What do you have for a guest space?

[Lanthiriel]

We have an absurdly tiny third bedroom in our 1090 sq ft house. I think it's 8x10. It has a full size memory foam mattress and platform bed frame that I got from Amazon for less than $200 and an IKEA dresser. We also have a couple of bookshelves in there as our open concept living area has very little wall space. We use the closet for storage. Honestly, my husband and I have issues sleeping in the same bed (not for lack of love!), so most nights one of us winds up in there. Our "guest room" winds up getting a lot of use.

We also have two couches that are super comfortable to sleep on (one is in my husband's "game room" in the second bedroom), so we could easily sleep 7 or more if we had to. Luckily we mostly just host our moms or sisters one at a time.

[scrubbyfish]

Nothing dedicated (500 sq ft), so any one of us (guest or resident) takes floor space while others use one of the two small beds. It's great. We'll have up to three people for two nights, or one for up to five nights (or longer). I only invite people I feel comfy sharing with this way, and people only come if they are comfy sharing this way. If someone wants fancier, they can sleep in their RV or grab an AirBnB unit right near us. All good!

I usually offer an adult guest one of the bedrooms, and myself the other one, so we can each have privacy/get out of each other's faces as needed. Kids have so far been fine "wherever", they're just thrilled to have a sleepover happening!

[Metric Mouse]

Two spare 12'x12' bedrooms on the lower level. It's clownishly too much - but nice to have for the 5-6 times we tap a few kegs of brew and have 12-15 friends over for the night.

[deborah]

Nothing. Well, we do have a fold out sofa (very upmarket and comfortable) that people have stayed on.

[meerkat]

For the best guest comfort for value, I highly recommend a Murphy bed. It folds up out of the way when not in use so doesn't dedicate a room to being a guest room and can fit in virtually any room of the house. It also has the same comfort as an actual bed unlike inflatables, futons, fold out couches and such.

My bed in high school was actually a Murphy bed and it was awesome. I'd just fold it out of the way when I needed more floor space to work on a project or whatever. I had done ballet a few years previously and had the idea (never executed) of attaching mirrors to the front of the closet door part of the Murphy set up so I could have a mini-studio simply by putting my bed away.

[BlueMR2]

Nothing.  There's a very nice (and reasonably priced) hotel a short bicycle ride away.

[zephyr911]

For the best guest comfort for value, I highly recommend a Murphy bed. It folds up out of the way when not in use so doesn't dedicate a room to being a guest room and can fit in virtually any room of the house. It also has the same comfort as an actual bed unlike inflatables, futons, fold out couches and such.

My bed in high school was actually a Murphy bed and it was awesome. I'd just fold it out of the way when I needed more floor space to work on a project or whatever. I had done ballet a few years previously and had the idea (never executed) of attaching mirrors to the front of the closet door part of the Murphy set up so I could have a mini-studio simply by putting my bed away.

Well crap, now I find myself tempted to add one. The branded site seems to start at $1500 (really $2k for what I'd want)... any better options?

[deborah]

For the best guest comfort for value, I highly recommend a Murphy bed. It folds up out of the way when not in use so doesn't dedicate a room to being a guest room and can fit in virtually any room of the house. It also has the same comfort as an actual bed unlike inflatables, futons, fold out couches and such.

My bed in high school was actually a Murphy bed and it was awesome. I'd just fold it out of the way when I needed more floor space to work on a project or whatever. I had done ballet a few years previously and had the idea (never executed) of attaching mirrors to the front of the closet door part of the Murphy set up so I could have a mini-studio simply by putting my bed away.

Well crap, now I find myself tempted to add one. The branded site seems to start at $1500 (really $2k for what I'd want)... any better options?

Keeping up with the Mustachians?

[zephyr911]

Yeah, the full bed that I got for a total of $30 is fine... I'd love the extra space though. Maybe post-FIRE.

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

For the best guest comfort for value, I highly recommend a Murphy bed. It folds up out of the way when not in use so doesn't dedicate a room to being a guest room and can fit in virtually any room of the house. It also has the same comfort as an actual bed unlike inflatables, futons, fold out couches and such.

My bed in high school was actually a Murphy bed and it was awesome. I'd just fold it out of the way when I needed more floor space to work on a project or whatever. I had done ballet a few years previously and had the idea (never executed) of attaching mirrors to the front of the closet door part of the Murphy set up so I could have a mini-studio simply by putting my bed away.

Well crap, now I find myself tempted to add one. The branded site seems to start at $1500 (really $2k for what I'd want)... any better options?

Costco has plain ones starting at a thousand bucks.

[zephyr911]

Costco has plain ones starting at a thousand bucks.

I found some really nice ones for just a little more, depending on size. Still, not happening any time soon.

[lthenderson]

For the best guest comfort for value, I highly recommend a Murphy bed. It folds up out of the way when not in use so doesn't dedicate a room to being a guest room and can fit in virtually any room of the house. It also has the same comfort as an actual bed unlike inflatables, futons, fold out couches and such.

My bed in high school was actually a Murphy bed and it was awesome. I'd just fold it out of the way when I needed more floor space to work on a project or whatever. I had done ballet a few years previously and had the idea (never executed) of attaching mirrors to the front of the closet door part of the Murphy set up so I could have a mini-studio simply by putting my bed away.

Well crap, now I find myself tempted to add one. The branded site seems to start at $1500 (really $2k for what I'd want)... any better options?

I bought a kit that had all the hardware for about $200. I bought another $300 worth of wood and built one myself in a couple weeks. In fact, I even have a post on this forum showing it's construction along with the rest of the office that I built from scratch.

[Dicey]

Side note: my guilty pleasure is watching those "House Hunter" style shows (which come in different flavours - island, overseas, just in the US) etc. They ALWAYS, without fault say one of they main needs is plenty of room for guests. I really want to yell at the tv every time they end up spending hundreds of thousands more so they can accommodate their potential guests.

Haha, I'm the echo you hear when you're yelling at those idiots.

Having said that, we have a 4 BR house with a dedicated guest bedroom. When DH and I wed, we both had houses. My BR furniture ended up populating the guest room. The closet in that room is my gift closet, as I watch for screaming deals all year. Otherwise, it's a specific-purpose room and gets used at least a half-dozen times per year. We like to have guests, which helps. We also have folding futons and air mattresses to accommodate large numbers of guests, which happens at the holidays.

Unlike those silly house hunters cited above, we shopped for this house with a short list: bedrooms that didn't touch, no pool and a gas stove. That's it. This one fit the bill, even though it was bigger than we needed. It was a short sale, thus comparatively well priced for the Bay Area, and so close that DH walks to work. He actually gets paid a small amount extra because he utilizes "alternate transportation" to get to work.

[MBot]

In the living room, a 30 year old sofa bed from Kijijii. Pretty comfy when you add a big blanket on top too. A couple small ottomans become bedside tables.

A basement bedroom usually used for boarding students has a twin bed.  It is sometimes available for guests. 

I find without a dedicated space, it helps to have "guest stuff" set apart and ready.
 - eg toiletries (hotel samples from when we traveled for work so a guest can have their own new mini soap bar and shampoo), towels and wash cloths. sheets.

And since some guests come while we're at work or out of town, I typed a small "guest guide" I made that explains where things are in the house (coffeemaker, food, laundry) -!: in the city for tourism and food, local hiking and nature spots they can travel to.

[Ceridwen]

We have a 3 BDR townhouse and have 2 kids.  We bought a high-quality air mattress for guests to sleep in our finished basement.  It's not great, but I'd say we only have guests about 20 nights/year.

When our kids are a bit older and my son will have a double bed, I can see us rooming the kids together and giving guests his room with the bed.

[mustachepungoeshere]

A small spare room with a queen bed.

We live away from our families and many of our friends, and have people stay about five times a month.

It balances out - we stay with them when we visit.

We've all been doing it for years and people are respectful - quiet when people are sleeping, responsible about locking doors, careful not to hog the bathroom, etc.

Some of these friends are people I lived with in my uni days so I adore having them under the same roof again.

My in-laws used to ask us to accommodate their friend's neighbour's godchild or whoever for a month-long internship in our city or some such thing, but we pushed back and they stopped.

[Jschange]

I have a space beside my bed that fits another double bed. Lots of bedding, lots of pillows, and my mattress topper is very comfy on the floor, and mattress is plenty comfy untopped. There's also an option to sleep in the living room, but so far sleeping in the bedroom means that we can have slightly different sleep.schedules and creep out of the room as needed.