Do you love sofa beds as much as we do? If so, you're in for a treat! It's been a few months now since we launched our fabulous new sofa beds here at Zeek, and we thought what better way to celebrate a successful launch than with a fun little blog post full of sofa bed fun facts, history, and why we think the modern sofa bed is just better than a plain ole' couch!
Quick Facts
- The first folding bed patent was granted in 1885 to Sarah E. Goode, a former slave and the first black woman to receive a patent. She designed a folding bed that could fit into a writing desk. Neat!
- Research shows that a typical sofa will sit roughly 782 guests. Good thing ours is so durable!
- The grandfather of the modern sofa bed was Bernard Castro, an Italian immigrant who moved to the U.S with a mere $400 in his savings. He patented his sofa bed in 1925, the precursor to the modern design we all know and love today.
- The word "sofa" comes from the Arabic word "suffah", meaning "platform used as a seat".
- Sofa beds come in a surprising amoung of types, such as the pull-out, modular, stacked, clic-clac, Murphy, Davenport, and the futon.
- While Castro and Goode typically get the most credit, William Lawrence Murphy, Leonard C. Bailey, and Rudolf Coopersmith also made significant contributions to early sofa bed developments.
Why Is The Sofa Bed Sofa-kin' Good?
A guest bedroom? In this economy?! First and foremost, the best part about the beloved sofa bed is that they're just so dang space economic. Being able to easily convert any room into a potential spare guest room without sacrificing day-to-day usability and for a fraction of the price of a fully kitted out bedroom is a godsend. Why have a room that's only used once in a blue moon when you could have a library, crafts, or study room serve double-duty! Plus, any overnight guests will certainly thank you for not making them sleep on the floor or in the bathtub.
Another benefit of a sofa bed is that you can quickly switch from sit-to-sleep mode (ours can do it in less than 5 seconds!) which means it's never been easier to have those sneaky arvo naps, or to build a great little pillow fort in the living room when you want to hide away from life's problems for a while.
Finally, sofa beds have come a long way from the clunky, heavy, uncomfortable and ugly second-rate couches of yesteryear. Once upon a time the benefits were often outweighed by the numerous downsides. But, thankfully, these days you're getting all of these benefits with no drawbacks. The modern sofa bed is just as comfortable, good-looking and affordable as a standard sofa. It can even be water-resistant, durable, and made from recycled plastics (like ours is) and all of this whilst being incredibly practical and versitile. The sofa bed in 2023 is truly at it's design peak.
And that about sums it up! Thanks for reading our thoughts on the good 'ol under-appreciated (in our opinion) sofa bed. What do you think? Do you love your sofa bed?
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