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Husband and I are downsizing from 3 bedroom to 2 bedroom. Have guests a few times a year. Don't want to use the 2nd bedroom as a guest room only with a queen size bed and bedroom furniture since I'd like to use it as an office/craft room...but I still need to be able to sleep guests a few times a year.
I'm sure that there are some of you out there who also have this issue. What are you doing? My guests are used to having a separate room with lots of space. Can't do that anymore with this home. I need the room for an office and for the several crafts that I do. The 2nd bedroom is also very small . But I also want my guests to be comfortable. So...what is more comfortable. The day bed that has a trundle bed underneath? The sofa bed with some kind of foam thing that you put under the sheets? Or the blow up air mattress?
I have a futon with a good-quality mattress in each spare room; the rooms double nicely as office/den when I have no guests. They're pretty comfy.
I have air mattresses, too; however, my 78-year-old mom can't get up from an air mattress! They're good for kids, and for people who are a little more limber than my mom.
Forget the air mattress. Been there, done that...end of story....LOL
Having had a sofa bed, futon, and a day bed (with a slide out from under trundle bed), I would say all will work quite well for a few days stay. The day bed/trundle pull out was more comfortable then the sofa bed or futon.
That said, the question becomes which will take up less space in a room I want to use for other purposes (office/crafts as you say) 95% of the time? If memory serves me correctly, the answer is a pull out sofa or futon versus a day bed.
I say go for the one that gives you more space for your crafts/office when it is not in use as all will suffice for a few day stay.
My Parents just did the same thing and they found a sleeper sofa that instead of the thin foam mattress, it has a nice air mattress. I slept on it a couple nights when I was in their area this Spring and it was COMFORTABLE to say the least. Actually more comfy than my regular high dollar bed I sleep on every night. I'll see if I can find the manufacturer because I don't remember what it was right now off the top of my head.
Just talked to Mom, it is a LazyBoy with the "SlumberAir Mattress System" and she said it was quite expensive, but from what I saw and how it slept... well worth it.
I'm going through almost the same thing. I need to make my home office into a guest room too. I like the daybed with a pop up trundle idea, but I might just go with a regular double bed. The other thing that I have pretty much decided to do is to convert the closet into my office. Here are some images for ideas. closet office - Google Search
That will free up a lot of space. I want to use nice cabinets and countertop so that it doesn't look thrown together and will be very functional.
We lost our dedicated guest room this past year when we moved so we're going with a daybed and trundle - figured our daughter (18mo) will be able to use it as her bed when we finally get into a bigger place.
I used a nice sofa bed that fits the decor. I put a thick foam mattress over the extra thick mattress that came on it. I only use it a few times a year for guests and they always say it's better than thier bed at home. It fits the room and makes it useful for other things.
We went with a futon that has a very high-quality mattress. Some of them have what amounts to 3" of stuffing on metal bars, which I'd strongly advise against, but if you get one with a good mattress, they're like sleeping on a normal bed.
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