Trundle beds - to be used by adults / occasional visitors

[BookWorm45]

Does anyone have experience of trundle beds - intention is to have one like this in guest room, for use by adults visiting or the occasional time when I or DH have got a cold ? Are these types of things ok for adults ?
Example below;
https://www.happybeds.co.uk/terrassa-oak-and-white-wooden-guest-bed-frame-eu-single

It looks nice but if you are thinking of having older people on it, how high is it? They may have trouble getting up from a low position.

We had one but it had legs to make it the same height as the single bed it was stored under. No drawer storage like yours just the trundle with it's legs tucked up underneath with wheels that allowed it to be pulled out.

Similar to the one you posted is the IKEA Hemmes day bed. That comes with drawers underneath and makes one large bed, the diagram shows how it works and I am sure there are videos on YouTube for it too. My niece had it and loved it.

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/hemnes-day-bed-frame-with-3-drawers-white-90349326/

Thanks for replies, something to think about ! The intention is to have only adults sleeping on it so mobility / comfort is a feature to think about. Trying to find the best possible solution so that when people visit they have some comfort -but for all the time when we don't have visitors, then we have the space to use.

We have got this John Lewis one in our guest room

Ooh I like the look of that John Lewis one ! Have you tried sleeping on it yourself (or have adults tried it) - is it comfortable ?
Presumably you can buy whatever size of mattress thickness you want ?

I have an Ikea one, it is left as a single but can become a double or twin, well if the room was bigger it would be a twin.

My dad sleeps on it and is fine, he's mid 80s.

I have this one
https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/brimnes-day-bed-frame-with-2-drawers-white-00228705/

Before that I had a really cheap one.

One of my DDs has the Hemnes one linked above
Height-wise it's fine, the storage is useful, and it looks good as a daybed
But one person is hemmed in on 3 sides so has to climb / crawl in, and then can't get out in the night (no good for night-time loo trips)
The other person doesn't have a headboard, so constantly loses their pillow down the back of the bed
I wouldn't dream of putting my elderly parents in it, the John Lewis one looks much better IMO

As a guest, I’ve slept in the ikea Hemnes bed and it was really uncomfortable. The mattress provided was really, really thin so that’s put me off ever buying one. (Obviously I didn’t tell my lovely host this!! 😉)

Check sizes, my DD bed has a trundle (Stompa brand) and the mattress size is smaller than a single, more of a large cot bed size. So it's perfect for child/teen but tight for an adult.

The one I had as a kid was also smaller, although mine had legs that unfolded so at least it was the same height as a normal bed.

We have one like the John Lewis one. It means the whole room isn’t take up with a double bed but if two people come to stay there are two beds. When the GC were little they slept on the trundle bed without us opening up the legs.

We have an IKEA sofabed for years and it's been great. Compact, no wooden frame to scrape your legs on, and you can pick the comfort/depth of mattress according to your budget so I'd highly recommend.
https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/cat/lycksele-series-57208/

The covers come in a limited range of colours but this company makes alternative ones for about £150, we have the Oslo green and it fits perfectly:
https://soferia.co.uk/sofas/93-lycksele-2-seat-sofa-bed-cover.html#203-fabric-oslo_sea_green

Thank you all, really helpful. I had wondered how it would work for person 1 to get in and out without climbing over person 2

We have one very similar to the John Lewis one. They don’t have to be right next to each other. We have them set up as twin beds with a bedside table between them.

I can really recommend ones from Beds on Legs - they have lots of trundles with full size mattresses whose legs store underneath but rise up, and also have wheels so they slide in and out really easily. We have had many over the years and they last very well - have shipped them round the world and the quality is good. Plus they have a sale on atm. Daybeds too.

www.bedsonlegs.co.uk

www.bedsonlegs.co.uk/products/flintshire-axton-day-bed-with-trundle-guest-bed

This comes in black or gold, eg. Price does bot incl mattress but you can get one up to 20cm deep and don't have to buy theirs.

I’ve used the IKEA hemnes when I’ve stayed at friends houses and recommend it . Very comfortable . Bought one for my elderly father who likes to sleep in his living room and he’s a fan . Easy for elderly to get up/down.

My DPs have one like the JL one. It's very neat, and I've been comfortable when I've slept in it, because it's a proper mattress.

It does have different sized bottom sheets to every other bed in the house though! It makes a king-sized double bed, but they're individually small singles (I think 2 foot 6 wide, rather than 3 foot). You can put single bottom sheets on, but they're a bit baggy.

I've my eyes on a Cotswold Company one which has got amazing reviews. Comes in white or soft grey. I'm a bit put off by the JL reviews.

We have the JL one. When couples stay, we set the trundle up so they are the same height & next to each other; if two friends stay, then they are at the same height but at other sides of the room; if the DC have a friend staying over, then we often just use the mattress off the trundle bed and put it on the floor unless they're staying for a couple of nights.

Some good links to check out and thanks to PP for tip about mattress size. What I will need is a standard 3 ft size to fit a grown adult, for maybe 90% of the time it would be an occasional sofa, but for about 10% of the time it would be either a single bed, or pulling out the trundle for 2 single beds when people stay over.

My biggest aim is to maximise the space in the bedroom so it can be used for other things when not being used as a place to sleep.

We have https://www.happybeds.co.uk/tyler-grey-wooden-day-bed-with-guest-bed-trundle-frame-only-3ft-single in white.

I can't tell you how good it is as we haven't had cause to use the trundle yet, but we just bought the bed and used the two mattresses from the bunk beds we had before. The upper bunk mattress was a little thinner (as per regulations) so that was the one we put in the trundle. They are IKEA mattresses and really comfortable.

Obviously there are downsides as PPs mention; there's no headboard to the trundle so you may lose your pillow overnight, and it's awkward for the person in the main bed to get out to the loo if they need to. (Best put the person with the weakest bladder in the trundle...)

I'm still happy with it as a compromise for providing another bed, I considered a sofabed also but we needed a bed for DS primarily then additional sleeping, so this works better for us. In a spare room a sofabed might be better.

We have a trundle bed style bed in the guest bedroom but I personally only let my elderly mum sleep on the high one, when we had my PIL over, we swapped rooms as the trundle is directly on the floor.

They are only as comfortable as the mattress you use. We looked at the IKEA one as I want a second for the box room as a sofa and the mattress is awful. You can get small single ones but it's not as easy so we may look further.

But the trundles are still a lot better than sofabeds in my opinion.

I have a John Lewis one, bought to go under DDs bed but for me to sleep on when she needs someone in with her. I have slept on it many times, as has her grandmother, and it’s comfy and easy to get up from. Was going to pass it on as (fingers crossed) think we don’t need it any more, but have decided to hang on to it just in case, as it really is good. I use it with a memory foam topper as have a bad back, so needed a slightly higher bed for DD in order for it to fit, so it’s not quite level with hers, but it still works well.

Just in case useful for anyone else that looks at this thread, I'm now considering this one to add to all the useful links above:

https://www.bedworld.net/bed-frames/madrid-wooden-day-bed/?attribute_pa_size=single&gclid=CjwKCAiAvoqsBhB9EiwA9XTWGahSqt6EeE4AYxldYbWEjhLoEFsAMT_OuMt7NSwq1ODz0Fd6c2hG4BoCuJkQAvD_BwE

I can personally recommend this one. I got it from Dunelm, without the trundle ( so slightly cheaper) as I didn't need it. It does not include the mattresses. I chose this one because I wanted to be able to use it as a settee (it's in my conservatory, which I use on a daily basis).