Types of transformations of folding sofas. The best sofa transformation mechanism: review, features and reviews Sofa extension mechanisms

Let's open a secret: there are no "bad" and "good" folding mechanisms. But there is a wrong approach to choosing a sofa for a particular room. How to find "your" option and not make a mistake - we will help you figure it out in a short review.

picking up soft sofa according to the type of transformation, pay attention to the details: design features, ease and speed of unfolding, contact with the floor and the presence of a linen box. The purpose of the future sofa is also important - daily use or unfolding from time to time?

Book

A mechanism familiar to many since childhood. Proven over the years, they are equipped with a spacious linen compartment under the seat and have an attractive price due to the simplicity and unpretentiousness of the design.

How to decompose: the seat raises up until it clicks, then lowers. The back takes a horizontal position, forming a flat surface for sleeping and relaxing.

What is good: low price, fast way unfolding, a capacious box for linen.

Things to remember: the distance from the back to the wall must be at least 10 cm, for unfolding it is necessary to make an effort.

Eurobook

Reliable and easy to use. Due to the absence of loops at the junction, the sleeping surface is smooth and comfortable. The bed is located along the sofa and does not take up much space when unfolding, which is ideal for the interior of narrow rooms. Another plus: unlike classic "book" sofas, "" does not need to be moved away from the wall every time it is unfolded - the design of the model is pushed forward.

How to decompose: Roll out the seat and lower the backrest - the place to rest is ready.

What is good: reliability and, there is no need to move the sofa every time when unfolding, suitable for narrow rooms.

Things to remember: models without wheels may scratch the floor.

Pantograph

It has all the advantages of the Eurobook, and even more. are not equipped with rollers and move apart without touching the floor - the seat seems to step forward, leaving the flooring intact and protecting it from damage.

How to decompose: pull the seat up and towards you and lower the backrest.

What is good: does not interact with the floor, equipped with a linen compartment, no need to move when unfolding.

Things to remember: unfolding requires more effort than in the "Eurobook".

eurosofa

Simple and convenient system on a metal frame, reliable and durable. Great for daily use.

How to decompose: press from top to bottom on the edge of the back - gently lowering, it will take a horizontal position. To reverse the transformation, pull the backrest frame up.

What is good: has a metal frame at the base, does not require moving the sofa away from the wall.

Things to remember:the only disadvantage of systems of this type is the high cost.

Dolphin

How easily and effectively dolphins jump out of the water, unfold with the same ease and speed. Actually, thanks to this similarity, the mechanism got its name.

Typically found in corner sofas. frame bed is held by special brackets at the level of the main part of the sofa. Due to its compactness, this model will successfully fit into the interior of a small room, and a spacious laundry box under the corner part will help to hide home textiles and household items.

How to decompose: slide the frame out from under the seat and pull it up.

puma

Like a cat, laid out as quietly and accurately as possible. No scratches from the legs or dented tracks from the wheels - even the most demanding flooring will not suffer during daily unfolding. When transforming, minimal effort is needed: pull the seat up a little, and then the mechanism will do all the work.

How to decompose: pull the bed towards you by the seat, and the part below will appear behind it.

What is good:quietness and respect for flooring, easy to unfold.

Things to remember: straight models do not have a laundry box. For corner models, it is located behind the ottoman.

Accordion

It got its name due to the similarity of unfolding with the movement of the bellows of a musical instrument. The bed is flat and wide, without tangible joints. When unfolded, the sofa significantly eats up space in length, so choose this model only if square meters allow such scope for manipulation.

How to decompose: pull the loop and the seat will move forward, and the back will turn around and split into two parts.

What is good: ease of unfolding.

Things to remember: requires a lot of space for unfolding, so do not place a table or other furniture in front of the seat. The mechanism needs to be looked after and regularly lubricated.

Caravan

The mechanism of unfolding on a metal frame, reliable and durable. Due to the transformation forward, it organizes a wide berth (similar to a double bed) with a relatively small sizes sofa "caravan".

How to decompose: pull the seat up - it will begin to describe an arc in the air. At the same time, two additional platforms will appear from under the base one after the other. When the seat is lowered onto the supports, the three functional parts form a flat sleeping surface.

What is good: design reliability and ease of transformation.

Things to remember: since the place under the “caravan” seat is occupied by additional platforms, sofas of this type do not have a linen box.

French cot

The French folding bed is a light and compact European guest solution. Due to the design features, the model unfolds much longer than the “cougar” or “eurobook”, it does not have a linen box, and also such a sofa is not suitable for daily unfolding. If you need a variant for frequent use, look for a French cot model, where in the support base instead of fabric wooden frame- this option is more useful for the spine.

How to decompose:lift the top seat cushion and pull the legs forward - the sleeper, folded like an accordion, is hidden under the seat.

What is good: lightness and structural strength.

Things to remember: there is no drawer for linen, the bed is too soft (not recommended for daily sleep), sofas with a forward-folding mechanism do not always fit well into narrow spaces.

Rich

The "Rich" mechanism is an American bifold clamshell. In its design - a metal frame and a welded lattice, reliable and durable. The system is suitable for both guest and daily use. The main feature of the mechanism is the ability to “remove” the seat under the bed, which automatically facilitates the task of transformation.

How to decompose:lift the seat and pull the system towards you - the folded double bed will appear from under the base.

What is good: easy to fold, reliable and durable.

Things to remember: The design does not include linens.

As a rule, in the acquisition of upholstered furniture for the room, the sofa plays the greatest role. This is especially important when you are going to not only spend evenings on it, but also sleep. After all, most modern pieces of furniture of this type suggest exactly this, which largely saves the surrounding space.

A folding sofa saves space in the room and serves as a good sleeping place.

As part of all this, it is the design of the sofa that should occupy the greatest attention. The degree of your comfort during sleep, as well as the practicality of this piece of furniture, depends on what it will be. Today there are quite a lot of such types of structures, so it is very easy to get confused in their diversity when choosing. To prevent this from happening, consider the main designs, while taking into account their features, disadvantages and advantages.

Types "book" and "eurobook"

The principle of unfolding a sofa with a "Eurobook" design.

The oldest of the designs today is the "book" type. The peculiarity is that it unfolds by raising the seat until it clicks, after which the design becomes a two-seater. You can also fold this mechanism when you raise the seat until it clicks. In this case, you need to make a little effort to lower it, while raising the back.

Cons: this piece of furniture assumes that it will be located at a distance from the wall (about 15-20 cm). This is necessary so that the sofa can fold and unfold freely. When folded, it can be pushed against the wall. It is also heavy, so it is undesirable to move it yourself.

But there is also a big plus. In a design of this type, you can store bed linen and other things. Due to the fact that the bottom of the sofa is quite durable and made in the form of drawers that open to the eye when unfolded, you will not have a problem where to hide the bed linen.

Another similar design is the Eurobook type. This design is more advanced. The unfolding mechanism consists in the fact that you only need to pull the drawer by the handle, which is located immediately under the seat. Then, pulling it out as far as it will go, the seat is turned over onto this box.

A sofa with a “book” design is considered one of the most comfortable and easy to use.

Due to the fact that there is a drawer, bed linen can also be stored in this sofa without any problems. And due to the good lid on the drawer, you can put even more laundry there. It is also very convenient to clean under this type of furniture. All you have to do is pull out the drawer, after which you can vacuum under the furniture with complete peace of mind.

The design when unfolding gives an almost perfectly flat surface. When folded, the seat turns into place, the drawer slides in, and the sofa takes on its original form. It is also important that this design allows you to move the sofa close to the wall. Moreover, this will not interfere with the transformation.

As for the disadvantages of this type of furniture, only the large weight of the box can be attributed here. This is a simultaneous plus, since usually in such structures the heavier the material, the more reliable it is. But during the repair, if it becomes necessary to pull it out and move it, it is better to do it together.

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Click-clack and accordion construction

The click-clack sofa is a novelty in the furniture market. This mechanism allows not only to lay it out for a bed, but also makes it possible to use it even in the “half-sitting” mode. The principle of operation is similar to a sofa-book, since characteristic clicks appear when folding and unfolding.

Drawing and options for the position of the back of the sofa “click-clack”.

The pluses include the ability to use it for 3 positions: lying, sitting and semi-sitting. This model is expensive, because the side parts can also be transformed into pillows or simply supporting elements for a more convenient location. The model is also good because it takes up little space in the room, unlike a standard sofa-book.

The disadvantage of this type is the need to move it slightly away from the wall when unfolding. Although in expensive models this may not be required. And even after unfolding, the design will not give a perfectly flat surface, since everything will be slightly shifted to the center, where the main fold is located.

An accordion-type sofa is sometimes also called a click-clack Eurotype. It also looks like an improved eurobook: the mechanism unfolds by pulling the seat forward, but only in this case the back will turn face down, forming a berth.

The advantages of this design are: the presence of a box for storing bedding, significant space savings in the room (after all, this sofa moves away from the wall by only 5 cm, which will be quite enough for it to be completely unfolded).

The downside is the impossibility of fully extending the drawer, as provided for in the eurobook. Due to this, you will no longer be able to vacuum the space under the sofa freely, unless you use a special flat nozzle.

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Sofas "lit" and roll-out type

The "lit" type is very compact. It practically does not take up additional space when unfolding, since only the armrests are unfolded. Due to this, you will get a full-fledged place to sleep 1 person.

Design advantages: the highest degree of compactness, the ability to install furniture of this type close to the wall, the ability to adjust the height and width of the armrests of this piece of furniture. On the downside, we can mention that this design does not fold out into a double bed and there are no drawers for storing bedding. Therefore, it is advisable to acquire this type when the indicated disadvantages are not significant for you.

Quite the opposite of the “lit” type presented is a roll-out type sofa. As a rule, here the sofa can turn into both a single bed and a double bed. And everything will depend on the degree of rolling out of the details from the inside. In this case, the sides can be transformed either into pillows or into soft supports.

This type of sofa is convenient in those families where they like to receive guests often and leave them at home overnight. After all, you can put on such a design as one, and 2 or even 3 people. The sofa is very reliable in operation, due to the relative simplicity of the mechanisms.

But there are significant downsides to this option. There is nowhere to put bed linen, as there are no drawers at all. When fully unfolded, the sofa will take up a lot of space, which is not always good for small rooms.

For a rational choice of a sofa, you should first find out what types of sofas exist. What are their differences, advantages and disadvantages.

There is no strict classification of types of sofas. In this review, I will be guided by the fact that sofas can be classified depending on their design and functional (purpose of the sofa) features. So let's go.

What sofas are depending on the design

In this section, I have selected the most significant design differences between types of sofas. These can be attributed

• the ability of the sofa to change shape and size without unfolding - in this part, I divided the sofas into stationary and modular
• the ability of the sofa to transform - unfold
• types of sofas depending on the type of filler
• types of sofas depending on the fabric for upholstery sofa (I think this indicator is the least significant)

Now about each design difference of sofas in detail.

Stationary, modular and island types of sofas

On this basis, sofas can be divided into three groups - stationary, modular and island. Let's figure out which ones are better.

Stationary sofas

Stationary sofas are sofas that have a fixed size. They do not allow you to change the shape and size of the product. Usually, a stationary sofa is placed along the wall. Often, the back wall of the sofa has a more economical finish (for example, felt), which differs from the main upholstery.

In turn, stationary sofas can be divided into:

Direct sofas - usually used in small spaces. There are folding and non-folding

Corner sofas - there are also folding and not folding .Corner sofas require more space.

• To the virtues stationary sofas can be attributed to the fact that when unfolding the sofa turns into a comfortable bed. You can use this sofa for both sitting and sleeping. The prices for such sofas are also quite lifting.
• disadvantage stationary sofas is a certain massiveness and not the possibility of changing the shape and size.

Modular sofas

A modular sofa consists of parts - modules that can be combined in different orders and create a single product. You can also use sofa modules as independent furniture elements.

Of course, such models are mobile and suitable for creative individuals. You can change the configuration and general appearance of the sofa. Due to the compact size of the modules, modular sofas are easy to move and transport.

• Advantages of modular sofas mobility in every sense, transformation and change general view products
• To disadvantages can be attributed to the fact that such sofas often do not have a bed and have a higher price than stationary sofas, the range of modular sofas on sale is much smaller than the range of stationary sofas.

This type of sofas is used to organize places to relax. At the same time, the sofa is not placed along the walls, but far from them. The sofa forms a semblance of an island. Island sofas have an attractive look from all sides. In shape, they can be round, semi-circular, oval and rectangular. The use of an island sofa requires that there is sufficient free space in the room. The approach to the "island" should be free from all sides. Island sofas come in a variety of sizes. From one or two local to 5-6 local versions.

• Advantages of island sofas mobility, stylish and unique appearance
• disadvantages sofas do not have a bed, require large spaces, have a high price

Conclusion: if you need a sofa to organize a sleeping place, then you need a stationary type of sofa. If you want to organize seating and daytime activities, take a look at the modular versions. An island sofa is good if there is a lot of space in the room.

The design features of the sofas allow you to create sofas of various shapes. Detailed description possible forms of the sofa in this article.

Types of sofas depending on the ability to transform

Sofas are folding and not folding.

This type of sofa contains a transformation mechanism in the design, which is located inside the sofa body. There are more than a dozen sofa folding mechanisms. You can read more about all the mechanisms of transformation

When the sofa is folded, the mechanism is not visible. The mechanism allows you to convert the dimensions of the sofa. Usually folding sofas are needed to organize a place to sleep. Folding sofas can be both angular and straight.

• Advantages of folding sofas the possibility of transformation increases the functionality of the sofa - a sofa during the day, a bed at night. Pull-out sofas can contain additional drawers for linen hidden inside the sofa
• The lack of pull-out sofas associated with the reliability of the mechanism itself and the frame of the sofa. If the transformation of the sofa is frequent, then its wear increases. You need to carefully choose a reliable mechanism and a high-quality sofa frame when buying it.

Sofas are not folding

From the name it follows that this type of sofa cannot be converted into anything. Typically, these models are used to organize seating. Non-folding sofas can be used in pairs and or together with armchairs, creating a seating area, for example around coffee table in the living room. Normally, such a sofa will work in your kitchen or dining room. If the area allows, you can use it in the hallway

• Advantages of non-folding sofas: compact size, low price
• Disadvantages of non-folding sofas: weak, limited functionality

Conclusion: if you need a multifunctional assistant, as in advertising all in one bottle, then you need a folding sofa. If the functions are more modest - just sit, then you can save a lot by buying a non-folding sofa.

Types of sofas depending on the type of filler

On this basis, two main groups can be distinguished.

Sofas filled with spring blocks

In such sofas, the filler is a structure made on the basis of metal springs. The springs can be connected in blocks or independent. Also, the spring block can have a common metal frame. This type of sofa is good for sleeping. Spring blocks have a long service life and are comfortable to use.

Sofas with filler without springs

As a filler without spring sofas may perform:

• foam rubber
• PPU - polyurethane foam
• latex
• polystyrene balls

Conclusion: the choice of filler type depends on the functional purpose of the sofa. For sleep, it is better to use sofas based on spring blocks or with latex filler. If you want to save a lot, foam rubber will help you, but then the sofa will have to be changed very quickly. PPU occupies a middle position. It will do a good job of solving problems - a sofa for sleeping and for sitting.

There are a lot of upholstery. Read about the intricacies of choosing upholstery for sofas.

Fundamentally, upholstery can be divided into

• natural (cotton, leather, tapestry, jacquard, silk)
• semi-synthetic - consist of a combination of natural and synthetic fibers (flock, chenille)
• synthetic - consist entirely of artificial components (artificial leather)

But, I think that among others design features sofas upholstery fabric plays the least value. Because it's the easiest to replace.

General conclusion on upholstery: look at them last - the design of the sofa is more important than its appearance. The choice of upholstery type depends on the purpose of the sofa.

Look at this sofa and think about where it can be used. After a short evaluation, it turns out that there are not so many possibilities for using it.

You can find a classification by purpose, which is based on the types of premises in which the sofa will be used.

What will we get as a result

• Living room sofa
• Bedroom sofa
• Sofa for kitchen, dining room
• Sofa for children
• Sofa in the hallway
• Sofa in the office or library
• Sofa for loggia and balcony

It seems to me that such a division is not very correct. Yes, it has the right to life, but the same sofa can be put in any of the rooms. The question is different. What would you do on this sofa - sleep, eat or just sit. Do you understand what I mean? You can eat in the living room and sleep in the kitchen.

Therefore, I would single out three key groups of sofas by purpose

• Seating sofa
• Sleeping sofa
• Sofa for sitting and sleeping

Conclusion on the purpose of the sofa: look at the functions that the sofa will solve in your particular case and choose based on this understanding. Do not rush to the marketing tricks of sellers - like This sofa for the living room - buy it and you will be happy. And you want to eat and sleep on it, and in this example there will be happiness, but the seller who "sold" you an unnecessary sofa.

Video - types of sofas, what to look for when choosing

Finally, I offer a short video clip. Everything that I have already told above once again for consolidation. Only now it is already "video language".

That's probably all. I hope my findings help you.