How To Choose a Guest Bed - Temporary Bed - Best Inflatable Beds

What You Need To Know To Choose a Good Guest Bed

Most of us are familiar with the feeling of panic and rush that inevitably follows welcoming guests for a weekend sleepover, especially if it's people who are visiting for the first time. Suitcases are being unpacked, shouts ring around the previously quiet apartment, requests are made and questions asked, and you are stuck in the middle of the chaos, trying desperately to make sense of it all. You consider if a temporary mattress is good enough or if you should have gotten a temporary bed. How old are they and do they need treating with a bit more respect than a temporary mattress offers?

The pressure is amplified as night approaches and you find yourself responsible for providing your guests with a comfortable temporary bed to sleep on. Let's face it – the majority of us cannot afford a big house with a couple of guest rooms included, and finding a sleeping solution for a few extra people in a tiny apartment is far from easy. That is where a portable bed comes in – as long as it is chosen carefully, it might very well put your overstressed hosting mind to rest.

Oliver Guest Bed 

A lightweight and effective solution that will suit your pocket. The oliver day bed is a good solution which will last and provide a decent night's sleep. They also have excellent mattresses to go with the well designed bed. 

Advantages of portable beds against regular beds

The most expensive commodity in a cramped apartment is, undoubtedly, space.

Sometimes purchasing a regular bed is simply not an option – even a simple futon can be out of the question. A portable bed, on the other hand, solves the issue in an instant.

Whether it is an air mattress (inflatable temporary bed), a folding cot or a sleeping pad, you can comfortably fold it and store it pretty much anywhere during the times when it is not needed. Your guests will also have some freedom in deciding where they want a portable bed to be placed. Do they prefer sleeping next to a window or further away from it?

There are now more convenient ways of inflating a blow-up bed such as battery-powered rechargeable pumps which do make this class of temporary bed better.

Would they like to sleep next to a wall?

They might even wish to have the bed placed in your bedroom instead of a living room if they have not seen you for a long time and have missed those drowsy bedtime chats. A regular bed does not offer the same level of flexibility.

Not to mention that as weird as that might sound, a quality portable bed can be even more comfortable than a typical one – a good air mattress, for example, will allow your guests to have a much better rest than on an old spring-mattress sofa. The options are a legion and if you approach the task right you might even get a kick out of it – looking at some of the unusual and creative solutions that are out there.

4 BEST TEMPORARY BEDS & 3 Best Temporary Mattress

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Types of portable beds

The main types of portable beds available on the market are air mattresses and folding beds (cots and futons). The first two are the safest choices, mainly because of the sheer variety of sizes and designs on offer.

Air beds offer a degree of flexibility that can hardly be matched by any other type of bed out there – they can be inflated or deflated to suit the individual needs of different guests, and they can be as big as a California-king-sized bed or as small as a single one and they come in a variety of heights.

A folding cot/futon, on the other hand, may not be as flexible, but it is able to mimic a traditional bed in a way that most air mattresses cannot. When we say that we mean that most postable futons are made of foam and sleeping on foam, even if it's low quality like in most portable futons, feels more familiar than sleeping on an inflatable bed.

Basics of choosing a good inflatable bed 

First of all, decide which size will best fit within the free space available in your apartment. There is a wide range of sizes for you to choose from, beginning with standard twin mattresses and ending with luxurious California Kings.

In 99% of cases, a good Twin or Queen size air mattress will do. 

Twin-size air mattresses, if it's true to size and most of the best ones are, are the same size as your regular twin bed (39x74"). Their capacity is in the range of 400-500 lbs, making them a solid choice for two people to sleep on.

If the bed will sleep two people who are on the heavier side or you simply want the added comfort of that extra few inches, a Queen-size air bed will be the way to go. The capacity of the better one is in the range of 500-700 lbs.

Consider the pump!

Most inflatable beds for home use come with a built-in pump with adjustable firmness settings (usually 3 or more pre-sets).

On the higher end, you will see the inflatables come with a heftier price tag that includes a Never Flat or a "Smart" pump. This pump is designed not to allow changes in pressure – to put it simply, the beds cannot deflate because the pump keeps adding air if the air bed starts deflating.

Foldaway Beds 

It's also a good idea to pay attention to the frame and support structure of a folding bed. Choose an aluminium frame if you need a lighter, more flexible cot, or a steel frame for more durability.

As far as support structure is concerned, it is usually characterised by three types of different leg styles: a vertical one, a crossed X-shaped design or legs that are connected by a horizontal C-shaped bar. The first two are generally considered to be more reliable and, 9 times out of 10, the choice will be between those two options and the aforementioned air bed.

Don't overthink

As long as you are aware of the different options that are available on the market, purchasing a temporary guest bed that is right for your needs is not at all difficult.

Now take a look at options for temporary beds on Amazon.