A guest bed that can be hidden away

March 14, 2012 4:00 PM

Wanted: a compact guest bed that sleeps two in a child's room, inflatable beds need not apply.

We live in a resort town and frequently have guests over, but we don't have a guest room, so they usually take over our son's room and he sleeps with us or friends. Until now we've been using a queen-sized self inflating mattress as a bed when guests visit, but we've had problems with deflations and it's just not for everyone.

We'd like to come up with an alternate solution that can be folded away or used for other purposes when we aren't entertaining. We've been reluctant to purchase a futon (not a lot of room for it) and we can't afford a murphy bed. What else is out there?

posted by furtive to Home & Garden (14 answers total)

Best answer: Is a day bed with a pop-up trundle an option? It would be like sleeping on two twins pushed together, which I wouldn't mind as a guest in someone's house, but maybe others might.
posted by peep at 4:03 PM on March 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

Perhaps a twin over double bunk bed where the double can convert into a sofa (like a futon)? There are inexpensive metal ones. But I think it would be cramped to be stuffed in the back half of the double.
posted by Sukey Says at 4:03 PM on March 14, 2012

Yeah I would definitely do a twin bed with a pop-up trundle, that way there's nothing "extra" in the room when it's just your son's room, but can easily accommodate 2 people sleeping together or separately.
posted by brainmouse at 4:06 PM on March 14, 2012

i would totally recommend a trundle day bed.
posted by violetk at 4:09 PM on March 14, 2012

Another vote for a trundle bed!

I had a trundle bed growing up. It wasn't a daybed (which tend to look a little girly, in my opinion, and may not jibe with your son), just a standard-looking bed with a pop-up trundle underneath. It was my mom's when she was growing up. Aside from it being creaky as all get-out, it served its purpose wonderfully.
posted by phunniemee at 4:23 PM on March 14, 2012

Best answer: The IKEA hemnes is a daybed that turns into a king sized bed, I've been looking into it for our guest room/office.
posted by echo0720 at 4:40 PM on March 14, 2012 [2 favorites]

We have a pop up trundle in our very small guest room. It works incredibly well. If it's not popped up, we just have a twin bed, but when both are together it fits king sheets. If you go that route, look into a "create a king" strap (we got ours at Bed Bath & Beyond) that straps the mattresses together so that they don't shift as people migrate towards the middle, and then has a pad that goes across the seam of the two mattresses.
posted by librarianamy at 5:05 PM on March 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

I don't know if it's the one my parents have, but the trundle bed thing sucks as a guest. It's impossible to pop up, eats fingers, and since it's on wheels it moves around when you switch positions. Also, the person on the trundle can't sit up and read (because it moves if you try and lean on the wall) so it's not very relaxing.

Honestly i would prefer a high quality air mattress (I can't believe I'm saying that, but some friends have an air mattress that is raised up and it's very comfortable - I have a hard time sleeping on most beds that are not my own.)

Making it into a king bed might work okay, but be sure to check how easy it is to pop up/down the trundle. Also check how easy it is to lock the wheels.
posted by argyle dreams at 5:50 PM on March 14, 2012

Best answer: My in-laws have a queen-sized foam mattress I sleep on at their house, and it's very comfortable. It's thick and folds into thirds, but is light and can be stored in a closet. It's sort of like this one (picked carelessly; I do not endorse this model in particular).
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:52 PM on March 14, 2012

I had a trundle bed too as a kid, and it was brought out for guests. You'd never know it the other 95% of the time, and as a guest, I'd still rather have anything (including the floor) than an air mattress.
posted by fiercecupcake at 9:27 PM on March 14, 2012

If you are handy you can DIY with a murphy bed kit for about $300 from Rockler.

In any case, I bet you can figure something out with some brainstorming and a trip to the hardware store.
posted by just sayin at 9:58 PM on March 14, 2012

My sister has what librarianamy describes for her office/guest room, and it works really well. She adds a memory foam topper to it, and I wasn't able tell the difference between it and the bed in her other guest room.
posted by JaneL at 4:44 AM on March 15, 2012

I have a teeny house and this futon from Ikea is very small and pretty comfortable. It's a double bed that folds up from head to toe on the mattress instead of across like regular ones. (So it's only as wide as the width of the mattress instead of as wide as the mattress length.) It's also smaller than most futons because it has no arms.
posted by artychoke at 6:17 AM on March 15, 2012

Response by poster: Thank you so much, I never knew about trundle beds, we've settled on this Ikea Hemnes that costs $450 plus another $100-170 for the mattress.
posted by furtive at 7:42 AM on March 15, 2012