If you have kids and a guest room; or, if no guest room, where do guests sleep?

[Anonymous]

We have second baby on the way, and we're sacrificing the guestroom to let baby2 have her own room by the time she is 4 months old or so. (in other words, no rush to get the bed out of there now). Guests can have the foldout couch, or the kids can bunk together, at least once baby 2 is sleeping through the night.

[Anonymous]

We have a guest room/home office. It's actually bigger than the nursery. Our toddler is two and sleeps in the smallest room. This might change when she gets older, but the room is too small for a full-size bed, and my parents often come to stay for a week at a time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:- Where do your overnights guests sleep?
(And who are the overnights: parents, friends, etc.?)
- If you have a dedicated guest room, what is the size in comparison to the kids' bedrooms? (Guest room is smaller, bigger, etc.)
- Is the guest room dedicated solely as a guest bedroom? What furniture is on it?
- Based on the above, is the guest sleeping area not a dedicated bedroom? If so, where, and on what do overnight guests sleep?
- Do any of your kids (permanently) share a bedroom?
- Do any of your kids bunk up during guests' visits?

I am trying to work this out in my home and I welcome ideas.

We have a 3-bedroom house, and one child. The extra room is the smallest room, and doubles as an office and guest room. There's a queen sized bed pushed up against the wall, with a 2-drawer filing cabinet doubling as a night stand, and a desk next to the night stand. There's a small bookshelf housing books and also our "in-box" for bills and other miscellaneous household paperwork. Also, there's a spare dining room chair in there for lack of anywhere else to put it (but is useful as a suitcase rack). When my parents come, I can push the bed from the wall so it comes out diagonally from the corner, so neither has to crawl over the other to get in/out of bed. I also tidy up the desk and stash the bills etc. in the closet when they come. It's a pretty tight space, but perfectly useful, neat, private, and better than the couch.

When I was a kid, I'd sleep in my brother's room or on the couch, while the guests took my room.

If we had the money, I'd love to have a murphy bed built in to the wall to create more space.

[Anonymous]

3 kids each have their own room. Guest room has a queen, two bedside tables, two occasional chairs, a dresser, a bookshelf, and a mirror. No TV. If we have additional guests, I move kids around or double them up. I have a pack & play if guests need it.

The bigger issue for us is bathrooms. We have a MBA in our room and one full bath in the hall. So everyone but us theoretically uses the hall bath, including our au pair (who also has a room not previously discussed). In truth, our kids just always use the MBA so it's not terrible.

We love to have guests and I think much of the fun of a visit happens late at night or over breakfast.

[Anonymous]

Small 3 story duplex. Twin infants share a small bedroom upstairs that is across the hall from our bedroom. Guest bedroom on main floor is filled with stuff right now and needs to be organized (recent move plus early arriving babies). When one person comes they use that room since it's set up and easiest. But couples stay in the basement which is finished, has a sleeper sofa, and it's own bath. Babies eat throughout the night and we stomp around a lot caring for them (using kitchen next to guestroom) so it's nicer for us and them. Inlaws want her to stay in guest room and him to stay in basement. Not helpful.

[Anonymous]

We live in a 3 bedroom townhome with three kids. The oldest is away at college, so when he's home he sleeps in a pullout couch in our lower level family room. Young guests who with low standards, good backs and no money stay in sleeping bags or an air mattress on the floors. Everyone else gets a hotel (and a good night's sleep).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:3 kids each have their own room. Guest room has a queen, two bedside tables, two occasional chairs, a dresser, a bookshelf, and a mirror. No TV. If we have additional guests, I move kids around or double them up. I have a pack & play if guests need it.

The bigger issue for us is bathrooms. We have a MBA in our room and one full bath in the hall. So everyone but us theoretically uses the hall bath, including our au pair (who also has a room not previously discussed). In truth, our kids just always use the MBA so it's not terrible.

We love to have guests and I think much of the fun of a visit happens late at night or over breakfast.

So six bedrooms but only two baths? Or do you have a downstairs bath that is just not convenient?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:3 kids each have their own room. Guest room has a queen, two bedside tables, two occasional chairs, a dresser, a bookshelf, and a mirror. No TV. If we have additional guests, I move kids around or double them up. I have a pack & play if guests need it.

The bigger issue for us is bathrooms. We have a MBA in our room and one full bath in the hall. So everyone but us theoretically uses the hall bath, including our au pair (who also has a room not previously discussed). In truth, our kids just always use the MBA so it's not terrible.

We love to have guests and I think much of the fun of a visit happens late at night or over breakfast.

So six bedrooms but only two baths? Or do you have a downstairs bath that is just not convenient?

Downstairs 1/2 bath. Making that a full (or adding another somewhere) is on my list of renovations for the future. We're in a historic house which is lovely but not built for 2014 and daily showers for everyone in the house.

[Anonymous]

3BR, 2 kids. We have a fully furnished basement with its own full bathroom and mini-kitchen and any guests we have stay there (it's normally a family room/play area for the kids). We were glad to have this area but it wasn't a necessity because otherwise we'd have put guests in the living room.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Guest "room" is the basement family room. Pull out couch, private full bath. House is 3 BR, 3.5 ba. Each kid has their own room.

Same here. Typically our only overnight guests are a couple visits per year from my parents. If we have more than just them visiting (sometimes my bro/SIL will also come at Xmas) then we have another sofa bed in the main-floor living room that they can use. If visitors want something more comfortable, we live just down the street from a motel. We've stayed there ourselves when we've had work done on our house so I know its' clean and comfortable although not fancy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Small 2 BR apartment. 2 adults, small child, and baby. We all sleep in one room, and the other one is the guest room (kids' clothes and lots of other stuff reside in there). Mostly family stays with us. They use the guest room and if needed the living room floor she couch too.

This is insane.

[Anonymous]

We are currently in the process of transforming our giant laundry/storage room in the basement into a guest room. This includes installing new flooring and creating a closet where the washer/dryer are. There's already a bathroom down there, so hopefully this will glam up the basement a bit. It should fit a queen size bed easily, big storage room.