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Original poster

How do you put up guests without a spare room?

57 replies

WaitrosesCheapestVodka · 10/02/2020 10:23

Just wondering? 3 bed house with 2 DCs. Looked at sofa beds but even spending
££££ they're not as soft (and we don't have ££££!). I was thinking of a day bed in one DC's room, then they could share with their sibling? Or an airbed in lounge? Do guests hate airbeds..?

I'm hoping someone will have a genius idea that hadn't occured to me

OP posts:

BrieAndChilli · 10/02/2020 11:30

we only have family and close friends to stay.

if my sister, BIL, niece and nephew come to stay my sister and BIL sleep in the lounge on airbeds and the kids share with my kids. However at christmas all the kids (5 of them) all slept in my boys bedroom and by Sis and BIL slepyt in DDs room so there was more room downstairs etc

Like wise when MIL or SIL or a good friend of ours stay over either DD goes in with the boys and they have her room or most of the time they sleep on the sofa as we have a big squashy corner one which is lovely to sleep on!

steppemum · 10/02/2020 11:31

2 of our dc have rooms big enough for a double. One has a double bed (he is a teen) which is good enough for a couple. On has a sofa bed.

So depending on who is staying, my kids share (air mattress on each other's floors) and visitors sleep on double bed or sofa bed.
When family with kids, all kids bunk in dd2a room on the floor (notice I did not say they sleep in there...)

But we also had someone recently sleep in lounge on air bed.

A good air bed is fine for all but elderly relatives.
We have been known to give our room to my parents and we share with dd2.

midsomermurderess · 10/02/2020 11:37

I agree with some previous posters. That is what hotels and B and Bs are for.

TotorosFurryBehind · 10/02/2020 11:39

I find it strange when people visit family and expect to be put up, rather than getting a cheap hotel. Fair enough if you can't afford it...but MIL is minted, yet won't go and visit her grandchildren at Christmas because there's not room for her to stay

peachgreen · 10/02/2020 11:40

If/when we have another baby, DD will move into the spare room and keep the double bed. When guests come she'll go into her sibling's room and the guests will get the double in her room. We only have close family and friends to stay anyway.

ohmyword20 · 10/02/2020 11:42

We give up our room and sleep on our kids' floors. If there are too many people for our room we give them camping mattresses to sleep on another kid's floor. It basically turns into one massive mound of bedding, no one having the right sized quilt and a lot of folding blankets to substitute pillows!

Samhradh · 10/02/2020 11:44

Surely it's not hard to grasp that in some places, a cheap hotel, or any kind of hotel/BnB, is so far away from the people you've travelled to see that it entirely removes the point of a visit?

Heymacarana · 10/02/2020 11:46

Genuinely gobsmacked that people sleep on sofas, camp beds etc and presumably all share a bathroom or two when a travel lodge is £29.

Samhradh · 10/02/2020 11:52

@Heymacarana, not all homes come with Travel Lodges conveniently adjacent.

Pyjamaface · 10/02/2020 11:55

It depends on who is staying. DM gets DS' room and he sleeps on a small air bed in my room
Single friends get the couch
Nieces get my bed and I go into DS' bed so he has the air bed.
DSis has an inflatable camping thing so she gets the living room floor
Ex-SIL stayed for a few months and set up a camp bed in the dining room.

I have a small 2 bed so if people want to stay, they know It's a case of wherever they fit!

namechangenumber2 · 10/02/2020 11:55

It depends who's staying but we have DH brothers family to stay 2/3 times a year, there's 5 of them! DS gives up his room to his Aunt and Uncle and he sleeps on the sofa. Nephew sleeps on DS2's floor - they're close in age and 2 nieces sleep in our converted garage on sofa bed/ floor.

It's all a squash but we love it and they just appreciate that we have them to stay!

LER83 · 10/02/2020 11:56

Depends who it is, although we don't really have many guests! If its MIL&FIL we give them our bedroom & ensuite, and we go in our boys bedroom - eldest ds sleeps on the floor in dd room, and youngest stays in room on air bed, then me & dh have a single bed each. If it's our friends and 2 dc, our ds's both go in with dd, and then they all sleep in boys room. It has 2 single beds and we've got a fold up spare bed and air beds for their dc.

Itchyhead2020 · 10/02/2020 11:57

Lidl had an amazing air bed a few months ago. Huge bed and really comfortable

happymummy12345 · 10/02/2020 11:59

Should also say we can't let my dad sleep in our room as we only have 1 sofa so there's no way both dh and I can sleep on 1 sofa.
Should also say we have offered to pay half for a hotel or something to save him sleeping on the sofa but he said he'd rather stay on it so.

okiedokieme · 10/02/2020 12:01

We have double beds in dc rooms, they share if there's a guest and the guest has the room that's least messy if there's more guest dc get to sleep on the sofas! I am lucky, big house with spare room but my family live far away and like to all come together, I've had 9 or 10 to sleep often, you make for

RedRosie · 10/02/2020 12:01

No kids at home now but they often visit. We have a largish two bed two bathroom flat.

Config depends on who is staying ... We have a huge en suite bedroom so would generally give that up to older people (like aged parents/relatives or older friends) and to families as there's a big bed and room for two futons in there.

Otherwise there's a single bed with another under in the spare room for couples or two guests (or for us if we've given up the big room).

Our record was I think (when the DSCs were teenagers and down with mates for a gig) 4 in the main bedroom, 2 in the spare room and 4 in the living room. That was a fun weekend.

KatharinaRosalie · 10/02/2020 12:02

Do you have storage? One of our sofa beds was quite hard, so I bought an extra memory foam mattress topper for it, that helped. And in the study, we have IKEA Vallentuna sofa bed, which is very comfy and full size (160cm)

minipie · 10/02/2020 12:04

I think if starting from scratch I would get this kind of bed for each DC. That way when guests come they can share a room and the other room can be a twin or double. Also good for sleepovers.

If you already have beds for the DC then I would probably go with sofa bed option. If guests are elderly/pregnant they get master bedroom and we get sofabed.

We never have anyone for more than 2 nights so a slightly uncomfy bed isn’t a massive issue.

thegreylady · 10/02/2020 12:05

We have sofa beds in both spare rooms with memory foam toppers if needed . We also have a single fold up bed.If we have a few people round we use the sofas so people have places to chat or dgc can play/watch tv and we can put up 5 guests without using living room. We have a small bungalow.

BikeRunSki · 10/02/2020 12:09

Sofa bed. We split our big living room into 2 - living room and playroom. sofa bed is in playroom end. It usually stays up if guests are staying a few days. DH and I usually sleep on it and give guests our bedroom with en-suite.

karencantobe · 10/02/2020 12:10

Air bed in living room. But we have a good sofa bed.

karencantobe · 10/02/2020 12:13

@Heymacarana In my culture telling family to stay in a hotel is a massive insult. My mum would have cried.
Also staying in a cheap hotel alone at night is pretty lonely. My mum when she was live no longer slept for a long time so sat up late and was up early. She would get up and sit in our kitchen with a cup of tea or go and sit in the garden. It would have been pretty lonely for her sitting in a cheap hotel.

karencantobe · 10/02/2020 12:15

Also the £29 rooms are pretty rare. In reality people would be paying £70 a night or even more.

preponderings · 10/02/2020 12:46

Simply put, we don't. If we really had to, we could put one DC on the floor of the other's room to free up a single. We only have 4 rooms (3 bed, 1 living, dining, kitchen combined) plus a bathroom so it wouldn't be practical from a bathroom point of view either.

karencantobe · 10/02/2020 13:16

@preponderings You say that as if that is an unusually small house rather than totally standard.

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