How should we configure these bedrooms?

[EmmaGrundyForPM]

We have three good sized bedrooms in our house. Just DH and I as dc are grown.

They are currently set up as:
Double with en suite (our bedroom)

Double bed with wardrobe and chest of drawers. lots of space around the furniture. Next to the main bathroom

Twin single beds, plus wardrobe and chest of drawers. Not a lot of additional room. Furthest bedroom from the main bathroom but it's not a big house so nit really an issue.

The mattresses on the single beds are dire and need replacing. DH has suggested that, rather than upgrading the single beds, we buy a double for that room instead. The double will take up less room.

I can see his point but I think this will give us less flexibility. A twin room means that, if we have various people staying at Christmas, for example, our two sons can share whereas they wouldn't share a double bed.

Another alternative is to put the single beds into the larger spare room and the double bed into the smaller one. However, most of our visitors are couples, so it makes sense to have the larger/nicer room as the double as that gets used the most. We occasionally have two couples come and stay at the same time. DH thinks that's another good reason to make the smaller room a double whereas I think it won't kill people to spend one or two nights in separate beds.

I realise this is a very first world problem, but I would appreciate views/opinions.

Buy a zip link bed for the second guest room that can be two singles or zipped together to make a double for couples. Obviously it will be wide but you don’t need a big wardrobe in a guest room. We use a wooden peg rail for guests. You might not need the chest of drawers either? Just have a table with a mirror above that takes up much less room.

I agree with the previous poster, guests don’t need full wardrobes and chests of drawers, just a bedside table.

The double taking up less room than two singles is meaningless, since most of the time nobody is in there. Keep it to single beds and get new mattresses.

Thanks. The wardrobes are mostly full of our clothes so they are not particularly for the guests. There is hanging space in them for guests if necessary though. The chest of drawers in the main spare room is needed as we do have some family members who come and stay for 2 weeks at a time. The wardrobes in both rooms are in alcoves (Edwardian house with fireplaces) so losing those won't gain much space. The chest of drawers in the twin room could probably go though.

I'm more interested in whether two double rooms or a double and a twin room. makes more sense. We do have a study downstairs which is just about big enough to have a single airbed in if necessary. But that's a last resort!

This is my thought. But then, if we do have people to stay for a week or more,it's quite a cramped space. My niece and her bf stayed for a week in there at Christmas and their stuff was everywhere.

Having said that, the room is usually only used for one or two nights at a time.

We have a house we rent out. Two King beds. No doublrs! One bedroom is two singles with a chest between them. Looks great in my view. Yes, space is a bit limited but if it’s a guest room, who cares?

I think 2 singles in the second guest room is more practical. How old are your DCs? Are grandchildren a possibility any time soon?

If it's only occasionally used, could you get one of those single beds with a pull out one underneath which then makes the bed into a double? I think John Lewis do them or an IKEA hemnes

This type of arrangement works. We have this in our holiday home. Slightly less space around one side of the beds but it’s more versatile. Now looks great in Setting Plaster by F&B. A bit more oomph in colour!

I didn’t realise I’d posted twice! Sorry!

@Tizerorfizz that looks great.

I'm of the view that two singles are more practical.

@Bramshott both dc are in their 20s. No immediate possibility of gc but maybe in the next few years.

@EmmaGrundyForPM They cannot have everything! It’s cheaper to keep the beds if you like them. It will cost a lot to get two zip together ones. For a gf who might never stay over! Singles are fine if you don’t want to splash out,

Thanks, the mattresses are dreadful so we definitely need to get new ones which is why we started thinking about it. But I agree we have more flexibility with 2 singles

This seems to be the answer? Albeit the wardrobes in the alcoves will remain though the room would feel more spacious with a small chair or some drawers in the alcoves rather than floor to ceiling wardrobes.

All the bedrooms in the house were originally 16 ft square. So decent sizes. However, a chunk has been taken out of the twin bedroom to create the en suite for our room. So the twin room is a weird shape.

In a way it would make sense to put the double bed in here and the twin beds in the larger spare room. But the larger spare room is a much nicer room. To be honest, the twin bedroom is usually full of crap random stuff like spare bedding, the ironing pile, DH's sports stuff etc. Whenever we do need to use it we have to find places to stick all the stuff.

Could you get the new single mattresses for the twin room and if you have two couples staying, push the beds together and use a double mattress protector and if not keep them as twin, then you have maximum flexibility.

I'd have a double in the smaller room with less storage and have a zip join king size in the larger which can be used as two single beds

That is a great idea but probably beyond budget atm.

@Iamthemoom I get where you're coming from, but the single beds are in wooden frames sp there will be too big a gap between them I think.

Consider the zip and link mattress suggestions at least which gives you both what you want. I have a superking zip and link, it is basically two single beds, the mattresses are zipped together slightly down the side of the mattress so you cannot feel the zip. The base is two separate single divans that are held together with 3 C clips, they just slot onto the bottom.

These are the same beds you find in a lot of hotels because you can separate the beds into twin singles or have a pushed together super king bed.

We went to a bed factory, they make the bases to whatever you want material wise, legs etc and the mattress to whatever you want. I know you will think this is really expensive but it isn't as it cuts out the middle man of the shop selling the beds. This was so much cheaper than going to a bed shop. Have a google for a bed factory near to you.

A single divan base is as low as £100 from a quick google.

Yes but you then need to make a cheap divan base look good. That costs money too. Single beds are great. They just don’t suit 100% but they are easy to dress. Plus mine have storage under them.

Wi think these paired singles look great!

Do you have storage under the single beds? If they're divans why not swap them for framed beds with roll out drawers underneath, or ottoman beds? At least when people do stay they can put stuff away.

If that's out of budget maybe add extra wall hooks, or over door storage, or even some shelves with baskets on?

The single beds are wooden framed. I don't think we need more storage. I'm just trying to decide if 2 doubles would ve better than a double and two singles

You are not running a guest house!
Buy new mattresses for the singles. Try out different layouts. Maybe put the drawers between the beds to double as a nightstand.
You can use the existing bedding etc so the mattresses are your only outlay.