...per my earlier reference, last year we revised our as in many ways. And
one was to make our fold-out sofa fold out into a king-sized bed. As we
completely gutted it, we were at liberty to do some little tricks. I will try
my best to explain how we expanded our bed. It took a great deal of thinking
on my part (which WAS painful!), but it eventually worked out. First, we
pulled the entire unit forward about 4" I think which made for more space
behind the sofa back. I knew I'd be reupholstering the ugly thing anyway, so
I didn't hesitate to have an add'l frame made to hinge to the back of the
existing sofa's back. Yes, it did involve going to the welding guy and having
him weld up a tube-steel frame of the dimensions I wanted. It's not quite as
high as the original "first" back of the sofa. After it was all upholstered,
we hinged the new back to the bottom of the original back (used 3 piano-type
hinges). This way when you unfold your sofa like you normally would, you have
another member which can unfold as well.

To support the additional weight that is now cantilevered even further, I
screwed into the back of the "new" back 2 pipe anchors. They protrude
slightly but not enough to notice it at all when the sofa is all folded up.
Then when we use it, I simply screw in some 3" pipes into those anchors to act
as a collar. Over this collar then I slip some PVC pipe that I made the exact
length to support to the floor (also put some end caps on the pvc to protect
the floor). It sounds rather jury-rigged up and it is, but it is very simple
and works quite well. I like it especially because I don't have any
"mechanical" operations that can go wrong.

This extension added about 14" to the overall bed dimension. We could have
really added more to it without any problem. Because we also got rid of an
existing and stupid angled cabinet by the refrig, there is plenty of room for
the additional bed--even enough to escape during a fire drill if necessary.

The only slight problem we have right now is this new extension as well as the
original back extension are not totally flat--they rest in their sleep
position at a very slight incline. I believe that can be solved with some
adjustments of that complicated arm/hinge hardware (whoever thought those up
was a manipulative genius!).

And when I recovered it in the Route 66 fabric, it is now super-cool! I know
this is a messy description--hope folks understand how we did it. E-mail me
if you need further explanation.....I'll really try to get some photos out to
you folks since everyone seems interested---thanks for the flattery!
nancy in missouri