Quaint daybeds are sneaking back into the modern landscape

In state-of-the-art homes teeming with technological toys, the notion of a daybed is almost anachronistic. Even the word seems oddly old-fashioned.

But despite its quaint label, the daybed has been inching its way back into the design lexicon and retail stores for the last few years. Often deeper than a sofa, or slim as a twin bed with or without sides, it's more a generous settee than a one-sided chaise.

Designed for more than sitting, it beckons. Whether you sit, sprawl or flat out nap on it, the daybed is the ultimate piece of cocooning furniture.

The full realization of what the daybed can be actually came to the fore outdoors, where it can take on a seductive, exotic look. Recently featured in Gump's catalog was the glamorous Sulu canopy, a four-post daybed crafted from Philippine mahogany with grid-like insets of woven abaca on the sides and front base. Fitted with a thick mattress and appointed with back cushions and throw pillows, it's topped with a billowy sheer cotton canopy, and the look can evoke South Beach to South Seas.

At $1,995, the Sulu is a more affordable version of the glam canopied four-post that Long Beach, Calif., designer Richard Frinier designed for Dedon in 2003. That romantic piece, with its Moorish-style weave of Hularo, a resin fiber, was designed, as Frinier said, "with the same comfort level as an indoor bed." With gauzy fabric panels that envelop it, the daybed, appropriately named Daydream, retails for $9,000.

That such sophisticated daybeds are available for furnishing outdoor rooms attests to their newfound trend status.

"The reason I think daybeds are so popular," says Tom Delavan, editor-at-large for Domino magazine, "is because they do double duty. By definition, a daybed is a bed and seating."

Versatile enough to take the place of sofa beds and even sofas, daybeds are especially useful with trundles or storage tucked beneath.

"They're really great for studio apartments, where there's no room both for sofas and beds," Delavan says. Affordability is another selling point, at just under $400 for the low end to around $2,500, with an average between $1,000 and $1,500.

And with styling that ranges from simple to sumptuous, from streamlined to cottage-style to baroque, daybeds easily move into family rooms or dens, sunrooms, home offices, guest bedrooms and even living rooms. A mix of materials, from dark woods such as mahogany to maple, makes daybeds fit both in casual and dressy environments.

From retailers such as Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn, West Elm and Horchow Home, you'll find cottage country with beadboard panels and wood finials, slip-covered models that feature machine-washable covers, classic curvy sleighs, bamboo look-alikes, mid-century modern styles that often are upholstered, and canopied versions that resemble scaled-down four-poster beds. Ballard Designs has a handsome black honey-finished English Colony daybed with caned sides.

Possibly the longest daybed at 101 inches is the Wells studio sofa from Room and Board. The simple design, open backed with low, top-stitched, button-tufted arms, sits on platform legs and is available in a choice of supple leathers for $2,799.

Even fancy baroque is an option from Pulaski Furniture. Its Edward daybed is made of heavily carved mahogany with acanthus leaf and bead molding and scrolled, fluted melon feet.

The considerable range of current styles may surprise baby boomers who recall grandma's uncomfortable Victorian-inspired metal daybeds or plain unadorned pieces that were no more than mattresses on casters. But the design roots are rich.

"The trundle gave daybeds a bad name," Delavan says. "The metal trundle apparatus often was visible beneath the mattress and not only was unattractive, it looked flimsy. It also added a (visual) heaviness to the lower half."

Today's trundles are more cleverly hidden, more integral to the overall design or totally covered with skirts. And gliding or pop-up mechanisms generally are smoother.

Actually, it wasn't until the industrial age that significant distinction was made between beds and sofas.

"The couch or sofa as we know it really is a Victorian invention," Delavan says.

Primitive daybeds were no more than slabs of stone or wood, but sometimes they were embellished with considerable carving. Early primitive Egyptian models were made of palm sticks or palm leaf wicker laced together with rawhide. In first dynasty Egyptian tombs (about 3100 to 2890 B.C.), craftsmanship often featured wood frames standing on carved animal legs, gazelle-like hooves or lion's paws. Veneers included inlays of ivory or ebony, and bases were woven with leather strips.

Beds found in the tomb of Tutankhamen (1336-1327 B.C.) were made of gilded or gesso-coated wood, some with sides in animal shapes.

In ancient Greece, daybeds were an integral part of socializing. Drinking, game playing and even eating centered on a piece of furniture called the kline, a daybed. Around the eighth century B.C., the Greeks took to reclining while dining, a practice widely documented in art. The daybeds were dressed with plush embroidered mattresses.

The Romans borrowed daybed designs from the Greeks, but also fused Etruscan and Eastern motifs. One elegant Pompeian daybed from the first century had turned legs and decorations of bone. Simple construction often was elevated with expensive drapery or cushion fabrics.

Centuries later, the Chinese developed their own style of daybed, a platform that held no distinction between sitting or sleeping. These vintage large-scale, low-slung pieces had straight or inward-turning feet and often were topped with a tight rattan-like weave. Today they have morphed into cocktail tables, and the design has been widely reproduced.

Colorful examples of Italian daybeds from the Renaissance (1400-1600) were tented in striped fabric. By the early 20th century, modernist architects fashioned stripped-down models, such as Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona, a sleek, tufted leather cushion on a tubular steel frame and legs, topped with a single bolster pillow. Manufactured by Knoll, the piece, designed in 1929, still is reproduced.

Daybed profiles today offer a wealth of stylistic options, as well as configurations and sizes. The cleanest design has no back or sides and can be quite slim. CB2 has a Miesian-inspired upholstered model with a clever design that allows its stacked mattresses to sleep as a twin or side by side for double-bed width.

Many daybeds resemble backless settees, with sides that can be very low or very tall. The sideboards can be straight, canted or even collapsible, as with the classic ratchet arm, which allows dropping the sides almost flat. The most familiar daybed is one that has a headboard and footboard of equal height as well as a backboard that usually is taller.

An appealing feature of daybeds is that they can be chameleons.

"A lot of the daybeds are not upholstered, which means if you want to change the look, just change the bedding — seasonally or at your whim," Delavan says.

And that means the old-fashioned daybed may never go out of style.

Source: Universal Press Syndicate, 10/25/07

Consumers say sales associates don't meet their needs

Focus groups give feedback on problems

The bedding industry can boost sales and increase consumer satisfaction if retail bedding sales associates better connect with their customers. But there is much work yet to be done in that area.

Those were some of the major lessons learned by top bedding executives and consultants who spent a week listening to bedding consumers around the country. They were participants on Leggett & Platt's Spring Alive Tour, a national, grassroots tour designed to take a better sleep message to retailers and consumers. As part of the tour, focus groups gave participants insights into consumers' attitudes about bedding and the mattress shopping experience.


Those focus groups gave the bedding executives, led by Mark Quinn, group executive vice president of sales and marketing in L&P's bedding group, a warts-and-all look at consumers' mattress opinions. Some of the sessions painted a bleak picture on key issues such as retail bedding sales associates and how they are perceived. At one of the sessions, for example, the all-female panel gave sales associates failing grades.

Kurt Ling, president of Customer Kinetics, an Atlanta-based customer experience firm, led the group, asking the women what they recalled about the last person who had sold them a mattress. "Sharky," "pushy" and "a used car salesman" were some of their responses.

Ling, who formerly worked at Maytag and Simmons, kept the discussion rolling. A seasoned researcher, he established a rapport with the women and encouraged each of them to share their thoughts.

On the other side of the one-way glass in the research facility conference room, the members of the L&P delegation listened intently to the women's comments. The focus group was one of four held during the week-long Spring Alive Tour.

Each of the focus groups consisted solely of women, who are viewed as the key decision makers in the mattress purchase.

The focus group that zeroed in on sales associates found few positive feelings about them — or the mattress shopping experience. Ling asked the women what emotions they were feeling before they walked into a mattress store. One woman said she felt "excited" about the prospect of shopping, but another said she had a sense of "drudgery" and a third reported feeling "indifferent." Perhaps the strongest comments came from the woman who said: "They (the sales associates) are going to be swarming over me."

The women had various criticisms of mattress salespeople, saying they act like robots, don't connect with them on an emotional level, recite sales pitches, steer them to the most expensive beds, and accept "kickbacks" from manufacturers.

The women indicated that the sales associates were more focused on meeting their own needs — making the most money on each sale — than in meeting customers' needs. "I want to know that a salesperson is thinking about me," one consumer said.

Reflecting on what he had learned from the focus groups, Quinn said he has a renewed appreciation for the fact that consumers buy mattresses for various reasons. "This is not just a logical decision these people have to make. It is an emotional one as well. We need to understand how to communicate with consumers on that level and shine a light on the fact that the mattress-buying decision could make a huge difference in their life and play a big part in improving their quality of life."

And Ling said that, despite all the negative comments he heard from consumers, there are some positives for the industry.

"It is interesting to me how much the mattress retailing industry has improved in the 10 years that I have been in the business," he said, "and yet we still have a bad rap. Practically, I would like to blame the long purchase cycle, but that really isn't it because all of these respondents shopped in the last six to 24 months for a new mattress. I think there is a reality we have to face of the way they see us and use it to move forward and create better experiences."

He remains hopeful: "We can create a day when it isn't like today. Part of that will be when stores don't have 50 beds lined up in three rows, and another part of it will be when we talk about things that matter and do that in a way that seems helpful rather than having sales associates who are just seen as being out to make commission."

Source: Furniture Today, 10/19/07

T3 Athletic Recovery Mattress: Official Mattress of Ironman

World Triathlon Corporation, owner of the Ironman brand, announces that T3 Athletic Recovery Products will be the official sleep partner of the inaugural Ford Ironman Louisville, Ford Ironman World Championship and the Ford Ironman World Championship 70.3. The T3 Athletic Recovery Mattress, which features patented Energia technology, will be used by some of the world's top triathletes. Expect an announcement soon regarding T3's endorsement by one of the best athletes in the sport.

The T3 Athletic Recovery Mattress is a product of T3 Athletic Recovery Products. The T3 was designed to promote the deep sleep and muscular repair necessary to absorb the intense training experienced by endurance athletes.
"Ironman is synonymous with performance and one of the key elements to peak performance is rest. Ironman has partnered with T3 because of its high quality product that targets athletes and their recovery," says Sponsorship and Licensing Manager for Ironman, Andy Giancola.

"Stress, rest and recovery are critical to regular endurance training. While there is plenty of attention focused on coaching, training, nutrition and racing equipment, there is very little emphasis on products that promote and enhance true physical recovery. The T3 Athletic Recovery Mattress is the first product of its kind designed specifically for endurance athletes," says founder and triathlete, Daniel Ederer. "T3's partnership with Ironman is an exciting and essential connection to those who can benefit the most from our mattress - the dedicated endurance athlete community. As an Ironman competitor myself, it is quite satisfying to have the T3 Athletic Recovery Mattress meet the demanding standards of becoming an official product of Ironman."

Energia is the first comfort material to successfully combine high resiliency and support with the shape-conforming comfort of memory foams. The T3 utilizes a proprietary ratio of foam densities to achieve a custom-fit feel based on sleep preferences. The benefits of Energia include:
- Reduces motion transfer and sleeps cooler than pure memory foam.
- Decreases average stress on key pressure points, thereby allowing both major muscle groups and core stabilizers to relax and repair.
- Is exceptionally durable and manufactured with environmentally friendly VPF production technology.

"I have always encouraged my athletes to view a quality mattress as a key piece of training equipment. A healthy back and shoulders and proper rest are central to the success of any endurance athlete. T3 delivers a high quality, athlete-specific sleep and regeneration solution," says Lance Watson, founder of LifeSport Coaching and coach of Olympic Gold Medalists and Ironman Champions.

The T3 Athletic Recovery Mattress will be on-site at the Ford Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii and Ford Ironman World Championship 70.3 in Clearwater, FL. Additionally, the T3 Athletic Recovery Mattress will soon be available for direct purchase exclusively through the T3 website, www.T3recovery.com. Information about purchasing can now be found at www.sunrisematt.com/ironman, or by calling 800-359-8144.

A mattress with wheel appeal

Michael Cote encourages bed hopping. All the better to help find that special one with which to settle down, he figures.

Cote, you see, is in the businesses of selling mattresses. He brings them to the doorsteps of homes so shoppers can try them out. If a customer wants to buy the bedding, the sales crew unloads the mattress on the spot.

His two-year-old Wicker Park neighborhood-based company, Sleep Squad LLC, quietly began shuttling mattresses via $200,000 customized mobile showroom/delivery truck to folks' homes last spring.

A former T-Mobile employee, Cote, 39, started Sleep Squad figuring mattresses were among the items most households needed but for which consumers hated to shop, bothered by price variations, hard sells and time taken off work to accommodate delivery.

"You're walking into the sea of white; all these mattresses. They all look the same, and after trying four or five of them, they all get confusing," Cote said. "People hate cheesy salespeople, and the high-pressure close. We've given our customers the sale price online up front. It's an everyday no-haggle low price."

Here's how it works:

A shopper goes to the Internet site (www.sleepsquad.com) or calls (888-767-7533) to make an appointment, and answer a couple of questions regarding preferences for brand, size and firmness to help narrow the selection of 100 Simmons and Tempur-Pedic mattresses in inventory to two or three to bring out.

Within one hour of a scheduled appointment, a two-person team -- one person doing the selling and the other usually fielding questions from passersby -- arrives in a vehicle tricked out with coffee maker, DVD player and monitor that shows informational DVDs or movies to keep tykes entertained while parents shop.

The mobile bedroom showroom, designed by Cote's architect father, is supposed to get as close to your front door as allowed.

Standard routine has the shades pulled down in the unit for privacy.

The salesman gives a spill about accessories, and provides a sheet of information, including pricing, about the selections being tested. Uniformed workers step out of the showroom while the customer tries the bed. A camera mounted in the corner captures the action.

The service allows customers to spend as much time on the bedding as they want, although the average customer typically takes between 15 and 20 minutes, said Cote, president and CEO of Sleep Squad, which has four investors, three full-time employees, and about 20 part-time workers.

In a traditional store, he figures, a customer typically spends, at most, five to 10 minutes on the mattress -- not enough time to really evaluate the piece.

The mattresses are priced 50-to-60 percent off manufacturers suggested retail prices, and there's no charge for delivery.

One expert in the retail mattress business says Cotes' business model is an unnecessary one with all the current retailers. But, added David Perry, bedding editor for Furniture/Today trade newspaper, the mattress shopping experience is generally not considered to be pleasant.

"I don't think there is a pressing need to sell beds door to door," he said. "The industry now has many, many, many bedding stores; probably too many. There's no lack of places a consumer can go and try out a new bed."

Perry said that some consumers might feel apprehensive about trying the mattresses in a mobile unit, even with the shades pulled down; or "they might feel more pressure in that sort of setting to buy than they might in a store."

Cote insists there's no pressure. He encourages shoppers to try to bed down with their shoes on and in several positions. He claims a 95 percent success rate for the 100 or so appointments Sleep Squad has had. In those cases where there's no match, the crew will head back to headquarters, and load up other selections.

Customers have been having fun with the concept, he said. "We've had people come out in pajamas and slippers. One family of four came out to lie on the bed."

Source: Chicago Sun Times, 10/01/07