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I'd love to hear your ideas on where to put overnight guests. We once had friends who had twelve of their kids with them on a camping trip near our home. In the middle of the night a storm came up. They crashed at our house-- mom & dad in our guest bed and the twelve kids in their sleeping bags on the carpeted living room floor.

 

While that WORKS, I'd love to hear ideas involving sofa sleepers, loveseat sleepers, mats, portable room dividers, etc. (We have had terrible luck with air mattresses.) We'll probably be having our extended family's New Year's Eve party at our home and I'd love to have beds for lots of people.

 

What are some comfortable sofa sleepers? Uncomfortable? (We hope to buy new living room furniture very soon). Maybe someone knows where to buy comfy mats for sleeping on? (Our family room floor is tile and that would NOT be comfortable with a sleeping bag.) We don't have a lot of storage space except in the garage so that is an issue. Where can one find inexpensive room dividers? (Or find an inexpensive plan to make them).

 

TIA

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Depends on who the guest is. Generally speaking, I'd say, "None."

 

Guests who are ok with the cot in the basement, and staying for at max, 2 nights? That shortens the list to BIL and SIL. They're welcome.

 

Guests who force their way in, causing Tazzie to sleep on our floor b/c anything but a bed upstairs is unthinkable? That would be MIL. And its reluctant, during one month a year, and as short as possible.

 

We don't have a fold out couch, guest room, or even a couch on the main floor that's comfortable to sleep in.

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We can sleep 9 additional folks in our home without resorting to an air mattress. If we want to add the 1 air mattress in the attic and have our kids in our king bed, and have 2 people willing to sleep in our room, then we can do 12 extra total. So, our home can sleep 16 in a pinch.

 

We live 2 blocks from the beach. We've never done 12 guests. We've often done 9... :)

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Well, when we have a large group like that, I make my kids leave their rooms to others (we all camp out in dh/my bedroom - we have a king bed and two couches in there). The boys have the master suite. I can sleep a family of 5 in there - all in beds.

 

We have a guest room that will sleep two in a queen. We can stick a couple portable beds in there too - so a total of four.

 

I can sleep 2 in my dd's room on beds.

 

I have three sleeper sofas - so another 6 there.

 

So, in beds - 17. If we resort to air mattresses, I can fit more. wow! I didn't realize how many CAN fit in my house until now!

 

And, our house isn't THAT big. 2400 sq. ft.

Edited by Jennifer in MI
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Well, when we have a large group like that, I make my kids leave their rooms to others (we all camp out in dh/my bedroom - we have a king bed and two couches in there). The boys have the master suite. I can sleep a family of 5 in there - all in beds.

 

We have a guest room that will sleep two in a queen. We can stick a couple portable beds in there too - so a total of four.

 

I can sleep 2 in my dd's room on beds.

 

I have three sleeper sofas - so another 6 there.

 

So, in beds - 17. If we resort to air mattresses, I can fit more. wow! I didn't realize how many CAN fit in my house until now!

 

And, our house isn't THAT big. 2400 sq. ft.

 

Very impressive! What sofa sleepers do you recommend? I know some have that bar that really gets you in the back;o(

Edited by mom2abcd
Purple smiley-guy didn't attach- LOL
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We can sleep an extra 8 on furniture, and more if it's kids on the floor in sleeping bags. We may have a big crew come visit soon and we've talked about hooking up our camper in our driveway or near our barn. It will sleep 6.

 

There's an idea! We could borrow someone's camper!

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Very impressive! What sofa sleepers do you recommend? I know some have that bar that really gets you in the back

 

The really nice ones are hand-me-downs. My ILs gave us a sleeper sofa and they had paid the extra money to upgrade the mattress. It was VERY worth the money. That mattress is very nice. Another one, we got off Craig's List. Again, I don't know the brand, but it is also nice. The one my dh and I bought together when we first started out (it's now in our basement) has the bar across the back. It's awful!!! We thought about spending the money and upgrading the mattress (I think it was another $75 for a new one), but we so rarely need that mattress, we didn't.

 

One of the best things, IMHO, is either a trundle bed or an extra mattress stored under beds. They can be pulled out quite easily to accommodate guests very comfortably. That's why we can have so many. But, ours were mostly given to us by my MIL when they downsized, so I didn't have the investment.

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Friends get the living room couch and floor with an air mattress. I don't offer my room to guests. I do offer to pay for a hotel for them though. Sometimes they take us up on it, sometimes they choose the living room.

 

We used to offer the floor of our kid's rooms, with a queen size air mattress, to couples. Both of my kid's rooms now have some thing in the floor which prevents that (ds's hobby table and bed, dd's leg to her loft bed). I don't offer my kids twin size bed, or rooms to young guests because they both have things in them that make them not safe for most kids. The temptation behind a closed door would be too much. Ds's hobby materials (strong metal/plastic glues, paints, airbrush, spray paint etc.) and dd's bookcases full of fragile collectibles. And it is too much to move for a child size, over night, guest.

 

Years ago, I used to cater to overnight guests, now, I prefer to pay the few hundred in hotel fees a year, and not worry about it.

 

To anyone on my side of the family, I just suggest they stay at my sister's home. She is 30 minutes away, with a huge home and guest rooms. She loves guests. I don't offer to pay hotels for my family. BTW, before you think that is mean, it is just my mom who visits and occasionally my other sister. They will want to see my sister who lives 30 minutes away, so it is easiest if they just stay there in the first place and visit us later.

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If they want beds, then none. We could have slept two guests as of a few months ago. But we got rid of our guest room (which had a king sized bed in it) and turned it into a school room.....we figured that instead of having a guest room that is used only a few weeks out of the year, we'd be better suited to have a school room, which we'd use five days a week. Our other spare bedroom is a playroom. Then there's our bedroom, which all four of us sleep in. We have a family bedroom. :D

 

So no extra beds. I thought about getting one of those foldable twin beds that can sleep one person. We don't usually have any more guests than that anyways.

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If they want beds, then none. We could have slept two guests as of a few months ago. But we got rid of our guest room (which had a king sized bed in it) and turned it into a school room.....we figured that instead of having a guest room that is used only a few weeks out of the year, we'd be better suited to have a school room, which we'd use five days a week. Our other spare bedroom is a playroom. Then there's our bedroom, which all four of us sleep in. We have a family bedroom. :D

 

So no extra beds. I thought about getting one of those foldable twin beds that can sleep one person. We don't usually have any more guests than that anyways.

 

We have two of those beds. The ones we have a really nice! They fold up pretty small and we can stick them anywhere. With kids, we take the mattresses off the frames and just have them sleep on the floor. Works really well!

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We have this Ikea bed that has a trundle in our guest/school room that can sleep 2, the same Ikea sofa bed linked earlier than can sleep 2 more and if Indy sleeps with us (we have a king), we can put 1 in his room, so that's 5 guests. BTW, our "spacious" military quarters are a whopping 1200 sqft. We only have one bathroom thought, so putting up 5 extra people, plus the 3 of us would NOT be cool.

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We've had 8 guests at once in a 3 BR, 1350 sf house, plus the 5 of us who live there.

 

My 3 girls and my sister's 3 girls shared one bedroom with 2 bunk beds and sleeping bags.

 

Her 3 boys shared our office with sleeping bags and blankets.

 

My sister and mom shared the sofa bed. It has a serta mattress and it's pretty comfortable.

 

DH and I kept our room.

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We have two of those beds. The ones we have a really nice! They fold up pretty small and we can stick them anywhere. With kids, we take the mattresses off the frames and just have them sleep on the floor. Works really well!

 

Do you have a link to what brand of bed you have? I've been looking around and I'm not sure which ones are most comfortable. I'd love to know which one you have!

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We have two queen sleeper sofas, a tundle bed and if our dd isn't home from college, a single. So, I guess that's seven and we have floor space for at least another seven. I enjoy low maintance company:D and don't mind if they hang around for a week or two. A few of our guests are higher maintance and we usually give them about five days.

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Do you have a link to what brand of bed you have? I've been looking around and I'm not sure which ones are most comfortable. I'd love to know which one you have!

 

I don't know!! I'm sorry! My MIL bought them for my boys when we were visiting them and then gave them to us when they moved to a smaller place. I think they got them at a local mattress store. Definitely check them out before you buy!!

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Very impressive! What sofa sleepers do you recommend? I know some have that bar that really gets you in the back;o(

 

So here's mho about sleeper sofas:

 

They are never comfortable.

They are poor sofas. We considered a sofa bed when having a custom couch made (hubby wants to lay out full lenght and not touch the ends). We were told that any matress insert weakens the internal frame of the couch, and your furniture won't last as long or be a comfortable to sit on.

 

So at our house: boys move to the floor in our bedroom

We can accomodate:

2 adults in guest room

2 kids in now vacated bunk beds

2 teens on couches downstairs

 

I say if a bed is a necessity - the hotel is just down the street!

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We have two of those beds. The ones we have a really nice! They fold up pretty small and we can stick them anywhere. With kids, we take the mattresses off the frames and just have them sleep on the floor. Works really well!

 

Jennifer, do you know the brand, etc. on those? These are like a cot?

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So here's mho about sleeper sofas:

 

They are never comfortable.

They are poor sofas. We considered a sofa bed when having a custom couch made (hubby wants to lay out full lenght and not touch the ends). We were told that any matress insert weakens the internal frame of the couch, and your furniture won't last as long or be a comfortable to sit on.

 

 

I say if a bed is a necessity - the hotel is just down the street!

 

I think your suspicions may be right on for most sofa sleepers. We had one, but the bar made it uncomfortable to sleep on. Dh wasn't wild about the comfort just sitting on the couch either.

 

Does anyone have a sofa sleeper that's not this way? My sis has a comfortable sofa sleeper made by Omaha Bedding or something like that (which is not local to me).

 

Unfortunately, sometimes hotels are MILES away...

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We have two single airbeds and two camping mats. So four unless visitors bring their own bedding. And then it just depends on whether they're happy to sleep downstairs with the dog. :D

 

And, our house isn't THAT big. 2400 sq. ft
.

 

Try living in England. That's BIG. Our house is a fairly average new build 3-bed semi (duplex) and it's 1000sq.ft.

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We grew up traveling to stay with family that lived so rural there were no hotels within 30+ minutes. My grandparents did have 1 extra bed and a hide-a-bed. The adults got those. As kids we slept in a variety of places. Small kids slept 2 on the couch with feet in the middle. The older kids slept on 'pallets' on the floor. Basicly this consisted of blankets and comforters folded thickly under us with a sheet or blanket on top. One year my mom went to an upholstry store and bought long thick sheets of dense foam and we used those instead of the blankets under us. She only made them about as wide as a sleeping bag though. My grandmother then kept the foam rolled in her closet until we visited again. We all usually traveled with our own pillows so grandma didn't have to store them.

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We have an Ikea sofa bed which seems okay. We normally put couples on that, then children get Calvin's room while my two boys share Hobbes' room.

 

Laura

We have that one too. Actually I wouldn't recommend it, it's about as soft as a rock. We had to buy a topper pad for it to make it even slightly bearable, and I like a hard bed, but that thing has no give at all.

 

Our main issue is that our living areas are all open plan, so guests have to sleep in an area that is large and can't be sectioned off for privacy.

 

For single visitors my kids give up their beds, it's not so easy for couples.

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Let's see...you can put 3 kids on couches here, plus fold out the sofa bed and fit 2-3 people depending on how cozy they want to be. Then there's the folding bed from Ikea and a canvas camp cot that can be brought in from the garage. DD's room will soon sport a twin mini-loft above a full-sized bed or a twin/full bunk. If we did the latter, a compatible twin trundle bed could be put under it, potentially sleeping 4 people in that room in a pinch (5 or 6 if some are small children). That'd be the max with no one sleeping on the floor.

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My dad sleeps on our couch (not a sleeper) when he visits.

 

We have a queen bed, 2 twin beds, and a twin-sized loft bed in 3 bedrooms. There are 6 people in our family so we are short a bed before you count guests. We own no futons, sofa sleepers, air mattresses, extra beds, or extra rooms.

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We have a LOT of space for people, but our families live across the country so when they come, they come for 3 weeks. When we bought this house 2 years ago, we purposely bought large to have room for guests. Let's see, if the 4 of us stayed where we were, I have an extra single in my dd's room (she has bunk beds), there's a trundle in my son's room (but it's not accessible on the fly), there's a single bed on the main floor in the den, a fold out couch that sleeps 2 in the basement, plus a queen AirBed (love it, had it for years, no problems, inflates in like 30 seconds), 4 gym matts that each can sleep 2 and a very comfy couch. So total? I can sleep the 4 of us, plus 16 others. That's not counting the 2 furnished basement apartments, if they were unrented. I hope I never have that much company! :lol: If I do, then I'm going to a hotel! :lol:

 

My rec? I'd invest in a good pull-out couch (or hide-a-bed sofa, whatever you want to call it) and a trundle bed. Trundles are so handy and much more comfy than a standard cot. They also take up much less space.

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Well, I didn't read all the replies...

 

I can sleep two adults in our trailer.... with a sleeper sofa and two bunks in the other end of the same trailer. If the couple wants PRIVACY, the trailer sleeps 2... if they don't, the trailer sleeps 7. I could put all the kids in the trailer (if I thought they wouldn't break anything!) and have 4 guests sleep in the boys' rooms, but then, they'd have to like sleeping in bunk beds...

Then there's the couch that is a hide-a-bed, which is fitted somewhat comfortably...

 

So, using the couch as a bed and the trailer, we could sleep 9 extra people... but they wouldn't have privacy!!

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I have three double beds, plus floor space in those rooms plus a family room upstairs. I once had 12 people stay with me for 2 weeks. ;-)

 

It wasn't always like that. For most of my adult life, a guest would have had to sleep on the sofa, kick dds out of their beds into my bedroom, or sleep on the floor. For a couple of years we had a sofa hide-a-bed in the living room...we just all went to bed at the same time so our guests could go to bed, lol.

 

When I was a child, there were often big family gatherings with children on "pallets" on the floor in a spare room somewhere. No privacy. We were all family. :-)

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I'd love to hear your ideas on where to put overnight guests. We once had friends who had twelve of their kids with them on a camping trip near our home. In the middle of the night a storm came up. They crashed at our house-- mom & dad in our guest bed and the twelve kids in their sleeping bags on the carpeted living room floor.

 

While that WORKS, I'd love to hear ideas involving sofa sleepers, loveseat sleepers, mats, portable room dividers, etc. (We have had terrible luck with air mattresses.) We'll probably be having our extended family's New Year's Eve party at our home and I'd love to have beds for lots of people.

 

What are some comfortable sofa sleepers? Uncomfortable? (We hope to buy new living room furniture very soon). Maybe someone knows where to buy comfy mats for sleeping on? (Our family room floor is tile and that would NOT be comfortable with a sleeping bag.) We don't have a lot of storage space except in the garage so that is an issue. Where can one find inexpensive room dividers? (Or find an inexpensive plan to make them).

 

TIA

 

 

I have 2 extra double beds, 2 single fold out cots, reasonable floor space for about 10-12 sleeping bags.

 

And, 2 large barns. :D

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I've been thinking about getting one of these nested bunk beds for our guest room. That way the floor space is free when it is not being used as a guest room.

 

My sisters live overseas so usually visit for at least 2 weeks at a time. We have a double bed in the guest room and the kids usually share with my kids. In the bunk bed in my younger dd's room and on a mattress on the floor in older dd's room. Or on the floor with their parents. So, 2 adults and 3 kids is a comfortable fit. If we need to do more, its air mattresses on the floor in the living room.

My parents who live 1500km away normally visit in their camper van and park it in the drive.

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Well, first of all, my kids come and camp out on our bedroom floor or on the family room floor. That leaves me with 3 bedrooms for guests. My kids have extra-long twin beds, and there's two of them per room. When the beds are pushed together, they make a California king size bed in each room. I bought bedding for each room in that size, and when the beds are made up together, they're quite comfortable for a couple, and very roomy, even when they are co-sleepers with their kids. Each couple/family can have a bit of privacy. I can very nicely accommodate three families in addition to our own, as long as kids are willing to sleep on the floor, or in a tent camp-out with my kids if the weather is nice. Our highest total was about 30 people altogether, but then I had a couple of single adult men sleeping on our couches in the family room, as well as kids sacked out all over the place. I love the happy chaos of having lots of houseguests. :001_smile:

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I've been thinking about getting one of these nested bunk beds for our guest room. That way the floor space is free when it is not being used as a guest room.

 

 

I'm not understanding how these work. Okay, they're nested together, got it, and I see the pic with the one bunk pulled out. But if you pull them all out, aren't they nested again? oh, wait, does the bottom one pull out the farthest for a stair step effect?

 

Huh, cool. Please buy one and tell if they're any good :D

 

edited to ask if you have actually seen them for sale anywhere; I keep finding references to them winning design awards, but can't find them for sale.

Edited by katilac
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I'm not understanding how these work. Okay, they're nested together, got it, and I see the pic with the one bunk pulled out. But if you pull them all out, aren't they nested again? oh, wait, does the bottom one pull out the farthest for a stair step effect?

 

Huh, cool. Please buy one and tell if they're any good :D

 

The top bunk, the middle and the trundle could all stay against that wall, with the other 2 pulled out to form a regular bunk bed. It would only take up the space of 2 beds that way.

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I'm not understanding how these work. Okay, they're nested together, got it, and I see the pic with the one bunk pulled out. But if you pull them all out, aren't they nested again? oh, wait, does the bottom one pull out the farthest for a stair step effect?

 

Huh, cool. Please buy one and tell if they're any good :D

 

edited to ask if you have actually seen them for sale anywhere; I keep finding references to them winning design awards, but can't find them for sale.

 

I don't think they are connected at all. They are all on casters and can come out individually.

 

Creative design.

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Edited to ask if you have actually seen them for sale anywhere; I keep finding references to them winning design awards, but can't find them for sale.

 

I haven't I'm afraid, but I'm going to phone the designers and ask them who's producing them. It is a South African design, so I don't know if they'll be available in the USA yet.

It might be a business idea for someone there?

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I don't think they are connected at all. They are all on casters and can come out individually.

 

Creative design.

 

Yes, that's the way I understand it as well. You could stack as many as you have floor space for in the room when they are pulled out.

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I think your suspicions may be right on for most sofa sleepers. We had one, but the bar made it uncomfortable to sleep on. Dh wasn't wild about the comfort just sitting on the couch either.

 

It's in the spare room, which husband uses as a dressing room, so he just sits on it to put on his shoes. I wouldn't have a sofa bed as a main use sofa.

 

Laura

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We have that one too. Actually I wouldn't recommend it, it's about as soft as a rock. We had to buy a topper pad for it to make it even slightly bearable, and I like a hard bed, but that thing has no give at all.

 

I'll try it out again next time I open it up, to see if it needs some help.

 

Laura

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We recently had A LOT of guests in our home. It was a crazy convergence of events- my parents were coming for our baby's first birthday. My sister and BIL and their two kids were going to be on leave at the same time, before they deployed to Japan. So, they decided to come see us and see my parents at the same time. Since they'll be gone for three years, my other two siblings and their spouses and their children all came too. And my grandma. Oh, and the craziest part was that we had just moved into our house a week before they all arrived. It was chaotic, but also incredible fun and something not likely to be repeated again for a long time, so we didn't mind.

 

We did it by letting all the kids camp out in sleeping bags in a living area. We have a sofa sleeper in the living room and one in my husband's office. We have a guest bed in the baby's room, so we were able to use that room for my sister's family and the crib for her baby. We gave up our room for my parents. Someone slept on our boy's bunk beds. Since we gave up our room, we slept on an air mattress and our baby was in a pack 'n' play. If it hadn't been mid-July and hot as blazes, we would have pitched a few tents in the backyard and let the children camp out there.

 

On the fullest two days, we had 11 adults and 9 children in our home. It did help that we were able to only move in the furniture and bare necessities, so we didn't have to deal with too much of our own clutter while the house was so full. Both of our families come from a tradition of crashing with family while traveling rather than getting hotels, so we now know we can handle whoever, whenever. :D

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It's in the spare room, which husband uses as a dressing room, so he just sits on it to put on his shoes. I wouldn't have a sofa bed as a main use sofa.

 

Laura

 

Funny thing is that while I think it's a fairly sucky bed, mostly for the mattress though, which could be replaced with something softer, but that might mean you feel the bar, I do think it's a decent couch, if slightly on the hard side. It's in our main living room.

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We have a futon in the basement and a couch in the living room, so we could have 2 guests. There isn't any floor space that lends itself to sleeping bags, and we have only 1.5 bathrooms.

 

We are fully in one guest at a time mode. Luckily there is a cheap Super 8 motel about 12 miles away, should the need arise.

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In a pinch I could sleep 18 in beds.

 

Sleep 2 in 14dd's bed

sleep 1 in 13dd's bed--girls sleep on our floor

sleep 2 in 22ds' bed (he takes the couch)

sleep 3 in the double/single bunk in the spare room

sleep 1 in the crib in the spare room

sleep 1 in a pack n play (assuming baby)

sleep 8 in the camping trailer--Queen, 2 bunks, pull out couch and fold down table

 

If kids want to crash on the floor we can do even more.

 

When we have missionaries stay with us we often give them the camping trailer as they then have a bathroom, own shower, some privacy, etc.

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We have a nice sofa/sleeper in the sunroom that can sleep two. We bought it from Haverty's and paid more than we did for our leather couch. But we knew we'd be having visitors several times a year and wanted something that was comfortable and would last. The sofa is firm and comfortable (you won't sink into it, but it's well cushioned and supportive). My husband and I tried the sofa bed and it's comfortable, with no bar in my back.

 

Our daughter has a double bed, so two more could sleep there. And we have floor space for another 6 sleeping bags or air mattresses.

 

We could accomodate 10 guests, but we'd be packed in pretty tightly.

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I think your suspicions may be right on for most sofa sleepers. We had one, but the bar made it uncomfortable to sleep on. Dh wasn't wild about the comfort just sitting on the couch either.

 

Does anyone have a sofa sleeper that's not this way? My sis has a comfortable sofa sleeper made by Omaha Bedding or something like that (which is not local to me).

 

Unfortunately, sometimes hotels are MILES away...

My mom has one that was terrible. We didn't know one time that was so bad the guests slept on the floor until they were leaving. My mom then went and bought a new mattress for the sofa that was top of the line. Then she bought a piece of plywood to put under the mattress but over that bar. It helped lots. But after she slept on it one night she added the original mattress on top of the new mattress and said it slept better. The problem then became where to store the extra mattress and the board.

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