With summer travel in full swing, many of us will be welcoming visitors in the coming weeks. But when friends and family arrive with overnight bags, they also come with a question: Where will everyone sleep?
A dedicated guest room is the obvious answer — 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 probably couldn’t hold a bigger crowd.
Don’t worry: There are plenty of other ways to add occasional sleeping spaces to a home.
“Since the pandemic, people are asking about multi-use spaces more than ever,” said Max Humphreyan interior designer based in Portland, Ore.
It’s not that difficult to combine a sleeping area with the functions of an office, media room or exercise room, Mr. Humphrey said: “Usually, it’s about prioritizing a room for the main activity and then finding a solution for the few times a year it needs to host someone.”
She and other designers share their secrets for accommodating overnight guests when space is at a premium.
Consider a Pullout
The conventional option for a temporary sleeping space is the sleeper sofa, long maligned 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 better than others. The key is to try them, or at least be aware of the quality, before you buy.
Ginger Curtis, the founder of Urbanology Designs in Fort Worth, choose a marigold-colored sleeper sofa from Wearing House to anchor the main residence of a guest cottage behind his house. “They just have a higher quality mattress, so comfort is not an issue,” Ms. Curtis, who also likes sleeper sofas from Internal Define.
Whenever he turns a sleeper sofa into a bed, he adds a pillow to top the mattress. “My kids, even when we don’t have guests, will ask to pull it out for movie night,” she said.
There are also convertible sofas that do not rely on a folding metal armature. Instead, they have cushions that slide or flip out to form a mattress, creating an uninterrupted pillow for those who don’t mind sleeping a few inches off the floor. Examples include twilight sleeper sofa from Design Within Reach (from $2,795), Fight from Blu Dot ($2,195), Alesso from CB2 ($2,199) and vintage leather options by Giovannetti and of Sede.
Or Try a Trundle
Ms. also likes Curtis the trundle beds. He installed one of the vacation cottage which he rents just outside of Fort Worth. One of the smaller bedrooms was equipped with a twin bed, so he added a custom-made trundle bed underneath.
“It’s out of the way when it’s not in use,” he said. “But then you literally double the sleeping area in a very small area.”
Camp in a Cot
Rollaway beds and air mattresses can accommodate extra guests in a pinch, but they don’t exactly scream “comfort” or “fun.” If you’re going to set up a makeshift bed, why not make something that will make your guests happy?
Recently published Mr. Humphrey of a book on the historic interior of National Park lodges (“Lodge: An Indoorsy Tour of America’s National Parks”), so it’s no surprise that he likes to offer his guests a camp-style cot. “I think it’s like camping when you stay at a friend’s house overnight,” he said. “That’s why I lean on that. It’s more fun than your usual guest-room pullout.”
He uses a Byer of Maine wooden folding bed (about $200) with sling fabric. But she added a personal touch: Her local upholstery shop made a cushioned top with a skirt that she placed over the bed. “That just elevates the design and gives it a little more personality,” he says. Also, it makes the bed more comfortable.
Find a Big Bench Seat
Don’t assume your guest bed needs to be pulled, flipped, rolled out or otherwise unfolded. When rooms need to do double duty, many designers choose a sofa or daybed with a deep bench-style seat cushion that’s roughly the size of a twin mattress.
If you have a large seat cushion on your sofa instead of several smaller ones, you can use it the same way you would a single mattress. “I have that in my own TV room at home,” said Natalia Miyar, an interior designer based in London and Miami. “I could buy sheets for it. Even my mother stayed there.”
Mark Cunningham, a New York designer, did something similar for a client in Manhattan’s West Village, installing two custom sofas, each with a twin-size seat cushion, between built-in shelves. The result: a guest room that doubles as a study.
“With this client, her kids are older, so she wanted a space for when her kids and the kids’ friends come over,” says Mr. Cunningham, who added storage drawers under the sofas. “It’s like more than a room of beds.”
Create a Window Nook
Another option is to build a large window seat that can serve as a place for reading and daydreaming during the day, and an extra bed at night.
Beth Webb, an interior designer in Atlanta, has designed homes that use window seats to maximize the number of people who can stay in one room, and to create sleeping space outside of guest rooms. For a house in Jackson Hole, Wyo., he designed a window seat with a twin mattress in the middle and padded benches at the ends, in front of a window looking out to the Tetons.
“Most of the time, empty nesters with grandchildren do it,” Ms. Webb, explaining that the setup allows her clients to put their grown children and grandchildren in the same room. “They called this room the junior master, because it was so gracious. The kids actually draw straws to see who gets it.”
Working on D. Stanley Dixon Architecthe designed a similar window seat for a pool house in Kiawah Island, SC It’s in the vestibule just outside the bedroom, for a little separation.
In both cases, the window seats have a built-in light and a shelf that doubles as a night stand.
Increase It
What if you often have a lot of overnight visitors? Consider replacing the window seat.
When Mr. Humphrey was designing a beach house in Manzanita, Ore., with Beebe Skidmore Architectshe included an oversized window seat that wraps around the living-dining room, under windows that look out over the water.
“It doubles as a living room chair and a dining bench,” Mr. Humphrey said. “But five kids can sleep there. It really is the best place in the house.”
Made by Ms. Miyar did something similar for a vacation home he designed on the Spanish island of Ibiza. “We’ve turned it into a tight-knit television room, hangout spot and late-night cocktail lounge,” he says. But instead of chairs, he added an L-shaped built-in bench on two walls, using French mattresses as seat cushions. The room can sleep a few people after a night of partying, but the rest of the time it doesn’t look like a bedroom.
“I tell all my clients to design rooms for how you live 360 days a year, not just special occasions,” says Ms. Miyar. “We’ve come up with creative ways to turn a room into something else, so there’s always life.”
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