How should my Spare Room be set up? (Basement)?

Question

I have already have one guest room, but I want the basement to have additional accomodations if I have a lot of guests over the holidays. My basement is fairly large. I currently have a sofa and chair in the basement. The sofa is a regular one, not a sofa bed. I also want to keep a small area set aside for an office area w/ my PC and printer, etc. I'm wondering if anyone has some ideas for how to set this up. Should I purchase a sofa bed for this area? I could use the additional seating too because I want the basement (when guests are not in town) to be a place of entertaining like a home theater. Any advice would be helpful.

Answer 1

Only invest in a sleeper sofa if you really have company often enough to use it. They are fairly expensive and the mattresses being folded all the time gradually damages the sponge. A matching pair of futons would give you the same sleeping area and more seating.

Maybe you could set up your office at one end and use the sofa as the divider, backing it up to the desk or a pair of bookcases.

Then set up the living room, tv area in one half of the room. Good Luck.

Answer 2

I agree with the others: Futon is a good idea but if you don't like the look of a Futon, go with your sofa bed. Ikea has some great ones and they aren't too expensive.

I would definitely keep the work space area separate from the accommodation area. And keep in mind that if you were staying in the basement as a guest, you would want some kind of way to keep yourself intimate. So you might want to think about a folding screen or something else to separate the areas. It would be a bummer if you wanted to work in the pc area and you had a guest sleeping in plain view.

the best thing to do is think: what would you like if you were a guest sleeping there? That means you need some kind of armoire for storing their clothes, etc. The armoire would be better than a folding screen because you could use it to separate the room by using it as a backdrop for the pc, etc.

Have fun!

Answer 3

I would not get a sofa bed. They are pretty uncomfortable. Why not try a day bed with a trundle and put a lot of pillows for accents. You may want to consider getting a computer armoir that you get hide away all your computer equipment while guests are staying in the basement. I would also lock any file cabinets that you have down there. If you don't have a closet handy for clothes and luggage, get a folding screen and a luggage rack. Make the area cozy for guests with good reading lights, books and magazines, radio and TV, but PLEASE no candles!!

Answer 4

We have our basement set up as a sort of recreational room. We have the pool table down there, an entertainment center, a stereo, all of the things you would need to keep people occupied. We also have an overstuffed chair and a futon down there. It's a really great space for when we have parties, and also if we have people stay over. It's worked out really well for us. Good luck!