It’s a rainy afternoon. I’ve send my husband and the lad away for a couple of hours (here, here’s a twenty, go buy some milk and be home by dinner) because I am doing some painting and I like doing it by myself. I’ve just finished the ceiling and washed my brushes, and I’m taking a break before I start on the walls. (Nothing interesting color-wise — just a fresh coat of white paint. )
This was a little spare bedroom that used to be a junk room and now is being transformed into a dedicated guest room. I want to make a cozy, honest-to-goodness guest room because in a couple of weeks, we will have a new person in the Moss household — my cousin, Ruby Foxburr of Loamsdown, Kansas. Ruby just graduated from Kansas State (yay, Ruby!) and has accepted an internship in Washington, D.C. She’ll be staying with us until around May.
So we are getting ready for Ruby and fixing up her room. Now, here’s where I am interested in your opinion: the only furniture I have for this room is an old bureau and two bookcases (purchased long ago at IKEA for my first apartment — KURS and BILLY, if you’re interested.) I need to get a bed in this room. What kind should I get? I am trying to decide between a daybed and a full-size conventional bed, and I am starting to confuse myself with all kinds of contingencies.
In favor of the daybed: the room is not that large (maybe 8 by 10?), and a daybed would look really cute. It would be fine for Ruby and most of our guests.
The thing with a daybed, though, is that it only sleeps one. When my parents were to come, it would be nice to have a double to sleep them on, and something a bit more comfortable than one of those pop-up units.
But then, they don’t come THAT often. If I put a daybed in there, if they found the pop-up uncomfortable, I could always shift Hambet into the guest room and let them take his bed.
How comfortable are daybeds, anyway? Another thing in my list of improbable events that I am mentally preparing for is a visit from my elderly, travel-phobic mother-in-law. But then, again, if she finds the daybed uncomfortable, then Hambet can sleep there.
There’s a captain’s style daybed at IKEA that I like — the drawer under the bed can be used either as a storage drawer or as the base for a second bed, so it converts into a full. Maybe I will look at that one. I just wonder where one keeps the other mattress?
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Bed? What about a hammock? That would save space and is quite comfortable. A guest could string up her hammock when she is off duty. And in the morning, she could jump down, bundle up her hammock (very neatly) and stow it forward before she is piped down to breakfast.
how about a futon? During the day it could be a sofa and fold out at night for a roomy bed that will sleep two (or more) if needed. There are some nice futon mattresses out there also.
Or, you could get a double or queen captains bed with plenty of drawer space underneath and forget the bureau/dresser. My dh and I have a king size water bed with 12 drawers underneath. No bureau, so we have room instead for 2 desks and a whole wall of bookshelves in our master bedroom.
Another option might be a quality airbed. Don’t laugh – I’ve slept on some of the pricy ones and they really are quite nice – there is one that has legs even.
The daybed McKid has has a regular twin-size mattress in it, so it is as comfortable to sleep on as any bed. I would get whatever makes the most sense for Ruby (since she is going to be fairly long-term), and would take up less space in the room on a day to day basis. A double or queen size bed permanently up in the room would take up a lot of space in a tiny room.
If the pop-up is just way too uncomfortable, could you do the pop up, but then put one of the Aero beds (or the like) on TOP of it when you need to?
IMO, I’d rather sleep on a day bed than a futon. Futons are just a backache waiting to happen.
I’d go with the day bed and the French Provincial look if I were you….Hey, waitaminnit, this isn’t Southern Duck Hunters forum!! Where am I?!?!Dang designer ghosts trying to possess me again(yeah, thats the ticket)!!!!
My best friend had a day bed growing up that had, as we called it, a trundle bed underneath. The mattress & the whole deal stored neatly underneath the bed and both halves of her bed were very comfortable. When pulled out, her bed was essentially a king size, so three teenagers slept there comfortably. My vote is for the day bed.
*if* you do decide to go futon, definitely do NOT get one from Wal-Mart. They really are a backache waiting to happen. The nicer ones aren’t that bad, though.
A good futon is really comfortable to sleep on. We have friends who have one that looks good (like a normal California Mission style couch during the day) and converts to a double (or maybe even Queen – it seems adequate, so it probably is a queen), and we stay on that whenever we are in their town. If we have a backache it is probably from fending off the cat (not to mention Amalia, who seems to think that because she is not in her own house, she must wake up at 2am and tackle us), not from the futon.
We got a JCPenney catalog with a lovely looking daybed with trundle. Pricey even on sale though… when you add in the cost of the mattresses and supports. What about a simple trundle frame. The IKEA one (same with the JCPenney one I mentioned) is not going to lift up like a trundle bed that can be elevated. I don’t know if they even still make them, but I used one growing up and am actually going to be getting it from my parents soon.
There is an image of something similar to the bed I saw in the JCPenney sale catalog: http://www4.jcpenney.com/jcp/ProductsHOM.aspx?DeptID=7107&CatID=22087&CatTyp=DEP&ItemTyp=G&GrpTyp=ENS&ItemID=0b6cd70&ProdSeq=1&ProdCount=1&Dep=FOR+THE+HOME&RefPage=SearchDepartment&ShowMenu=T&ShopBy=0&SearchString=sleigh+trundle&S4DeptID=7107
Not the same, but gives you an idea.
Thanks for all the ideas. I measured out the room and if I put a full size bed in there, as I had originally planned, it will swallow up the entire room. So it will definitely be a day bed. I ruled out a futon and an air mattress in case we ever needed to put elders in there — I would prefer something higher and less squishy.
Kelly, I saw those beds from Penney’s too. There is a cherry-finish one that is on an excellent sale. As you pointed out, though, that drawer trundle can’t be lifted up.
My first choice was this daybed from IKEA. When you pull the drawer out, the bed slats are (or can be positioned) at the top of the drawer, so when you put the mattress on it, it’s raised to the height of the daybed half. I was all hot to go to IKEA this week and get this daybed, but I checked the availability online and they are telling me that it’s out of stock at all three of the IKEAs near me!
If I chose a unit like this one, I could get a separate pop-up trundle and slide it under the bed. It just wouldn’t look as neat unless I put a bedskirt on the daybed… and then it would catch so much dust under there…
That IKEA bed looks neat! You might check with your cousin that she’ll be comfortable on a single (half a double) as opposed to a twin (half a king) because it can be a significant difference. But a single would certainly leave more room in the room!
–Amanda