We are moving from a 2/2 condo to a 3/2 condo. We bought the new place furnished, and of course our current place is furnished. So, we can choose among all the furnishings for what we want.
At the new place we will have two guest bedrooms. In the first, larger one that would be the primary place we would put guests we will have a queen bed. In the second, smaller one we can have either:
queen sleeper sofa, or
bunk bed with a full bed on the bottom and a single twin on top.
PLEASE do not throw out any other options! We are going to choose between what we currently have. In our current, smaller condo, we have the sleep sofa. That room has had to function as a guest room, a guitar-playing room, and an exercise room. Which was why we chose the sleeper sofa as there was room for exercising and guitar-playing when we did not have guests. I am going to have larger rooms at the new and won’t need to exercise or play the guitar in either bedroom.
The sleeper sofa is more attractive, but it’s a pain to make up, requires special sheets because of the type of sleeper sofa it is (pulls straight out - no bar), and the
seat cushions have to be stored somewhere when we have guests.
The bunk beds aren’t dual purpose,. I’m sure they will also be a pain to make up, but would be able to be left made up and no need to store cushions. Plus, although a bunk, it’s a real bed. Could sleep three people depending on who the people are, unlike the sleeper sofa that can only sleep two.
I think the bunks would be great for grandchildren, but ds doesn’t even have a girlfriend, so who knows if or when I will have any of those.
Lastly, the sleeper sofa is in our current place and would have to be moved. It would have to be disassembled and reassembled because it won’t fit through the door assembled. More time spent by movers.
How often would you want the sofa/guitar room vs the bunk bed to possibly sleep 3 people? Isn’t this your main question? How frequently do you expect to have multiple guests and use both guest rooms?
@HImom - I don’t know. Definitely at Thanksgiving - that has been our issue when ds and mil both come (of course, who knows what the travel situation will be like this holiday).
We haven’t had the capacity to have more than a single couple come and stay with us.
Maybe I am just pining for those future grandchildren.
It just occurred to me that I might be able to put the king bed the sellers currently have in their master in the larger guest bedroom and the queen bed in the smaller one. That would be more conducive to having two adult couples come stay.
We have:
2 kings
1 queen
1 Sleeper sofa
1 bunk with full on bottom/and twin on top
from which to choose.
I can’t really remember that much about the king bed. We honestly wanted the furniture primarily for their large sectional, dining table and chairs, and FOUR TVs - one of which was 70 inches.
I guess what I need to determine is if I want/need that second guest bedroom to ever be used for anything other than sleeping guests. I just haven’t had that luxury in awhile.
Yes, before you decide what furniture, you have to decide what FUNCTIONS you want to have occur in each of the rooms. The idea of having a king in one of the guest bedrooms is definitely a possibility. It sounds like you have a LOT of options and decisions coming up.
Do you want your S to weigh in on any of the decisions, or will that just add to the confusion?
@HImom - hmm. I am certain he won’t care at this point in his life. He won’t think ahead in great detail about possible scenarios as I am.
No one is going to complain no matter what we go with. Until COVID we had a slew of company all happy to come and sleep on the sleeper sofa. My issues with it have been what a PITA it is to make up, the need to store the seat cushions somewhere (the back cushions fit underneath when it’s pulled out), and the fact that it requires this weird fitted sheet made especially for this type of sleeper sofa. As a sofa, I like it. As a bed, it’s a hassle.
Going with something other than the bunks would be more comfortable for adults, and that is all we have on the horizon right now.
Thanks for “talking” me through this. It’s helping.
Is your idea to have one of the rooms serve dual function: guitar playing/exercise as well as an occasional guest room? Any other functions? Is one of bedrooms large enough for a queen (king)? and the other functions?
We wanted our guest room to also be an office so had a built in desk area put in but that only allowed a full size bed in the room. Would have preferred a larger bed but needed to compromise. The main reason is because we use the office function often; we have guests about 3-4 times a year.
Unless you have guests often, I’d prioritize what other activities you’ll use it for more often so, I’m guessing, the sleeper sofa. If, as the third room, you’ll rarely use it, I’d put in the bed that will provide for the most guests or the greatest comfort (maybe they can even be the same).
Good luck! And congrats on the new condo. Nice dilemma to have
You can also hand the bedding to the guest and have them make up and strip their own beds. I’d also prioritize how you mostly want to use the room(s) and work around that. We have done that and it works well for us.
Our main “guests” are our two “kids” and they sleep on the beds they chose 15ish years ago. The beds each have their own hassles in making them up—one is a full size futon and one is an elevated single. The futon converts between bed and sofa and is mostly a sofa unless someone wants to convert it and sleep on it.
Sounds like you are a very thoughtful hostess and will love your new place, however you ultimately decide to furnish it. Your loved ones are lucky you are so considerate.
I think it’s a great idea for the grandkids when they come, because stuffed animals can live in the top bunk without getting everywhere. Is there also room for a crib if needed?
I had the full bunk bed set with single on top for years and it was great. We could stick a family in there, we could have a couple in there, we could have unrelated people in there. We threw all the bedding and stuff on upper bunk and removed it when it looked like that bunk was needed.
The disadvantage is that the bunk beds are a pain to make, IMO. And the set I had was a beast to dissemble and move. But for many years it provided great function.
I have that Q/S bunk bed, and I just hate it. It’s massive and fills up the whole room. The beds seem to collect much more just than the room with twin beds. We’ve never had three people in there. I’ve slept on comfortable sofa beds and assuming that’s what you have, that’s what I’d go for.
Oh, since we’re planning your grandchildren keep in mind that if they’re rambunctious, there may be some flying leaps from the top bunk onto the bottom one with the single over double/queen. But your grandchildren seem very calm in my imagination, so that’s probably not a problem. Mostly they leave toys around and you step on the Legos but you miss them when they’re not there.
Just a thought: A bed can accommodate both adults and children. Generally, the bunk bed can accommodate only children. So I think the bed (any size, and even the sofa bed) would be more useful than the bunk.
If S doesn’t have a GF right now, then grandchildren are likely at least a few years down the road at the very earliest.
I personally have stake in how my rooms look. Visually I want them appealing. To others, but mainly to me! It’s important to me. So for me, I would move away from the bunk bed idea. I’d go with the sleeper sofa for those maybe rare times that you need the third bedroom for extra guests. It will take less room and give you more options for how you might use the room once you live there and have it.
It’s probably hard to have a bunk bed in a room and not have it look kid-ish. Also it might be a rare occasion that you would have guests that would fill both levels of the bunk? A couple and a kid on top? Or three kids? Is that likely to happen??
I remember well your dilemma last fall with your MIL and son. Guess that won’t be a problem this year! Good luck on the move!
Thanks for all the collective wisdom! Reading through the various answers, at least I feel justified in why I feel a bit conflicted. I appreciate the votes!
It certainly is a good problem to have. Our inspection is today, and we are going to go over and do some careful measuring, followed by contemplating.
I like the concept of the bunks for down the road, but not at this point in our lives. @cptofthehouse your points are well-taken. But, right now, we have no “families” that would be coming to stay. I do like the versatility of them - that is the appeal.
@collage1 - yes, that has been our issue here - because of limited space the guest bedroom had to serve multiple functions. I don’t think that is going to be the case at our new place. I think there will be plenty of room to exercise in our MBR. Guitar playing takes very little space - just need an armless chair. That can be done in the MBR as well.
I guess the big question is whether or not we need some sort of office “area.” Dh is working at our kitchen table now. We always eat at the counter. The new place has a larger kitchen table that we are keeping, but there is no counter where we can eat. So, if he uses that, we’d have to make one end for working and one end for eating.
It may be possible to put the king in the smaller bedroom and then have some sort of desk/office space in the larger guest bedroom.
@fretfulmother - the “room for a crib” would be in the larger of the two guest rooms. Maybe the thing to do it to put a desk in that larger room now with the expectation that it would eventually be replaced by a crib??? Dh just rolls his eyes at me when I start talking about future grandchildren. Ds is only 23 (he’s our only) and does not even have a significant other at this point. I am not guaranteed any grandchildren.
Lots of things to think about!
Thanks, again, for all the thoughts. I love being able to come to this board for the collective wisdom and ideas.
While I’m sure you don’t want to waste physical items or $$$, if you need to get a crib or other kid friendly furniture in a few years, it will not be a big investment.
Also I have to say, to each his own of course, but if you have someone working from home, in MY world, that person needs a working space that is not in the public living space. Depending what your H needs for working (phone calls? video calls? quiet?) I would go BONKERS having that occur in my public living space. Especially if it’s on a fairly regular basis. “Desk” can take many forms in a spare space- could even be a multi-functional piece for when it is not being used as a desk.
I have slept on those bunks more than one time. The nice part of that set up is that you have two separate beds just in case two friends come who aren’t related and want to share the room. OR you can have a couple use the double lower bed.
I think that option is the most versatile with the furniture you already have.
If this isn’t a room you will be using very often, it really won’t matter if it’s a little tight with the furniture, and the guests who use it won’t care.
I would also give some thought on how you want your master bedroom to function in your new place since you have more room to spread out now. For us, the master is the sanctuary space. I would never want it to double as a music or exercise room if I had the space elsewhere
How often do you have guests? How often do you have more than one couple? If you would only use the second guest room 1 - 2 times/year, I think maybe the sofa bed option would make more sense so that room could have a desk and function as the office (and maybe exercise/music room too).
We have two spare rooms in our current house. One is a designated guest room with no other purposed. We typically have overnight guests 6 times/year plus the dog sitters use that room when we travel.
The other spare room is H’s office. (Currently getting a ton of use but typically he does work from there nightly). Once/year we have family that come with their kid. There is a futon in the office. At some point we need to upgrade that to a more comfortable sofa bed but it’s working for now as the only people who have slept on it are under 18 and not that picky ; )
No one ever enjoyed sleeping on our sleep sofas or futons over the years. Oh they put up with it to visit the grandkids, but not comfortable. So my vote is any configuration of beds, but not sleep sofa.
Would the king fit in the smaller guest room and the queen with desk in the larger guest room?
It’s helping.