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With summer travel in full swing, many of us will be welcoming houseguests in the coming weeks. But when friends and family arrive with overnight luggage, they also ask the question: Where does everyone sleep?
The obvious answer is a dedicated guest room – if you’re lucky enough to have one. But it’s not always the best use of space when you don’t have guests. And it may not be able to accommodate larger crowds.
Don’t worry: There are plenty of other ways to add temporary sleeping space to your home.
“Since the pandemic hit, people are asking more than ever about multi-use spaces,” says Max Humphrey, an interior designer in Portland, Oregon.
Mr Humphrey points out that combining sleeping spaces with the functions of an office, media room or fitness room is not difficult: “A lot of times, the focus is on prioritizing a room for the main activity and then finding a solution for the main activity. “A few times a year you need to host someone. “
He and other designers share tips for hosting overnight guests when space is limited.
consider withdrawing
The traditional choice for a makeshift sleeping space is the sofa bed, which has long been vilified for causing restless nights and back pain.
“They’re like the worst of both worlds – an uncomfortable sofa and an uncomfortable bed,” Mr Humphrey said.
But some are much better than others. The key is to try it out, or at least get an idea of the quality, before you buy.
Ginger Curtis, founder of Urbanology Designs in Fort Worth, chose a marigold-colored daybed from Clad Home as the main living space in the guest cottage at the back of her home. “They just have a higher-quality mattress, so comfort isn’t an issue,” says Ms. Curtis, who also likes the sofa bed from Interior Define.
Whenever she converts a sofa bed into a bed, she adds a pillow top mattress. “My kids, even when we don’t have guests, ask to bring it out for movie night,” she says.
There are also convertible sofas that don’t rely on folding metal legs. Instead, their pads slide or flip over to form mattresses, providing uninterrupted cushioning for those who don’t mind sleeping a few inches off the floor. Examples include the Twilight sofa bed from Design Within Reach (from $2,795), Thataway from Blu Dot ($2,195), the Alesso from CB2 ($2,199), and vintage leather options from Giovannetti and de Sede.
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Ms. Curtis also likes the small gurney. She installed one in a vacation cabin she rented outside Fort Worth. One of the small bedrooms had a single bed, so she added a custom trundle bed underneath.
“When it’s not being used, it’s out of the way,” she said. “However, you can actually double the sleeping space in a very, very small area.”
camping in a crib
Rollaway beds and air mattresses can accommodate extra guests in a pinch, but they don’t quite scream “comfortable” or “fun.” If you’re setting up a makeshift bed, why not do something that will delight your guests?
Mr. Humphrey recently published a book on the historic interiors of national park lodges (The Lodge: An Indoor Journey in America’s National Parks), so it’s no surprise that he likes to provide camp-style cots for his guests . “I think when you’re staying overnight at a friend’s house, it should feel like camping,” he said. “So I’m leaning towards that. It’s more fun than your average guest room break.”
He uses a Bayer, Maine wooden folding bed (about $200) and cloth slings. But he added a personal touch: His local upholstery store made a padded top and skirt, which he placed in the crib. “It just elevates the design and gives it a little bit of character,” he said. Plus, it makes the crib more comfortable.
find a large bench seat
Don’t think your guest bed has to be pulled out, turned, rolled or unfolded any other way. When a room needs to do double duty, many designers opt for a sofa or daybed with a deep bench-like seat that approximates the size of a single mattress.
If you have one large seat cushion on your sofa instead of several smaller ones, you can use it like a single mattress. “I have this in my TV room at home,” says Natalia Miyar, an interior designer based in London and Miami. “I can buy sheets. Even my mom lives there.”
New York designer Mark Cunningham did something similar for a client in Manhattan’s West Village, installing two custom sofas between built-in shelves, each with a love seat cushion. The result: a guest room that doubles as a study.
“For this client, her kids had grown up, so she wanted a space for her kids and their friends to use when they came over,” said Mr Cunningham, who added storage under the sofa drawer. “It feels more than just a room with just a bed.”
create a window corner
Another option is to build a spacious window seat that can be used as a place to read and daydream during the day and an extra bed at night.
Atlanta-based interior designer Beth Webb designs homes that use window seats to maximize occupancy in a room and create sleeping space outside the guest room. At a home in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, she designed a window seat with a twin mattress in the middle and upholstered benches at either end, to sit in front of the window with a view of the Tetons.
“A lot of times, it’s empty nesters with grandchildren who do this,” Ms. Webb said, explaining that the setup allows her clients to put adult children and grandchildren in the same bedroom. “They call this room the Master because it’s so gracious. The kids will actually smoke the tube to see who gets it.”
She collaborated with D. Stanley Dixon Architects to design a similar window seat for a pool house on Kiawah Island, South Carolina. This seat is located in the vestibule outside the bedroom for a little separation.
In both cases, the window seat has built-in lighting and shelves that double as nightstands.
oversized
What if you often have large groups of overnight guests? Consider enlarging the window seat.
When Mr. Humphrey worked with Beebe Skidmore Architects on the design of his beach house in Manzanita, Ore., he designed a large window seat that wraps around the living and dining rooms, with windows looking down onto the water.
“It can be used as living room seating as well as a dining table,” Mr Humphrey said. “But five kids can sleep there. It’s actually the best place in the house.”
Ms Miall has done something similar with this holiday home she designed in Ibiza, Spain. “We created this cozy space that includes a TV room, gathering space and evening cocktail lounge,” she said. But instead of using a chair, she added an L-shaped built-in bench between two walls and used a French mattress as a seat cushion. After a night of partying, the room can accommodate a few people, but the rest of the time it looks nothing like a bedroom.
“I tell all my clients to design a room with your lifestyle in mind 360 days a year, not just special occasions,” says Ms. Miall. “We came up with creative ways to transform a room into something else and keep it alive forever.”
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