Sleeper sofa dilemma

May 6, 2019 4:25 PM

BThe sofa was purchased some time ago. The delivery guys brought it in the house, then left. They didn’t do anything to the sofa. Fast forward to now. I want to sleep on this sofa bed.

I removed the cushions. There is a hand hold place to pull the bed up and out. There are also what seem to be stabilizer/restraint bars that probably should have been removed by the delivery guys. I can see the mattress, still plastic wrapped. The bars are hooked through the metal frame, and I don’t see any obvious way to remove them.

Can’t tell you the brand of sofa, it was a custom item bought on clearance from Arhaus several years ago.

Any clue how we can untether this thing and make it a bed?

posted by LaBellaStella to Home & Garden (14 answers total)

Maybe upload some photos to imgur?
posted by grouse at 4:29 PM on May 6, 2019

Response by poster: https://i.imgur.com/60Vx9FO.jpg
posted by LaBellaStella at 4:41 PM on May 6, 2019

Best answer: Are the bars not the legs of the bed? If it's like my old convertible sofa was the rectangular legs inhibit pulling the whole bed out by the handhold.

Use the handhold to pull the bed diagonally up out of the couch as far as you can. In my case it was only about a foot.

Grab the bar in the back at the middle and bend it out toward you. This should be easy. If it's not don't force it.

Now grab the handhold again and pull the bed all the way out.
posted by phunniemee at 4:42 PM on May 6, 2019

Response by poster: https://i.imgur.com/VR8NwoY.jpg
posted by LaBellaStella at 4:42 PM on May 6, 2019

I recently purchased a sofa bed, and my recollection was that there were some zipties only accessible from the underside of the sofa that needed to be cut.

Not exactly sure which bars you're referring to, but the bars in the photos look like part of the mechanism.
posted by Aleyn at 4:43 PM on May 6, 2019 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I added several not great pics, hopefully they'll show the problem. They are preventing the bed from fully coming out of the frame. The bed frame is brown angled pieces, the bats are round silver metal that hook in holes in the actual frame. Two of the round bars cross across the part we can see when we try to pull the bed up. It's very frustrating,since the bed seems sort of spring loaded, and it WANTS to come up and out, but it can't!
We can contact the store tomorrow, since it's not far away,but that doesn't help us tonight. Sigh.
posted by LaBellaStella at 4:49 PM on May 6, 2019

Response by poster: Phunniemee, your description sounds like what the bed should do, but the bars prevent it from doing any further movement. Thanks for the suggestion, we can see the bar you,re talking about, but without getting those round things out, it’s impossible.
Thanks for trying,
posted by LaBellaStella at 4:56 PM on May 6, 2019

What the black stuff that hold the loop of the white bar closed? Tape you could undo?
posted by advicepig at 4:58 PM on May 6, 2019 [3 favorites]

Do you remember the brand or model name (or the receipt might be archived in your email)? You may be able to find a video product review on YouTube.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 4:59 PM on May 6, 2019

Can you pull the plugs that connect through the hoops out with a pair of pliers?
posted by hwyengr at 5:07 PM on May 6, 2019

Response by poster: No paperwork. It was a custom item that was refused, and was purchased a a huge discount. It looks to me like the silver bars are to keep the bed from coming out of the frame while it’s being moved. We are hesitant to turn the chair over, since there seems to be great potential to hurt ourselves or get fingers badly pinched.
posted by LaBellaStella at 5:10 PM on May 6, 2019

Assuming that the black tape doesn't open, agreed that it seems likely the silver pins come out - either with pliers, or unthreading counterclockwise, or gently levering out ( put a screwdriver between the pin and the frame (or the thing on the pin, that would work) and gently lever it out, see if that works. Once the pin is out you can remove the round silver metal from it, let that fall to the floor, and then put the pin back in so you don't lose it.

If none of that works, reach your fingers inside to see what's on the other side of that silver pin - does it feel like a nut, or something else? You may need to hold that while you unscrew the pin, if it is threaded. It could also be a cotter pin, like you see in a trailer hitch. If that's the case there would be a small bobby pin like thing through the other side of the silver pin. Pull that out and then the silver pin should follow.
posted by true at 5:38 PM on May 6, 2019 [1 favorite]

Maybe make a video of yourself trying to open it, put it online, and link here. Shoot it from further away- not so close up as those photos, and with better light, and slowly zooming in to show what you think is the problem. Your photos are too close and it makes it hard to understand the geography of what we're looking at.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 6:47 PM on May 6, 2019 [6 favorites]

That looks just like our sofa bed did, you just unhook the one end and slide if off the peg and then it can fully open.
posted by julie_of_the_jungle at 12:32 PM on May 7, 2019