The Guest Bed Conundrum

For some folks in The Heights, the guest bed situation is not a conundrum. Some of you, undoubtedly, can devote an entire room to the comfort of your guests. Lucky you!

Others of us don't have that luxury. Some of us have kids and/or home offices that fill up any extra bedrooms we have.

What about me? Well, I live in a meager two bedroom, one bath house. As a first-time home-buyer whose income comes squarely from the non-profit sector, my partner and I could only afford a comfy, cozy little place in The Heights. We don't have kids yet, so our extra room houses our home office (and a chair for our bloodhound to curl up in). The room isn't big enough to contain a real bed, and we don't have house guests that often.

However, we enjoy when friends come to visit (our families generally opt for B&Bs in the neighborhood), and when they do, we want them to be comfortable.

So, what are some options for comfortably housing guests in cramped quarters? Here are a few we've explored:

1. Air Mattresses: Air mattresses are, theoretically, the ideal solution. When fully inflated, they can be incredibly comfortable. There are even double-decker air mattresses that offer the promise of even more comfort and a more authentic bed experience. Plus, when you let the air out, they are small enough to stow away in the corner of a closet (or a cabinet, if you're not so blessed in the closet department). I say "theoretically" because we have never had good luck with air mattresses, after years of trying. Even after doing extensive internet research to identify highly-recommended brands and models, we still end up with guests who are almost sleeping on our wood floors in the morning, due to constant leaking. Ouch!
2. Murphy Beds: Murphy beds are an interesting solution. They are real beds that fold up into a cabinet when they are not in use. This option is great for converting an office into a veritable guest bedroom in a matter of minutes. The major downsides are cost and aesthetics, although this one from hacked IKEA parts is pretty cool.
3. Fold-Out Couches & Futons: Apparatuses that primarily serve as seating but then swoop in to function as beds as needed can be quite handed. Matt and I looked into the West Elm couch above, as well as some options at IKEA. In the end, we realized we basically don't even have space for a couch/futon with a full-size mattress.
   

So, we opted for a hybrid solution. We decided to buy a futon mattress but store it under our bed when it wasn't in use. We figured it would provide the best of many worlds: affordable, comfortable, storable.

Well, it turns out that a $139 futon mattress from IKEA is quite fluffy. Too fluffy, in fact, to store under our low-to-the-ground bed.

Oy vey.

The search for more storage space in a small house began.

We do have ample closet space, but we don't have a garage, so our closets already store our bikes, lawn mowers, etc. We tried the attic, but a futon really is a lot like lugging around a dead body. It became too perilous too quickly.

Our last resort was to store it under one of the tables in our office. Of course its bulky, beige mass is aesthetically traumatizing under there, but we have a solution. The plan is to hang a suspension rod between the legs of the table and hang some fabric from it. Voila!

Any other creative solutions for making guests comfy in a small home?