Choosing the Perfect Curtains for Your Space How Sleep Trackers Work Should You Buy A Pull-out Sofa or An Inflatable Mattress? Factors to consider when shopping for overnight guest bedsWhen you are deciding about sleep arrangements for future overnight guests, you’ll have to take many factors into consideration. Learn the basics of guest bedding options to help you make the right choice.Airbeds Inflatable beds run anywhere from $50 to $150, which is considerably cheaper than the price range for a pull-out sofa bed. Air mattress advantages include portability (they easily move from room to room or floor to floor when deflated) and storability (when one is deflated, it hardly takes up any room at all and can be stuffed into a closet). One downside of airbeds, compared with sofa beds, is that they may be more challenging and time-consuming to set up. You might, for instance, need to blow air into it manually or plug it into an air-blowing machine.Sleeper Sofas Until recently, sofa beds had a bad reputation, due to their thin spring mattresses.
Thanks to technological advances, however, sleeper sofa manufacturers have started to add foam toppers to pull-out mattresses. The result: a significant improvement in overall comfort. The new generation is slightly more expensive than traditional sleeper sofas, and much more expensive than airbeds, but if you haven’t slept on a pull-out in a few years, test some in the store—you’ll likely be pleasantly surprised.Consider Your Guests Toddlers and young adults may be fine sleeping on an air mattress, but an older, bigger, or less spry person might not be comfortable getting up and down from an airbed that’s on the floor. And air mattresses are not an option for babies, due to risks of suffocation from the soft surfacing.Add Luxe Amenities It’s good to remember that no matter which temporary sleep solution you choose, you can dress it up with some pampering accessories: Think thick, quality pillows, luxury cotton sheets, and a spa-sounds white noise machine. Guests may appreciate extra amenities even if the airbed or sofa bed, itself, is underwhelming.
Take a cue from hotels and consider giving them special soap or cozy slippers to make their stay extra comfortable. and the National Sleep Foundation. Want more personalized information? Please provide your zip code, gender and age range. We can't wait to help you #takebackyoursleep. account and take our sleep personality quiz! Username Email Login | We’ve all got friends and relatives, but we don’t all have a guest room for their overnight visits. On that safe assumption, the air mattress business was born. Fortunately, these blow-up beds have advanced quite a bit from the flimsy models you’d inflate with a bicycle pump—or by mouth until you were dizzy. Seemingly without fail, air mattresses of old deflated in the middle of the night, and the poor soul sleeping on them would wake up on the floor, cranky and achy. Today’s top models are less likely to leak, and the best air mattress options are designed with internal baffles to better support a sleeper. Of course, it’s tough for even the best air mattress to compare with a real one, and cut-rate versions are still on the market, so before you buy, do your research here.
We’ve outlined exactly what to look for in a comfortable, convenient air mattress, and pulled our top three consumer picks in a reasonable price range. You’ll be prepared the next time your college buddy or in-laws come to town—not to mention equipped for your next camping trip—with an air mattress that’s a dream come true!Raised air mattresses, up to three times higher than the standard 8-inch mattress height, make it easier on the knees and the back when getting in and out of bed. Reviews website The Sweethome tested a number of air mattresses and found that 18 inches is the most comfortable height for adults.Sadly, some sagging is inevitable with even the highest quality air mattress. This isn’t due to air escaping but to the material, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), stretching under pressure. Some manufacturers claim that their mattresses are more likely to stretch when new; after they’ve been slept on a few times, the sag factor should decrease.No one wants to spend a lot of time filling or emptying an air mattress, so choose one with a quick-inflate pump that will get it to optimal firmness in a few minutes.
Internal electric air pumps offer fastest inflation, but they’re only suitable for in-home use. If you want a mattress for camping, buy one with a battery operated pump (take plenty of extra batteries) or a manual pump. “Always on” electric pumps can sense a pressure drop and add air as needed to keep the mattress firm—nice, but pricey. Manual pumps, operated either by foot or hand, are the least expensive option.You get what you pay for with air mattresses, but only to a point. Those no-frills $50 air mattresses tend to get low consumer ratings because they simply don’t stand up to frequent use. Air mattresses can run as much as $300 dollars, but at that price you pay for bells and whistles, such as portable frames, remote control pump operation, and foam toppers. According to The Sweethome, the best air mattress typically won’t cost more than $150; after that, you’re most likely purchasing perks that won’t enhance your sleeping comfort.A one-year limited warranty is standard with the purchase of better air mattresses, but manufacturers warn that using their product as a regular bed will void its warranty.
Most makers only guarantee against factory defects of the mattress and the pump. We’ve rounded up the top models based on the criteria above as well as reviews from consumers and experts alike so that you don’t have to lose a single night’s sleep when shopping for the best air mattress. Perfect for a Pair: SoundAsleep Dream Series Air Mattress with ComfortCoil Technology ($120) With a thick flocked sleeping surface, and ComfortCoil technology that distributes air evenly throughout, the SoundAsleep Dream Series Air Mattress wins top honors from The Sweethome. This queen size air bed is a very comfortable 19 inches high, measures 78 inches by 58 inches, and supports up to 500 pounds of sleeping weight, making it perfect for a couple of overnight guests. Its high-capacity internal electric pump inflates the mattress in just four minutes, and more than 11,000 enthusiastic Amazon buyers gave it a robust 4.4 out of 5 stars. Reviewers raved about its stability (virtually no jiggle) and noted only minimal sagging.
The mattress comes with its own storage bag and weighs in at 19 pounds. Quick and Comfy: AeroBed One-Touch Comfort Air Mattress – Double High, Twin ($130) For a single guest, the AeroBed One-Touch Comfort Mattress inflates to a lofty 17 inches high in just two minutes, while the Whoosh® valve makes deflation just as quick the next morning. The internal electric pump has a control wand that lets the sleeper add air pressure without getting out of bed, and a patented stability base increases firmness. The mattress offers a generous 39-inch by 74-inch surface to accommodate a sleeper up to 300 pounds, and features an antimicrobial surface to resist mildew. Target shoppers gave the AeroBed a wholehearted 5-star rating based on its easy setup, high level of sleep comfort, and minimal sagging. It weighs 15 pounds and comes with its own stow bag and a two-year limited warranty. Best for Camping: Coleman Airbed Cot, Twin ($109) The battery-operated Coleman Airbed Cot means sweet dreams inside and out!