Traditionally thought of as seating units suitable for living room or guest bedroom areas, futons are great furniture items to have as children’s furniture. Whether sharing a bedroom with another sibling or needing extra space to house friends for a sleep-over, one of the most popular types of children’s furniture is a futon bunk bed. Different from a traditional bunk bed, these still have a traditional twin sized mattress at the top but the bottom is a full sized futon. Perfect for watching television, these retractable pieces provide additional seating and sleeping areas for children and their guests.

Since most children’s sheet sets do not include coordinating futon covers, how does a parent purchase their child a favorite cartoon character sheet set while ensuring a futon coordinates with the must-have sheets?

The answer is a solid-color futon cover.

Choosing the most dominant color in the child’s twin sized set, parents can order a futon cover in that color.

Additionally, if the sheets are cotton, jersey knit or another type of popular fabric, there are futon covers available in a heavyweight cotton or jersey knit which can further coordinate with the sheet set.

After the cover has been purchased, if looking to tie the cover into other elements of the child’s bedroom, a great idea is purchasing curtains or a valance in the same color. Finishing off the room, finding a throw rug featuring the cartoon character or purchasing a rug in the futon cover’s color is another great idea. While not required, to present a more formal appearance, if using the futon as a sofa during the day, parents can also purchase some accent pillows that coordinate with top sheets as well as a futon’s cover. This allows one cohesive look and draws attention to the futon as the bedroom’s focal point.

It’s challenging to divide all the different futon covers out there into types, as this isn’t a product that lends itself easily to that type of categorization, as opposed to say, something like types of art to hang on your walls, or types of antiques to collect. But this won’t stop me from trying. Let’s take a look at some of the more broad types and styles of futon covers out there on the market to get an idea of what’s available and what you’d like to see on your futon frame + futon mattress at home.

I suppose we can start with the basics – the materials used in covers. In this area you’ve got the microsuede futon cover, microfiber futon cover, cotton futon cover (usually blended with polyester), and even weird things like a vinyl futon cover (“What the…”) or a denim futon cover, of which I suppose would make an awesome style to compliment the resurgance of the 1980’s jean jacket, and presumably the forthcoming mullet trend to go with it.

Beyond these, you also can find faux leather or fake leather futon covers, too, which, in this authors opinion, rock.

Next I’m going to point out something so obvious I risk losing your respect as reader, but since this is a guide, I want to discuss it all. I’m talking about futon cover colors. Popular colors include black, green, red, blue, beige, and khaki. Weird yet available colors include hot pink and bright yellow. (Egad!) Out of all these, the classiest in my opinion are are the solid black futon cover followed by beige and khaki.

Beyond this, how can we differentiate between the different slips and covers available? You can break them down into full futon cover, king sized covers, twin slipcovers, and the ever popular queen futon cover size too.

You can also start looking at features to gauge the different types out there in the home and bed market, such as waterproof covers, covers that are sold on the feature of being washable or just more easily washable than others, and futon slip covers that are made to be easily cleaned, such as those made from faux leather.

At this point, all that’s left to categorize (or nitpick) is the actual designs on the covers. Most designs come in a solid color, as mentioned, but you can find interesting things such as tropical futon covers, sports logo futon covers, and kids futon covers with cartoons and popular kids stuff (movies, toys, etc) on them.

What this all means for someone trying to decorate their house is that a futon is like a canvas: you can mask it with any kind of slip or cover you need to make it part of the painting that is your living room. Have fun and remember – to get a “new futon”, all you really need is a new futon cover!