After recently revealing that John would be coming on as a full time blogger here on the home front (and mentioning that we had a full scale guest bedroom to office-slash-guest-bedroom-slash-playroom makeover in the cards) we’re back to spill more details about that space’s big switcheroo. Spoiler alert: we need a sleeper sofa, STAT.
Let’s take a look back – waaaaay back – at what the room looked like when we moved in.
It was actually a pretty blank slate to begin with, so replacing the ceiling fan with a flush mount fixture (like this- basic and cheap, but still an improvement) seemed to raise the ceiling about a foot. Then we just painted the walls a neutral tone, added some crown molding, stained the floor a richer mocha color (which we also did to the rest of the existing hardwoods), switched out the valances for some clean-lined (and super cheap) roman shades from Ikea, and brought in a hand-me-down bed from a family member with some fun linens and a DIY headboard that we whipped up. Even the wall art was made on a budget.
We loved our little guest bedroom and it served us well for years. In fact we were pretty sad when we realized that we’d have to make some major changes to the room when it came to accommodating an office for two along with a spot for a wee one to play without losing the can-sleep-two-people function that it always provided. Being use-what-we-have kind of people, our first thought was that maybe we could reposition the bed against two walls to create a daybed type feeling and free up some floor space. So we rotated it into the corner and came up with the idea to upholster another headboard panel (which we drew in thanks to Photoshop below, see the arrow?) to demonstrate the idea:
And remember the rug we snagged on super clearance from the Pottery Barn Outlet for $300 off a while back (with every intention of working it into the guest bedroom for some added softness)?
Well, we laid it out under the bed in an attempt to further ground that daybed/sleeping corner of the room. Burger seemed to like it (ten points if you find him), but we weren’t convinced.
The problem? The full sized bed still took up a huge portion of the extremely small 10′ x 10.5′ room… leaving Clara zero floor space to play on while one or both of us worked (and speaking of working, we really had no clue how we’d fit two desk spaces into this plan as it was). So we decided that we had to pull the plug on the full sized bed and come up with an alternate sleeping solution for our guests (preferably one that could be tucked away or minimized during the rest of our time in that room so it could more easily accommodate two bloggers and a baby most of the time.
Which meant that it was time to hit up Craigslist to see who would cough up $60 for our full sized bed frame and hand-me-down Sealy mattress & boxspring. The craziest thing was that by the time we had the bed disassembled we already had a buyer in route to our house! And within two hours of listing our bed we’d sold it (for our full $60 asking price). Pretty sweet, eh? Here’s the mattress waiting for pick-up in the nursery.
And you can tell this part of the makeover actually occurred a while back because there’s no skirt on the crib and the nursery art wall hasn’t been altered yet. We just like to do one project at a time, so after taking a quick nursery hiatus to sell the mattress we were back on baby-room duty while the office waited its turn.
Oh and because we know that you guys like seeing our house all torn up, here’s the master bedroom with our guest bedroom linens piled high on the bed while we waited for our new Craigslist friend to come cart the bed away. Burger seems to sneak into every bed photo that he can, doesn’t he?
So anyway, once the ol’ full sized bed was sold and the rest of the things in the space were cleared out, we were actually able to give the green bench and the bedside table that used to live in the guest bedroom a second life in the nursery (we love repurposing everything that we can so that was a thrill and a half for us).
And we were left with a blissfully bare space to analyze every which way…
… to see how we could possibly squeeze a double office and a play area for Clara-Bean into the 10′ x 10.5′ room (along with maintaining the can-sleep-two function that we’d grown so accustomed to over the years).
First we seriously considered a murphy bed. You know, those fold-out-from-the-wall options that we’ve seen popping up all over the place lately. The downside was that many traditional murphy beds were not only extremely pricey, but the layout of the room wouldn’t accommodate the fold-up function since two walls had windows which would have been obscured when the bed was folded up (not a good idea in such a small space since we need all the light we can get). And the other two walls wouldn’t work thanks to the doorway into the room and a closet that we needed to maintain access to. Even if the layout could have accommodated a murphy bed, the one thing we didn’t like about it was the fact that when it was tucked up and away it didn’t provide a place to sit (which we knew would come in handy for everything from nursing to relaxing with Baby P while the other 50% of YHL blogs away at their desk). So we wondered if we could bring in a piece that would provide functional seating space all the time, just with a much smaller footprint when it wasn’t serving as a full sized bed. Yup, we’re talking about a sleeper sofa.
But we had some serious reservations about how comfy a sleeper would really be for our guests. Almost everyone has had the ol’ rollbar-dented-back experience when crashing on an archaic sleeper sofa, and we definitely want our visitors to be 100% comfy (as opposed to stiff and sore in the am). But we’ve actually slept on some just-as-comfortable-as-a-normal-bed sleeper sofas on occasion, so we knew that if we didn’t skimp on the quality we could probably find something that would meet our needs when it came to providing some nice seating by day and sleeping by night when it was all folded out and fluffed up with linens and pillows. So our next step was to do some internet trolling to see what was out there online- just to test the waters. Here’s what we dug up:
1. This $689 Target option
2. This $899 Ikea option
3. This $1400 Crate & Barrel option
But the issue that we had with online options were that we couldn’t really lay on them to see how they felt with the mattress all folded out. And of course the $1400 Crate and Barrel option (which we could check out in stores for comfort-factor) was a bit more than we were hoping to spend. Heck the $899 Ikea version felt expensive to two cheap-os like us. And blindly ordering the $689 option (which was only available online and not something we could experience for ourselves to ensure that it was soft and easy to sleep on) felt a bit too risky to super cautious sofa-sissies like us. Besides, that honey wood was a bit too futon-ish for us, so the fact that we’d have to paint it or somehow make it over after paying full price and not being able to try it out felt like a bit much. And we decided we preferred upholstered arms for the higher end look and for the comfort factor when it’s being used as a sofa (for nursing, reading stories to Clara, etc).
So after exhausting our online sleeper sofa search, we decided to hit up our favorite local furniture dealer where we could actually fold out the sleeper sofas and take them for a spin instead of blindly ordering them and hoping for the best. Sofa Design is actually where we got our beloved living room sofa (read how we saved $400 more than our Pottery Barn couch right here) and when we pulled into the parking lot to be greeted by a Floor Clearance Sample sign we couldn’t help but get all hyper and excited that we might just find the deal we were hoping for…
JACKPOT! We scored a full sized sleeper sofa made by Rowe (one of our favorite sofa manufacturers, in fact they made our aforementioned living room sofa) for just $699- thanks to the fact that it was a floor model. So it was just ten dollars steeper than the futon-ish Target version but a lot more plush and posh looking (and feeling! there’s even a comfort guarantee that you can’t feel the bar under the mattress unless you’re over 350 lbs). Like nerds we totally pulled it out in the store and laid on it for a while as we thanked our lucky stars and then popped up to sign on the dotted line. And although we’re usually neutral-sofa-people, we actually really like the subtle blue-green color of the cushions since they work pretty seamlessly with the rest of our whole-house color palette while injecting some fun (and stain hiding durability) into our future office/guest room/playroom.
We placed it right under the higher window which really opened up the room and allowed so much more of our lovely Pottery Barn rug to be seen.
And you know what that means: waaaaay more floor space to accommodate a desk or two along with plenty of Baby P play area to spare.
But that’s just the beginning of our multifunctional office transformation. Stay tuned as we tackle more floor-plan maximization, paperwork and file storage, desks and chairs for two, art and accessories, toy storage, and even a new DIY light fixture makeover. Whew. And feel free to tell us all about any sleeper sofa or murphy bed victories that you guys have experienced. Have you built your own pull down bed? Or stumbled upon a super comfortable sleeper sofa on sale? Spill the beans.
We are having a similar dilemma with our nursery/guest room and also considered the full-sized bed as a daybed option. It might work in the short term, but it really takes up a ton of room. I think we’ve decided to go with a twin daybed with a trundle that pops all the way up. So it could be a regular daybed (under a window and between built-in cabinets) most of the time, but we could pop the trundle up to create a king sized bed and wheel the crib into our bedroom when we have guests.
Good idea so far! We are in the process of looking at the office every day and figuring out what to do! It’s the first room we are getting ready to really tackle. The sleeper sofa is such a great idea! We actually have two empty rooms right now but my sister has twins on the way! They will be at my house their fair share and creating more space would be great! :) Can’t wait to see the big reveal in a couple weeks/months.
I am amazed how quickly you answer posts. I am also speechless how amazing you guys are with adding new posts all the time…especially with a new baby and tackling new projects. How do you guys divide your time and do you feel guilty about being on here instead of being with Clara? You guys are awesome and a true inspiration to people.
Hey Carmen,
This post will explain the post magic: https://www.younghouselove.com/2010/05/on-your-mark-get-set/
We actually stockpiled a ton of posts before Clara came, so although we write about 2-3 new posts a week, the rest have been waiting in the hopper so we can have time with our sweet girl. We’re also blessed that she’s a fantastic napper between feedings. Right now she’s sleeping on a Boppy on my lap as I type this. And now that John is home full time to help our with the blog it’s really a very manageable endeavor these days!
xo,
s
I’m LOVING the sleeper sofa you guys chose, it looks great in the room!
You two have some serious ingenuity going on (:
I thought I had your solution all figured out until I saw the sofa bed! I was betting you’d go for a twin bed with a trundle underneath. All the convenience of two twin beds…in half the space!
I can’t tell from the picture though, does the sofa bed really sleep 2 people? Wow!
Loved watching you DIY the nursery (got a lot of ideas for our upcoming little one), and I can’t wait to see this room transformed too!
Hey Emily,
Yup, it’s a full sized mattress in there- just as big as our old bed (yet it takes up less than a third of the space). Plus our coupled guests can sleep next to each other instead of on two separate tiers on twin mattresses!
xo,
s
Score on your couch find! We encountered a similar deal, at the local Pottery Barn outlet. At first, I told my hubby ‘This would be perfect if only it was a sleeper…’ Then I lifted up the cushions, and low-and-behold, we had ourselves a deal ;) It was less then the price of the same model brand new plain sofa, w/o the sleeper! I’ve been looking and looking, and am so happy to have found one. I think we sat there for a half hour ‘testing’ the sleeper function. We may have drifted off to sleep….Maybe.
Congrats on your bean. She’s a cutie. Does she have a nickname yet? Bean-ette seems awfully appropriate still.
Yup, we’ve taken to calling her Clair-bear, Clara-bean, C-Monkey and Piglet (she’s a great little eater). But of course we still throw Beanette and Baby P into the mix all the time along with Sweet P.
xo,
s
I love the ideas you share and thought I’ll share an awesome cheap-o find story. I have two sleeper sofas. One I bought for $200 at Value City Furniture. It works wonderfully, has storage and hosted my friend 6’9″, 300 lbs just fine. The second sleeper sofa was an even better deal at Salvation Army for $20. Anyone who slept on it said it was great, and all of them were relations or close enough friends that I trusted to be honest. My cousin 6’5″ said it was great. My sister and her husband say you can’t feel that its a sofa bed and have opted to sleep there instead of regular bed. My best friend and her husband (gentle giant at 6’4″)said it was great. It has a slipcover on it when its a sofa, so noone regularly sees the white blue green paisley pattern. I hope the YHL crowd can appreciate fabulous cheap-o-ness of it all.
I’m so excited y’all are doing this! We’re moving in a few months & planning to have a guest room that can do double duty. I can’t wait to see the entire reveal!
I LOVE your new green sofa. Too cute!
We had the same issue of a small space but wanted to sleep 2 people comfortably AND have a dresser for the hubs (I get the one in the master). Our solution was to pick a twin bed, set the mattress higher and put a trundle bed underneath (that can be pulled out whenever we get 2 visitors at a time). We’re pretty happy with how it turned out and we have 2 comfy beds as a result:)
This is something I’ve seen around (http://www.fu-chest.com/). It’s sort of the same idea as a murphy bed, but instead of taking up a whole wall, it folds up into a buffet-looking piece of furniture. They even have sizes that go up to Queen! I’ve never actually slept on one, but it sure makes the room look nice!
Ooh love the couch score! You guys really show us how it’s done! You absolutely inspire me to do the work it takes to find a good deal. By the way, how is the controversial nursery/nursing chair working out for you and Baby P? Best of luck with your precious girl!
Can’t wait to see how your office turns out! I’m working on updating our office, but am wondering how I could transform it into an office/guest room in the future.
How is baby Clara doing? Did everything in your life change once you brought her home? I’d love to hear how you guys are doing.
Jenny- Life with Clara is amazing! She’s such a good baby (we actually have to wake her up to eat during the night or she’d just keep sleeping). She’s just a joy to be around. Very easygoing and sweet (we got smiles every day already!). Of course she changed our lives dramatically, but in such a wonderful way. In fact our favorite phrase is “what did we do without you?” – we really can’t remember!
Patti- We’re loving our nursery chair! It’s comfy and really easy to use. I nurse in four basic places: bed, the new sofa in the office, the sofa in the den, and that very chair. And I must admit that each place is equally comfortable- it’s just all about which “nursing station” I’m closest to!
xo,
s
In my daughter’s room I did put her full bed (platform base w/no headboard) into the corner and DIY’d a headboard and “sideboard” with faux fur. She loves it and I have since added 2 huge bolster pillows to the one side.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/4019746407/
I’m so excited for this post — and follow-ups to the final reveal! I’m trying to figure out how to handle two similar spaces/challenges: making one extra (tiny) bedroom into a comfortable guest room (with lots of extra storage for my clothes — old house, tiny closets) and streamlining our office into a workable one for two people (and, again, with lots of storage). Can’t wait to hear your ideas and maybe steal some! ;-)
Hi Sherry! What are those two green and white framed graphic art pieces in the corner of the room? I love how they look from afar, where are they from?
Hey Behlah,
We actually made them. Here’s the link: https://www.younghouselove.com/2008/07/so-fresh-and-so-green/
Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Perfect timing! I’ve spent my past two lunch breaks researching sofa beds and have totally fell in love with Rowe couches! Although I haven’t yet sat on them yet. We just found out I’m pregnant, and we only have a 2 bedroom condo, so the office gets converted to the nursery; the bedroom doubles as an office, and we need to purchase a new sofa couch for in-laws, siblings, and friends. My husband and I are actually thinking about taking a trip down to NC to see if we can find some deals in the furniture capital of the country. Have you guys ever gone down to High Point or other NC town for furniture or know anyone who has gotten a good deal down there? Not only will we need this sofa, but also a new secretaries desk to attempt to hide the computer and printer in the bedroom.
Thanks!
Lindsey
Hey Lindsey,
We’ve actually road tripped right near High Point (we loved the Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams outlet) but didn’t actually go inside of the actual High Point market because we only had about a half hours to spend and didn’t think we could do it justice in that short time. We’ll definitely be back tough. We’ve heard tons of people get amazing deals there, especially our friends Kristin and Matt (here’s their house full of amazing High Point finds). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Good for you and your sofa bed find! We decided to get a sofa bed for the living room for guests. I didn’t have much ability to test any out, so we just went for the Crate and Barrel option after reading some good reviews on their quality. We are very happy with it, but wish I could say we saved that much money!!!
I love that you sketched up an option to move the bed into the corner and introduce a “side headboard” option. I just did that in my daughter’s big girl room (I plan to send you guys photos of the completed transformation in another week or so!) and I’m really loving it. She just has a twin bed, so eating up space is not an issue, but the room layout was a bit tricky plus I love that it adds one more cushy and secure side for a little one just moving into a “big girl” bed!
I have a very tiny master bedroom (love apartment living) and been looking for a great idea to save space! This is PERFECT! and I am totally doing this… Prolly with paint though? We shall see!!
In desparation I typed http://www.sofabed.com when searching for a stylish, affordable sofabed a few years ago, and I was routed to Jennifer Convertibles, where we found a $400 sofabed that we loved! We found that adding a memory foam mattress topper (that we store in the linen closet when not in use) was a worthwhile investment for our guest’s comfort!
I am wondering where you all go that great green pillow?
Oops! Just saw where you answered that question. I will look at Westelm.
Love the change so far! And what a great find on the couch, we are hoping to do something similar in our guest room!
You know, I can remember my parents having a pull out couch and on the weekends, my brother and I would sleep in it while watching TGIF. It was our own slumber party, without leaving the house! I’ll bet Clara will be the same way!
Looking good! We have an office/spare room that we wanted to get maximum guest-comfort out of, but also use for socializing. AND there’s the problem of storage – we don’t have a linen closet, so it needed to hold its own linens.
We got this one from Ikea: the Manstad corner sofa bed with storage. The couch has a bit under it that pulls out and up so it’s even with the lounge part, making a bed that’s as wide as and slightly longer than a full (we use queen-sized linens). The lounge part hides storage, more-than holding sheets, pillows and blankets. It’s great! Our guests always love it, and I was sick for a while and spent many nights in a row sleeping on it, so I agree – it’s super comfortable, and there are no bars involved. And at $699, the price is right!
Next up, we hope, will be converting that room into a nursery… Your posts have provided tons of inspiration!
gorgeous, as always! I am moving into a new place next week after months of traveling, and can’t wait to start implementing your faboo ideas!
I wanted to put a shout out for air mattresses as an alternative for guests – we’re having an office in our new place, but didn’t want to plunk down for a sleeper, or have room for the footprint. The new airmattresses that self-inflate and have a ‘box spring’ are insanely comfy – i’ve been sleeping on one for weeks and would take it over a sofa bed or futon (or even lumpy old guest bed mattress) any day. and it tucks away in the closet when you don’t have guests! and mine was fifty (that’s 50) bucks!
I love your blog! Congrats on baby bean!
My mom has a great sofa sleeper I thought I would share. I believe it’s from Lazy Boy and its an air mattress inside a sofa! It came with the motor so its realy easy to set up. You just open and inflate! I have never slept on a more comfy sofa. I believe she got it a few years ago but it’s the best idea ever.
You know what would be really great? If you guys showed before and after pictures side by side also. I’m constantly scrolling up and down to see the differences!
Hey Lauren,
We’ve definitely experimented with presenting before & afters as a side by side comparison but they sadly become twice as small, so a ton of the details are lost or obscured. And since we want everyone to see every amazing detail we decided that a little scrolling was worth it. Hope that helps to explain why we do what we do!
xo,
s
Hey guys,
I am so excited to see this post! I’ve been waiting to see what you’ve done with your multi-purpose room. I know you are past the planning stage already, but I wondered if you ever considered a loft bed for the room? I’ve seen them done poorly, but I have also seen them done really well – like this well done example here: http://www.ohdeedoh.com/ohdeedoh/beds-mattresses/tiramolla-loft-bedrooms-058652
I know it may not work for you (especially right now), but I just thought it was so cool that I had to pass it along.
Take Care,
-B
I just want to say, though I’ve loved all of your projects, this is my favorite!!!! I’ve been trying to work out an two-person office/guest room arrangement in my head for a while and haven’t been able to overcome the full-size-bed-dwarfing-the-room factor. I have been under the impression that a sleeper sofa would just be awful, having never slept on a nice one myself. It’s good to know I can find a quality one that has some comfort. I do love Rowe!! I’m staying tuned for the rest of the makeover.
I might have missed this answer – but where did you get the white pillow?
Love the sleeper sofa.
Keep up the good work.
Hey… I was just wondering if you guys have thought much about how long you will stay in your current house? Everything I read makes it sound like you guys plan on being there for the long haul, but do you ever think you’ll have the itch to take on something new or the need for a bigger space as your family grows? Now that you guys are both full-time bloggers you could literally move anywhere and take the whole world with you in your new adventure! So is your current house/ Richmond a permanent place for you or do you have some big move in store down the road?
Lindsay- We like to believe that our house is our forever home because we can’t imagine walking away from it. We love it so much (heck we even got married in the backyard) and it works so well for us that we definitely hope to be here for the long haul!
Milady- It’s from Crate & Barrel. Hope it helps!
Blair- Thanks so much for the awesome link! We didn’t consider a loft bed because we wanted to sleep two people next to each other (most of our guests are couples) but maybe someday if we have two kids in one room it would be a great solution! We love the functionality of it!
xo,
s
YAY!! This is the post I’ve been waiting on. We are currently shopping for a comfy sleeper sofa ourselves, and I am so glad we have a Rowe dealer nearby. We have been by to sit on them, but I’m waiting on a good deal before we buy. We also considered the Ektorp and some Crate & Barrel options, but we plan to go with a Rowe (thanks to you guys pointing out the awesome deal you got on your other couch from them). I wouldn’t mind investing in a Room & Board sleeper sofa though because they are also very comfy – maybe one day!
I love where this room is going!
That couch is a great jumping off point!
I have a couple questions:
Where are you going to put the dresser & mirror that were in this room?
What are the dimensions of your living room glass coffee table (lxwxh)? I love the scale of it!
Thanks YHL….I am a huge fan!
Hey Andrea,
You’ll have to wait and see where that mirror and dresser go! We found a perfect place for them so we’re excited to share that detail soon. And as for our coffee table measurements, it’s 44″ long, 17″ tall, and 22″ wide. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
If you ever do decide to upgrade your sofa bed mattress, I wanted to share that the most comfortable one I’ve ever seen is made by La-Z-Boy and is basically a regular mattress with a big air pocket in the middle so it can fold up. We could not feel a bar in our backs at all!
We’re hoping they’ll sell us only a mattress when we get our new sleeper sofa (surely they’ll take our money, right?) because I don’t want people to dread coming to sleep here either.
the Rowe sleeper sofa you scored is awesome! i like how it goes with the rest of your home’s color theme. i look forward to seeing your desk solution. i’m trying to figure out an “office for two” solution in the corner of the living room. thanks for showing us the initial ideas that didn’t work out too, so i can kinda imagine your thought process in finding the right space solutions.
What a fantastic find, that sleeper sofa. Good for you guys! I love before, during and after posts like these. And playing find Burger is fun too.
jbhat
I’m looking forward to seeing what you do with this room. I’m always inspired to see how others use space creatively. Especially when rooms need to be multifunctional.
Slightly off topic, but how do you have the time and energy to do your projects? Haven’t you just had a baby!? I barely seem to get time to do any housework, let alone completely overhauling a room! Also, with only a few hours on the weekend my husband isn’t always keen to devote them to doing house projects. He says he would rather relax (read a book, watch a movie) than be delegated a project to do. Any ideas for getting a spouse on side to do stuff without nagging? Thanks.
Have you considered Macy’s Outlet stores? Or other department outlets? There is one not too far from where we live and when I moved here I haunted the store. They have super deals on mattress and box springs, furniture, sofa’s and chairs. Weekends they usually have sales. As the stuff sits it goes down in price and with a sale weekend you can pick up super bargains. Of course, some of the furniture is in need of repair but a little TLC works wonders. Just a thought! Love the blog especially now you have a little one to decorate around.
kinda off topic, but when are we going to see more videos!?! we havent had any in a while…
Also, I was just browsing your house tour page- didnt you move your other day bed out into the sun room? The pictures still only show 1 out there.
And what do you plan on doing with the “offic” corner in the den once you have a full room for an office?
thanks! :)
Amy- If only there were more hours in the day! We’d love to reshoot the sunroom with the extra daybed and churn out more videos but with a newborn we’re lucky to keep up with comment questions, emails, giveaways, Design Dilemmas, our shop, and two blog posts a day! But now that John is home full time (to help with baby care and YHL duties) here’s hoping we can get around to tackling more things soon! One of which will be sharing how the office corner of the den evolves. Stay tuned…
Barbara- We’ve actually never been to a Macy’s Outlet but we’ll have to hunt one down and check it out.
Carolyn- I’m very lucky to have John around full time because he definitely takes on baby & blog duties to lighten my load. Of course I’m super lucky that home improvement is a passion of his (he actually was the one to start this blog- I just came along for the ride!) but here’s a post about encouraging your hubby to join you for a few home improvement & decorating projects that you’re dying to tackle: https://www.younghouselove.com/2008/09/putting-the-men-back-in-home-improvement/
xo,
s
Hi Guys,
I am looking forward to seeing the rest of the office makeover! I wonder if my hubby and I could spend 10 + hours a day in our small home office together without feeling like we are in need of some independence. Do you guys worry about that at all? Now that you both have the opportunity to work at home on the blog (yay for us!), do you ever think you guys may miss that ‘alone time’?
Good luck in all that you do and thanks for sharing all your amazing ideas!! :0)
Hey Lindsay,
We definitely plan to maintain some alone time (we have many separate hobbies that we will continue to pursue) and actually don’t worry about working together at all. Back in NYC when we met we worked together, and after work we’d leave together every night, have dinner, hang out til midnight and do the whole thing over again. We’re used to being around each other a lot and we’re happy that dynamic works for us (even though we recognize that it wouldn’t necessarily work for everyone). But of course we still have our private time too (like when I go walking with other moms or shopping with friends and he goes running or plays racquetball with his guy friends). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
This might be a silly question, but is it a full size sofa?
Sherry- how are you doing with everything? I have been thinking about you! <3
Yup, there’s a full sized mattress in there. So it’s just as big as the bed we used to have but it takes up a third of the space when it’s folded up. And as for how we’re doing, we’re great! Clara is a dream and we’re having the best time being her parents. She’s a great little eater and sleeper (we actually have to wake her up for night feedings or she’d sleep right through them!). And we already find ourselves wondering what we ever did without her.
xo,
s
Thanks for the measurements….you are very kind to us readers with your fast thorough answers!
And I cant even guess where you will put the dresser/mirror! Seriously! Cant wait to see!
Hi Guys,
Love the room!
In skimming over the comments, I’ve noticed people suggesting trundle beds, and I understand your concern about having a couple be able to sleep on the same level.
But have you ever seen a “pop-up trundle bed”? It’s a metal twin size frame, that fits underneath a regular twin size bed. The trundle underneath (that holds a twin size mattress) pops up to exactly match the height of the higher twin! Does that make sense? It’s like two twins pushed together.
My Mother-in-law has one and we sleep on it every time we go to their home and it’s super comfy.
Check out this one:
http://shop.visiondecor.com/daybed-twin-size-bed-pop-up-trundle-pop-up-frame-new-1137.html
Also, we don’t do this, but you could even buy one of those “bed bridges” to make a seamless big bed!
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=12184352
This option still may not have worked for your room… but it might work for other readers!
We live in Portland, and I found one here on craigslist for $35 bucks!
http://portland.craigslist.org/clk/fuo/1758181763.html
Hopefully all this makes sense!
Ellen
Thanks for the links! We’ve actually never seen pop up trundles but they look like fun. We definitely still love our sofa bed score, but you’re right about pop up trundles working for other people. Thanks for spreading the word!
xo,
s
I can’t wait to hear more! I do have to say, if that mattress doesn’t stand up like you think it should i have a great option for you. I never liked the thinness of the couch mattresses. My aunt and my grandma… all have bed couches. the great part is after you fold it out you pull up the corner and fill up the mattress with air more to make it WAY more comfy. It ends up being real mattress height and way comfier than the thin couch mattress. the small pump plugs in and is as big as your fist. it locks on and does it’s job in minutes.
Another option to have a daybed work for 2 people is this one from Ikea.
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20162888
The trundle part pulls out and is completely flush with the main bed so it basically makes your twin daybed into a king size. The second pictures kinda shows how it works. It comes in white too and the drawers underneath provide lots of extra storage! We’re getting it to go in our small room that will also be the office/guest room.
Can’t wait to see the rest of the room transformation. I’m curious as to how you’ll fit the office space part in. A desk built for two perhaps?
Perhaps! We’ll definitely share our step by step process as we go. Stay tuned…
xo,
s
Does anyone else read this post and think, “Wow, some lucky person got to go to the YHL house????!!!!” I’d pay $60 without the intention of buying anything! lol… J&S, you could do tours if you ever need to supplement your income! :) Best wishes on the re-dec!!!
Hey Kate,
That’s pretty funny! The lady who bought the bed was a character actually. She walked all around our house swearing it was bigger than 1500 square feet while we assured her that we knew the exact size of it from two appraisals and that it was definitely smaller than 1500 and even 1300 feet. She was quite insistent!
xo,
s
Once I got married and hubby and I started sleeping in my mom’s guest room on visits home, she finally upgraded the 30+ year old sleeper sofa that lived in that room while I was growing up. I think she bought a floor model from Stickley Audi, so she got a great deal, but most importantly, the mattress is all-foam so it’s super-easy to pull out and sleep on (no uncomfortable metal bars!!). I can’t find a picture of hers online (it only has two cushions and is really more loveseat-looking), but it’s similar to this one: http://www.americanleather.com/ComfortSleeper/Owen.aspx?page=2.