sleeping. It’s what I’m sleeping on these days. Wool provides great support. It ‘s resilient, light weight and has great rigidity.  So all wool would not be good for a couch, plus all wool is expensive. For the best of both, try a cotton/wool futon with a wool top and bottom and cotton middle. It’s an excellent value as a long-term sleeping mattress.

Lastly, there are innerspring futon mattresses. Again, they bring together two worlds — traditional mattress and futon mattress. Or, the world of synthetic and the world of organic. Although these mattresses are heavier than traditional futons, for many people who are new to the futon world, this design sits right or sleeps right to them. Certainly the innerspring gives a support that can’t be matched but for me there’s just something not right about metal in my futon.

I hope you enjoyed this overview. Thanks for reading.

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