trying to decide on futon/air mattress/sofabed for guest...

[Anonymous]

I'm in the midst of turning our room with a queen bed (I hesitate to call it a guest room because it is not well put together) into a playroom for the kids but need to have some kind of sleeping arrangements for guests, primarily my parents who visit a couple of times a year, though rarely together (I mention that because on the rare occasions they come out at the same time, they could in theory take our bed).

Trying to find a good quality futon or sofabed to keep in the playroom, or perhaps one of the newer higher-end (?) air mattresses with a frame and such. Would love your thoughts on what you've used and what is actually comfortable Thanks!

[Anonymous]

I like the futons from IKEA - they have an actual folding mattress that is very comfortable.

[Anonymous]

Second the ikea futon. We bought one four years ago and our in-laws have always slept on it when they visit. We splurged on the better mattress and it's definitely worth it. I believe the futon is called the beddinge and it's a queen size, so definitely big enough for two.

[Anonymous]

My MIL and her husband were not comfortable sleeping on a futon. I'm not sure what the ikea futon is like, though. Ours was a high quality, traditional style futon mattress. But it just didn't work for them. FIL was fine on it, but he is physically in better shape.

[Anonymous]

The traditional futon mattresses are just a lump. A friend of mine had a nice one back in our early 20s - I slept there when I visited and it was fine. But the IKEA ones have an actual spring mattress - it's a bit firm, but still very supportive. I actually find it more comfortable than our regular mattress.

It is lower to the ground than most beds though - maybe that would be an issue for someone with bad knees?

[Anonymous]

We have a futon. When I got it, I sprung for a nicer (read thicker) mattress. My mom always comments how comfortable it is. I definitely think the key is picking a good mattress. I never liked futons back when I was in school, they always had very cheap/thin mattresses, but the one we have now is nice.

[Anonymous]

10:00 PP here - the ikea mattress is nice because there's a "cut" in the mattress for the fold. So, instead of just being a giant lump that gets folded up when the futon is used as a sofa, the mattress separates and you don't end up with a permanent crease. We have had a high end futon (that we paid almost $1000 for) and the ikea mattress is much nicer. We slept on it for 2 weeks post baby (inlaws were in our bed) and it was perfectly fine and comfortable. I also fall asleep on it on a semi regular basis and end up spending the night instead of moving upstairs!

[Anonymous]

We have had the same setup, and used the inflatable mattress from Frontgate - it self inflates ontop of a cot mattress that folds out, so it's at regular bed height and is actually quite comfortable. My parents have stayed on it numerous times happily, and I've slept on it fine too.

If we had a bigger room, I would look into a twin daybed with a pop up trundle so we could have a real mattress and King size guest bed. But our spare room isn't really all that big, so I want to preserve as much floor space for playing as possible. So this has been a perfect compromise for us.

http://www.frontgate.com/jump.jsp?itemType=PRODUCT&itemID=21874&fromNewSearch=true&mercadoResultId=0&nrpAltSearch=false&altText=null

[Anonymous]

Why don't you ask your parents what they'd prefer? I think my father would be kind of hesitant to sleep on either a futon or an aerobed, but a sofabed is probably more familiar to his generation.

[Anonymous]

I LOVE the twin trundle with the pop-up to king size, wish we had gone that route, but we have a Queen bed in our guest room.

In our old house we did not have a guest room, but used a queen size aero bed with the full box spring + matterss height. My mom slept on it for a month at least 2xs a year and said it was very comfortable. For an inflatable, I would never use anything, but the Aero bed. It is super easy to set up and quite firm and comfy. my only suggestion is to invest in a good mattress pad (perferably down) as they can be very chilly.