I'm a 60-year-old woman with a futon in the living room. It makes a very comfortable extra bed and a decent sofa. It actually sits pretty high, unlike the old types of futons.
It's my best friend's bed whenever she comes for a visit, partly because she likes to fall asleep to the tv, but mostly because my 'spare bedroom' is really my sewing room.
A couple of years ago, we went shopping for a new mattress for the futon. We had a funny disagreement about who would pay for the new mattress. 'It's my couch, so I should pay for it.' 'It's my bed, so *I* should pay for it'. In the end, we just split the cost.