If you don't have a guest room...

[new2this2]

What do you do for guests? We have a 3 1/2 ish bedroom house. All the bedrooms are spoken for so they can't be turned into a guest room... one bed is the master, one is DS room, one will be a nursery for our twins when they arrive, and one is a playroom. The playroom used to be a porch that was closed in and finished (aka only 5 1/2 feet wide) so not big enough for a guest room.

My family lives out of state so I would really like *something* for guests. The only thing I can think of is getting a sleeper sofa. Are those even remotely comfortable? Do I have any other options?

[kellikans]

we have a 2 bedroom house - one room is ours, the other is currently an office and will become a nursery in the future. we've been putting people in our office with an air mattress, which I totally hate doing, but it's our only option. once a baby comes and we no longer have an office, we'll be getting a sleeper sofa for guests to stay on. eventually, we would like to convert our garage (which is located behind our house) into a guest house/office.

[SusanBAnthony]

We have a 2 bedroom rental house, with DH and I in one room, and the kids in the other. We have a long narrow sunroom n the back of the house that is used as a playroom at one end, and a dining room at the other. Total sq. footage is under 800 so there is no good place for guests!

What we have been doing is this: sometimes, we move dd to our bedroom floor, and give her twin bed to the guest. This obviously only works if it is a single guest, though. Dd thinks it is super fun OT sleep in our room, and DS sleeps all night without a peep, so it is a decent set up.

When we have 2 guests at once, we have our old guest bed mattress in the garage (up on top of other stuff so it doesn't get damp). We drag it into the sunroom and put it on the floor in the playroom end of the sunroom. The room is barely wide enough for the mattress, but it works ok.

In your case, I would consider getting a futon or sleeper couch and putting it in the playroom. As the kids get older they will enjoy having it to sit on, and then when you have guests they will have semi-privacy. Another option might be to get your dd bunk beds with a double bed on the bottom, then she can sleep on top (when she is big enough) if you have guests, or in the floor of the twin's room, or on your floor.

Our crappy guest room setup has been awesome for keeping my in laws from staying overnight, and my family doesn't mind it at all, so they still come. Win win! Unfortunately, on the subject of my in laws, our new house does have a guest room, and I have a feeling they will be visiting us overnight way more often.

[finally]

We have a queen size futon that is really comfy. I actually like to nap on it sometimes because it has such a good cushion on it. And having a removable cover would be a great option for you with kids!

[boiler717]

Our old house was a 2 bedroom and I worked from home. I had a queen sleeper. We also had a treadmill in there. When we had guests we folded up the treadmill, moved my desk in front of the window, added a privacy screen to shield the treadmill, and pulled out the treadmill. I also used a dresser for the printer credenza instead of office furniture which made it seem more cozy. Pics are in the bio section.

[boiler717]

In your specific case, if you have a private area for a sleeper sofa I would do that. If not, I would get a full bed for your son and have guests sleep in there and have him bunk with his siblings while guests are in town.

[darkling_glory]

Feb 18, 2013 19:29:38 GMT -5 boiler717 said:

In your specific case, if you have a private area for a sleeper sofa I would do that. If not, I would get a full bed for your son and have guests sleep in there and have him bunk with his siblings while guests are in town.

This! Even an air matress in your son's room would be nice because the guests would have some privacy. He can sleep in the other girls room for a couple of nights.

[TBM]

We used to have a sleeper sofa that really comfortable. People always commented that it was more comfortable than their mattresses at home. Too bad Stearns and Foster doesn't make sleeper sofa's anymore...it really was comfy. Sometimes we would offer guests our room and we would sleep on it.

[amblor]

I agree with getting a full/queen for your oldest. A friend of mine has queen beds for her two oldest daughters (12 and 6) and they just sleep together when there is a guest using one of their beds.

[julygal]

We have a queen sleeper sofa in our playroom. It gets the standard review of fine for a couple of nights. We have a mattress topper to make it more comfortable. I have debated recently replacing the mattress with this: www.amazon.com/Leggett-Platt-Aire-Dream-Mattress/dp/B005MZDBDG

We also have a full sized air mattress to use when we have need for more than one extra bed (families with kids, holidays). If an adult is using it, we put that on the nursery floor and bring our youngest in our room. My older two share a room, so when we have kids that need to use the air mattress, then it goes in their room for a slumber party.

I remember as a kid we were always relocated when company came, so they could use our bed. I usually went to sleep in one of my sisters' rooms. We always thought it was fun.

[new2this2]

Thanks! For some reason I didn't really even think about getting a bigger bed for DS room and putting guests in there. That makes a LOT of sense. I think I'll look into that before getting a sleeper sofa. I know if I were a guest I'd appreciate the privacy.

[mrst2]

We have full beds in the kid's bedrooms. When someone comes to visit we put one of the kids somewhere else.

This is the frame I got for both kids.  www.walmart.com/ip/Premier-Platform-Bed-Frame/12082083

with this mattress
www.walmart.com/ip/Slumber-1-8-Mattress-In-a-Box-Multiple-Sizes/14225185

[mrssavy42112]

This always interested me because growing up, we always had a spare bedroom, but never had guests. It was an office/music room. I'd have friends for sleepovers, but that doesn't really count. We just never had people coming from other areas to visit us and stay in our home. I know people do it, but it wasn't anything I experienced growing up, so I personally don't feel the need for a guest room.

[Melissa W.]

I have a futon in the playroom.

[mollybrown]

We have a sofa sleeper in the playroom. We bought ours from La Z Boy, and they sell an upgraded mattress that is really comfortable. We couldn't justify paying over $300 for a glorified air mattress to go on top of our sleeper sofa, so we just bought a memory foam topper for it.

[Deleted]

A sleeper sofa in your living room or play room?

[RoxMonster]

We now have a guest room but for years in our 2 BR apartment we did not.

We invested in a couple good air mattresses and placed one in the living room and one in the office when we had guests over.

[sillygoosegirl]

We have some 4-inch foam pads for camping that are very comfortable. We store them under our bed most of the time, but can pull them out and set up as a bed for guests. They were around $100 each at Joann's.

[new2this2]

We looked at sleeper sofas and ended up ordering one. It got here today and it SUCKS. It's SO uncomfortable. We paid quite a bit for it too. The floor model was a regular sofa and they said it was going to feel the same. It doesn't. It's like sitting on concrete it's so hard. They are coming back on Sunday to replace it the same model without the sleeper (because it was super comfy). Since the sleeper was more expensive we got a decent store credit which we used to get a daybed with trundle to go in the nursery. We will just keep the baby with us when we have guests. DS has bunk beds in his room so when the baby is older they can share when we have guests. I miscarried one of the twins so space is not as much of an issue anymore