Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Where To Hide A Guest Bed

Image from Country Style found via Brabourne Farm

Having a four bedroom house and with one being our study, turning our current spare room into the new baby’s nursery means that we no longer have the space for a spare bed. My Mum and mother-in-law both suggested we hang onto the bed for a bit longer, especially as we’re planning on our baby sleeping in a bassinette in our bedroom for the first six months. However, our bedrooms are tiny and keeping the bed means that the cot would need to be dismantled and stored and I plan on using it for day sleeps with bub so this is not possible. Also, our spare bed is very rarely used. I can count on one hand the number of times it has been slept in since Grace was born when whoever was babysitting stayed the night (if we were going to be out late at function like a wedding).

So, what to do without a spare room any more? I’m considering buying a fold up bed as the ones I saw at a bed shop recently looked considerably more comfortable and larger than the one I remember us having when I was growing up. I’m not all that keen on blow up mattresses and a sofa bed is not an option as we will not need a new lounge any time soon. At least with a fold up bed, I can store it somewhere in a corner easily and drape a nice quilt or something over it to camouflage it a bit.

What do those of you without a spare room do when someone stays over? I’d love to hear your ideas…


Image from Tumblr

13 comments:

  1. We can't really have people to stay over anymore as we've run out of space, in saying that we're planning on having my niece and two nephews over for a sleepover on Sat night and they are going to bring their camping stetcher beds and the three of them will sleep in the lounge room with the heater on. I think when we have a new house we will get a sofa bed for the spare room so that when Glen's parents come out they've got somewhere to sleep. Because I agree, we hardly used our spare bed when we had it and they take up so much room don't they. I'm sure you'll make it look lovely whatever you do!
    Have a lovely day my dear,
    Jxx

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  2. Love that chair being used as a nightstand!

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  3. Amanda, a timely post with lovely images - we are also having space issues before the arrival of 2nd bub - I'll be back to see what replies you get re: spare bed.

    Hope you are well x

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  4. Can you have a combined study/spare room? We did that in our last house, with 4 bedrooms. We just utilised the space well with a desk in the corner, shelves above it on the wall, and on the other side of the room, a single bed which I decorated as a daybed. You have the option of the single beds with trundles that when set up, mean you have a queen bed.

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  5. An Aerobed! They are fabulous - inflate in 30 seconds, deflate in 30 seconds and then just get rolled up like a sleeping bag and stored in a cupboard. COmes with its own linen too. Bedshed sell them. We have the double version and its been great for guests as we lost our spare room to child number 2 as well!

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  6. Blow up mattresses are much better than they used to be and you can get ones that are higher off the ground making it feel like a proper bed. I guess that would be my suggestion. Easy to setup and pack away. Good luck with what ever you decided. ;-)

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  7. I'm with Julia - an aero bed can be made up to look just like a normal bed. My sister stayed on one at a friends recently and didn't even know it was an air bed til she woke up in the morning.
    Alternatively a sofa bed in your lounge or study.
    We went camping for the first time two years ago and although my husband and children were happy with airbeds I insisted on a camp bed (to keep me above ground and away from bugs!) and that is used regularly for sleepovers at our house.
    Good luck :)

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  8. We've just dealt with the same dilemma :) We;'ve had to turn the spare room/home office into Bub's new room :) We can have 'kids' over for sleepovers {Hubby's son comes every holidays} etc but we're now not really equipped to host adults or a family over night anymore! We kept a single bed mattress {we store it under our bed} but we've gone from 2 spare rooms with double beds to no spare rooms over the past 3 years :)
    A futon couch which flattens into a double bed is a good option in a home office room....doesn;t take up much space but can fold down to fit a couple for a night or 2 :)
    xo

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  9. Our eldest son has an ensemble type single bed with a trundle underneath that comes out and stands on legs at the same height as the single bed.The trundle looks like a mattress and there is not wooden boxy type frame which I dont like the look of. It can be made up to a queen size bed or two singles. Works well for us and packs away very neatly. It is all hidden under the bed skirt.

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  10. I know this isn't very elegant but we hide a spare matress under the big girls bed just in case we have visitors stay. I think a trundle bed is a better idea, looks nicer too but at the time my mother in law was buying the bed so I didn't want to ask her to spend the extra money. Beautiful selection of photos. xo

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  11. It sounds like it is a nice idea to have a spare room but maybe another essential? A folding bed is a good idea, or even in the room with the computer? I'd love a spare room it would be so great just to have a little bit more space. Hope you are having a great week and it's not toocold there, freezing here : )

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  12. We don't have a spare room but our double Aero bed is really handy. Not sure about the comfort factor of fold-out beds these days but our blow-up is way comfier than fold-outs I've slept on in the past and rolls up quite small so is easy to store...our sofa is quite big too so sometimes people just crash there when they sleep over :) Good luck deciding and have a great weekend!

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  13. Sonia - have been looking at the study option too although would be a tight squeeze getting a bed in there.

    Deb - The mattress looking tundle sounds great - will have to keep in mind for #2's bed :)

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