I don’t know about you, but my days of sleeping on a pull-out sofa or trying to fit two adult-sized bodies on a full bed (which, by the way, is made for one person) are over. Sometime while I was sleeping on couch cushions on the floor during my twenties, I realized that the guest bedroom is the room that quite frankly, gets shafted.
In designing our guest room, I let myself (and my picky sleeping habits) set the standard: If I wanted to sleep there, then it was good enough for our guests.
Our guest room is pretty small, and feels even smaller since we live in a traditional Cape-style house with sloped ceilings. Thanks to all my shoebox NYC apartments though, I have mastered the art of fitting a lot of furniture into not a lot of space. After some measuring, I deduced that I could just fit two full-size beds with a nightstand in between. If you’re wondering why I didn’t just buy a queen bed and call it a day, it’s because we have family members that prefer to sleep separately.
And lastly, I wanted to spend as few coins as possible since it’s the guest room and won’t be heavily used. Here’s how the big picture came together (stay tuned for my next post on all of the decor and linens!):
- To maximize space, I didn’t go with a bulky bed frame. I bought two standard metal frames, the Bester Bed Frames ($119.99) from Wayfair. They’re also foldable so they’ll transport easily if we ever move. And, since I’m all about maximizing vertical space, I made sure that they also have a 14″ clearance underneath for plastic storage bins.
- I actually decorated the whole room around this 3-Tier Turquoise Utility Cart ($46.99) that I had in the city. It works perfectly as a makeshift nightstand/bookcase since it’s a bit smaller than your standard nightstand and is on wheels, so can be rolled back if we need to access the window.
- We used the Soan Wingback Chair ($205.99) as extra seating in our old living room, and it fit perfectly in the nook next to the window. For the most part, we were able to use all of our city apartment furniture in our new house, which meant that much less we had to spend on new furniture.
- Lastly, but perhaps most importantly, I need to gush about my favorite bed-in-a-box company, Allswell. We purchased our king mattress from them in our old apartment and love how affordable and comfortable it is. Having slept on our mattress for almost two years now, I can say that it has also withstood the test of time. A full-size mattress will only run you $345. To save even more, make sure you get a bed frame like ours where you don’t need a box spring.
I’ll be back later with Part II of my guest bedroom tour to get up close and personal with the decor. In the meantime, stay safe and stay sane during these rather insane times.
“My space is small. My life is big.” – Graham Hill
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