A futon bed is a little less conventional, while it is not for everyone, it can give you great sleeping comfort. If you want to change your home surroundings with a refined, exotic decor, but you still want to keep things simple, choose the incomparable Japanese style.
For you bedroom, you will find that a futon bed is not only very decorative it can also provide an excellent sleeping arrangement. I am not talking about a sofa futon in a living room that you can use as a spare bed, I am talking about transforming your bedroom into a new exotic experience.
A traditional futon is a relatively thin type of mattress, and is usually placed on top of tatami mats for the night, then rolled away and hidden in a closet during the day, leaving the room free of any furnishing for other functions. However people in western countries who have adopted the futon bed for their sleeping comfort do not roll their mattress every day, and expect a thicker mattress that is more adapted to American or European sleeping styles.
Should you decide to follow this path you will discover a particular comfort that is more seductive to people who prefer a firmer bed, as well as a traditional Japanese design that will enchant lovers of simplicity and Zen style decor.
Because you do not want to have to roll your bed you will want a platform to put it on. You can build or buy a platform bed, and add tatami mats onto it. A futon mattress will be more comfortable on tatami mats than it would be directly on the floor or on slats. In addition it will last longer. Futon mattresses come in many materials, although I advocate natural fibers like cotton. A cotton futon is is ecologic, and can be made of organic materials if that is what you want. One advantage of an organic material is that it reduces the incidence of allergies in many people. However there are many other possibilities and a few clicks on the internet will open a world of products available.
Once you have decided on your resting platform and your mattress you will need to look for a futon cover to protect your investment.
As for maintenance, it is easy with to take care of a traditional style futon beds. First removing the mattress for a quick vacuum of the platform is easy, and you might want to do that regularly. Once a month roll it up, clean the platform and replace the mattress which will benefit from being rolled up once in a while. Once a year you can give a new life to your futon by exposing it to sunshine for a few hours. Spread out in the sun for a morning will give your oriental style bed a whole new "fluff."
