From: smburke@mcws.fidonet.org (Sean Burke)
Newsgroups: ca.wanted
Subject: Re: Seeking a futon
Keywords: futons, Ikea
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 92 01:03:56 PDT
Reply-To: smburke@mcws.fidonet.org
Organization: midnight computer wiring society - Tujunga, CA, USA

irilyth@fenris.claremont.edu (Josh Smith) writes:
> I'm looking for a good quality futon, and wondered if anyone had any advice
> on where to shop in Southern CA (anywhere in the Dana Point-LA-San
> Bernardino triangle is close enough). My main concern is durability, so I'm
> particularly interested in thoughts from folks who have actually owned and
> used a futon for a year or two. Thanks!

  Okay, futon speil time, subtitled "How to not pay thru the nose and
end up sleeping on a felt brick on a wood slab anyway".

  Lemme see: you want a tri-fold (basically a foam brick), a futon
(i.e.= a kakefuton, the thing itself), sheets for the futon, and a
shikafuton (=nice fluffy comforter). (Note the lack of a "frame"; you
need to put a futon on a wood frame like you need to put a television
on a trampoline.)

  Go to this address, and get a trifold and a shikafuton:
        S. K. Uyeda Department Store
        350 East First Street
        Los Angeles, CA 90012
        Tel 687-4812 (213 or 310?!?)
(It's not a department store, it's like a housewares shop. Anyway,
there's another address, 230 East First, but I think the 350 one is
the one you want.)

  Why Uyeda? Because their trifolds don't cost much; because their
futons are filled with a polyester-cotton mix. This is the only place
I've seen (aside from Yaohan, an actual department store on 4th and
Alameda -- it's more expensive there altho it's good for browsing)
that doesn't have futons with 100% cotton filling. I speak from
experience when I say you do NOT want that all cotton filling!

  Okay, you're set for a trifold and a kakefuton. Now, at Uyeda they
do sell fitted-sheets dimensioned right for futons, but I don't
recommend buying any. Firstly, they're insanely overpriced. Second of
all, last I was there I noted a lot of the sheets had a hideous
acrylic content, which is like sleeping on Saran Wrap (again, I speak
from experience). Just use normal fitted sheets, although they might
not fit /perfectly/ -- it'll be no catastrophe.

  Now for a shikafuton. My humble suggestion is a good eiderdown. Good
luck has it that eiderdowns (with matching down pillows? Can't
remember) are at Ikea, and either they're on sale this month, or will
be next month. Maybe even the eiderdown cover and pillow cases set are
on sale, too.

  As to the size of the futon, for one person I suggest a twin. For
two people... I suggest /two/ twins. I think any futon big enough to
sleep two people comfortably is a futon that's too big to
flip/fold/fluff comfortably. Maintenance on the futon: take the
(kake)futon every few days and fluff it like a big nasty pillow.

  As to price: maybe 80$ each for the kakefuton and trifold... The
eiderdown at Ikea might be the most expensive thing (under 200$ in any
case), but a good eiderdown (which at Ikea they call a "down quilt" or
something) will last decades... along with the down pillows I seem to
remember come with the eiderdown.

| smburke@mcws.fidonet.org
|   ^^ polls to Sean Burke @ 1:102/851, which I check daily, but for
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| smburke@pain.la.ca.us
Newsgroups: ca.wanted,rec.autos