Futon

We have some friends coming to stay at our new place in a few weeks time and I have been having a think about how we are going to put them up for the night. We were originally going to borrow my parents blow up matress but, as is common with blow-up items, it unfortunately has a major puncture and had to be thrown away. I thought about buying a blow-up mattress of our own, we plan on having people stay semi regularly so we may as well invest in something. But the problem is that blow-up mattresses get punctures and always seem to magically deflat during the night, plus the time it takes to pump up and deflate. I decided to go down another route and have taken some inspiration from my Japanese travels.

Shojoshin-in

Nanten-en

Whilst we were in Japan we stayed in a Buddist temple and an Onsen, where we slept on futons. The western idea of a Futon is generally a small wooden/metal framed sofa that unfolds a mattress bed. In Japan it is a thin mattress that folds up and gets put in the cupboard during the day so that you can use the room at your leisure. I decided a Japanese futon would be a much better solution as it can be quickly wiped out of the cupboard at a moments notice. But I have gone one step better.

Zip Up Futon

These are our brand new Futons from the Futon Company. And as you can see from the picture, they fold and zip up into large cushions! How amazing is that! By day they are big cushions to be used as extra seats or decoration on the sofa or footstools, and by night they are mattresses. Plus, as we have bought two, they can be used as two single beds or zipped together to make a double bed! I am in love with them and I hope my guests will be too.
xx