Futon, sofa bed, or air mattress?

So I'm looking at buying a house and I already have friends who are ready to come visit once I get moved in. Problem: I won't have a guest bedroom. So I'm stuck deciding between if I want to buy a futon, sofa bed, or an air mattress. I don't think I can afford a NICE sofa bed unless I find one used off craigslist, so I'm thinking there's probably little difference between cheap sofa bed and cheap futon.
But at that point, I'm wondering if I should just buy a nicer air mattress? I mean... sleeping on the floor on an air mattress would probably be just as comfortable as some of the cheaper, crappier futons out there...

Thoughts?

Air Mattress. Definitely. I sleep on an air mattress over a couch/futon/pull out any day XD

Nice air mattress > cheap other thing, for sure.

Just tell your friends to bring sleeping bags

(but actually, I'm all about air mattresses: way better quality for the money and they take up a lot less space, comparatively)

Air mattresses just seem 'cleaner' to me if I am staying somewhere, haha. I don't really like futons anyway.

Looks like I'm the minority! I was going to say nice futon/cheap sofa bed. There's a blurred line, there, since nicer futons look basically like sofas. They can double as furniture or a sleeping place.

I personally hate air mattresses. They get cold, they mush, I've had many deflate on me by the end of the night, you have the hassle of setting it up then putting it away...bleh.

To be fair, I've done a lot of camping :rofl1:

IME, if you're going to go cheap with a futon or sofa bed, it's going to be springy and hurt backs LOL

Air mattress.

We have a nice one that sits on a nice frame so it's up off the floor. put a pad down or an extra blanket and no worries about it being cold. Ours has a thing you just plug in to inflate it which is SO convenient

Our house doesn't have an extra room so when guests come they have to stay in our finished basement. We just blow up the mattress and voila. when they leave, just deflate and fold up and it's out of the way and you have full use of the room again and everyone says it's very comfortable.

That sounds like the one we have, and it is great. When my brother and his wife come to stay, they stay in the room with the very nice fold out sofa - but use the air mattress because they much prefer it!

oh yeah...m y mom has a fold out sofa and OMG it's a torture device lol. when we go to visit we bring our air mattress lol

Air mattress. I'd probably go for a sofa bed being the next comfiest option.

We have a midrange futon for guests - we too considered an air mattress, and have one, but the futon works better since we needed seating in the room we also use for guests.

I just have to say I'm jealous of the buying a house.

I have slept on all three. Keep in mind that I'm used to sleeping on really uncomfortable cots or bunks for SAR. And I can sleep just about anywhere.

Air mattress - I've had mixed results. Some deflated by the end of the night, some didn't. Either way, I didn't really see much of a draw there. They're not uncomfortable. But if there's a couch available, it's just as comfortable and a lot less of a hassle.

Futon - I've only slept on a few of these, and all but one were really comfortable. The one that wasn't was broken and kind of jabbed you if you moved too far to one side. But I always liked them well enough, they're typically pretty affordable, they have a dual purpose by providing seating for guests if you need that, and they're easy to clean.

Sofa bed - These are also comfortable enough, and they also provide seating, but they're not as lightweight (easy to move around) or as affordable.

There are futons that are incredibly comfortable, even with innersprings.

But they aren't cheap unless you score one from a moving sale or something. Hickory Springs makes nice ones that aren't TOO high. http://www.hickorysprings.com/2008/supercenter.html

Of the three, on a budget, the air mattress is going to be more comfortable. An inexpensive sofa bed is generally nearly as uncomfortable to sit on as it is to sleep on Same thing is often true of futons, sadly.

Air mattress is probably your best bet in terms of space and cost effectiveness. And there are some pretty nice ones out there.

Just, please, don't buy an air mattress with those built in "pillows". That is the most uncomfortable thing EVER.

Although, I wouldn't count CL out on a sofa bed. Just a few months ago I bought a giant faux suede 7+ seater sectional with two recliners and a queen-size pullout bed... for only $250. It had a couple popped seams to repair and one leg needed to be tightened, otherwise in perfect shape. I'll admit I haven't slept on the pullout bed yet, but as a couch it is amazingly comfortable.

CL is also good if you are near a "high-end" neighborhood to watch for ads from. I can't tell you how many brand new pieces of furniture that I've seen practically given away on CL from the "rich houses" simply because they just were ready to change decor.

If I may ask, where are you looking to buy a house?

Don't be, LOL. I'm about to have hardly any money for anything ever again until I get a new better paying job. I may end up ditching eating clean and start filling up on cheap grains again. =P Hello ramen noodles, let's become reacquainted.


I am definitely going to keep my eyes on Craigslist! I did a quick sofa bed search and came up with some decently priced ones, but they were all hideously ugly LOL. Not even sofa covers would have helped. I don't own a "real" sofa anyway, I only have a small dorm-type one I bought years ago. So I will need a real sofa at some point anyway. Maybe the stars will align!

Apparently the Aerobed is supposed to be very good and it's only like $200... not terrible.

I must have sharp edges...air mattresses always seem to deflate on me and I wind up sleeping on the floor...

Me too! I definitely haven't had good luck with air mattresses.

In my experience I've found that futons were the comfiest. I just asked my brother and he agreed with me. But I have no idea what they're like price-wise.

I say futon, but my guest futon is more epic than the average.