AIBU to get bunkbeds for guests to stay on...

[tobebebebe]

We move in to our new house in 2weeks, 3 bed semi. Lovely.

Plan was to have the smallest bedroom as a guest room as we have relatives scattered all over the country, they often visit and at the moment have to stay in hotels / campsites.

Dilemma. Smallest bedroom is too small to fit any kind of bed/sofabed/air bed. Its only 2.01m x 1.73m (well, it will fit but then you wouldn't be able to open the door or escape in a fire) argh!

Do we - accept defeat and get a sofa bed for downstairs.

Or, another thought - bunkbeds will fit! would it be unreasonable to expect guests (i.e my 65 year old parents) to sleep in bunkbeds?

orrrr, does anyone have any other ideas.

Ikea lysksele is still too big opened up.

Bunk bed are fine, any relatives that can’t manage could swap with you or stay in a B&b

Op do you only have one child?

I'd be tempted to put cot / toddler bed / shorty bunk in the small room.

Use the other room as a toy room with a sofa bed for guests.

While 65 yos might be fit enough to climb into a bunk now, there is no guarantee they'd still be fit enough to do it in 5 or 10 years time.

I’ve slept on one of those self-inflating queen beds and it was amazing. I’m not talking camping mattress on the ground. This felt like real bed.

Buy an aerobed for your guests to sleep in the bigger bedroom and pop DS into the small room when they stay. He will be in a bed within a few months so then I’d buy a fold out cube type bed for him and use the small room as a home office or similar during the rest of the time.

That way everyone gets to sleep comfortably and the small room has a function during the 95% or so of the time you don’t have guests.

What would be the weight tolerance on a bunk bed though, given they are mostly aimed at under 18’s.
Do you want to have to ask potential visitors how much they weigh?
I’m on the large size myself and wouldn’t dream of sleeping in a narrow bunk bed worried in case I crashed through the top bunk. If this was the only option I would book a hotel room B and B.

Move the radiator, sliding door or curtain for the built in and change the actual door to a sliding/folding one as well.

We once viewed a house with a tiny 3rd room and that’s what they did. Also if you have the money get something custom built it will work 1000% better for the space than trying bodge something in.

@Blackbear19 I organised a weekend away with various people in a youth hostel in their 50s and 60s. I was surprised at some of those who said they could not manage a top bunk. Often people who seemed fine, but had some arthritis first thing in the morning, until they got going.

I am way too invested in this thread

Other option is to have a joiner build offset single beds at slightly different heights in an L shape, as shown in the picture.

The 2m long one could have the foot end under the 173cm long one. Your joiner could build slightly sturdier steps up, so it wouldn’t be like climbing into a bunk bed as it wouldn’t need to be the same height.

How about a fold out guest bed/futon type thing for the spare room? I wouldn't be booting my kids out of their bedroom for relatives staying. It's their home. If the relatives don't like the options available they can stay in a b&b.

In fact the 2m long one could be a standard single bed frame if you swap the radiation for a vertical radiator next to the cupboard.

Would your options improve if you changed the hinges so that the spare room door opened outwards?

Oorhubarb....I'm loving your diagrams. How did you know where to put the door?

I would....get the Argos shorty bunk beds. My kids have them and I fit easily on them...I'm about 5'4. Then when you have guests - baby on bottom bunk, you on top and husband in baby's full size bed (when he has one) or in living room. Guests in your bed.

Whatever you choose think about the future plans - don't buy expensive furniture if you plan to have more kids and the room use will change.

You could probably fit a small double - you can get them that are 135x190cm

It would be even easier if you moved the radiator 90 degrees.

I think that bunkbeds for elderly parents would be a problem.

Perhaps a sofa bed in the spare room that you swap with cot when you have guests.

Willow and Hall sofa beds look lovely but I've never sat on one. We have a Futon company single sofa bed and it's very comfortable.

You can also get even smaller doubles that are 122x190 - this divan base type has no frame/headboard to add extra cm
www.bedguru.co.uk/firm-top-premium-divan-base

We are in the exact same position as you, our spare room is tiny and the other spare room is currently a junk room. We usually give our bed up for guests so they have the tv etc etc and we go on a mattress as we haven’t got round to doing the spare room yet I’m always so happy to get back into my own bed

Love those diagrams @OoohRhubarbLetsGo ! It wouldn't be a bad idea.

I think for now we will buy an inflatable double (but a decent one) and stick it in DS's room when people stay, his cot can easily be moved to tiny room.

Think I would buy an aerobed as MatildaTheCat said. Then you could sleep on that in spare room, DS room or even in the lounge. They are very comfortable and the height of a normal bed.

We have a small double in our spare room- just checked and it’s 190cm!

In that situation I'd put parents/in laws in my and DH's room and sleep in bunkbeds myself.

If I was a guest I hate to take your bed from you, parents of young children need sleep.

There’s no way I could put my mother in a bunk bed. She’s early 60s but still works full time as a midwife so she’s definitely not an invalid. But I just couldn’t put her in a bunk bed. And if you are going to the expense of bunk beds, how long are they a viable option for your parents? Even if they manage find now, what about in 5 or 10 years time?

That room is very small. I wouldn’t even call it a room. Our bed (American king size) is larger than the whole room. That’s a cupboard with a window.

I would change the door for a pocket door, and put the child in there when guests stay. Get a large double height air mattress for the child’s room and store in the built-in wardrobe in the box room when not in use. It’s still not ideal but the house doesn’t really have 3 bedrooms. At a push the third one is a nursery as a cot would fit in. But it’s not a bedroom for adults.

I would put the toddler in a single with a pull out single underneath. When you have guests they can sleep there and he can go on a kids blow up bed in the spare room.

The last time I slept on a top bunk bed as an adult it felt very flimsy and insecure - I'm not sure the sort of bunk that would fit into a tiny room is designed to take an adult's weight (and I am female and not enormous) - so do consider the size and weight of the adults who will be sleeping on it - it might be totally unsuitable for, say, a tall man or anyone who is overweight.