We all know children who are convinced a monster lives under the bed. Monsters are definitely unwelcome guests! What if we commandeer the monster’s living quarters to make space for welcome guests?
In a child’s room, it’s awfully handy to have an extra mattress slipped under the bed for sleepovers (where you anticipate actual sleep going on – lol). There is usually enough room, depending upon the height of the bed, for extra sheets and towels to sit on top of the mattress, too. When you need to make the bed for company, all the supplies are together. Unless you use them a lot, I would suggest you do like we do with out-of-season bedding, and wrap the extra sheets/towels in an old pillowcase to protect them from dust.
Sorry monster, there’s no more room for you! Under this bed is space for welcome guests.
In a parent’s room, an extra mattress can be nice, too. For one thing, it’s a space where kids can sleep when they are sick that doesn’t involve elbows in your ribs. It can also be hauled out and taken to another room for overnight guests to have a comfortable space to sleep in a kid’s room or other room with a little more privacy. If you have a queen- or king-size bed, a twin mattress can easily fit beneath it, with room to store other items as well (like suitcases and out-of-season bedding).
If you have a guest room, a mattress under the bed is usually a welcome addition, too. Sometimes when a family travels, little ones prefer to stay close to the parents instead of mixing in with the other kids in the house. Or, if you welcome a steady stream of college students, an extra mattress won’t go unused!
Other things we like to store under the queen-size guest bed in our house include:
An extra porta-crib, with it’s sheets.
A plastic bin full of the sheets and blankets to make up the guest bed. We also keep a small bag of chocolates in this bin so we can leave a “kiss” on the pillow when we make the bed.
A plastic bin with extra towels, travel sized toiletries (we collect these from hotels when we travel), disposable razors, inexpensive combs, tissues, a spare hair dryer, etc.
A plastic bin with air mattresses, pumps, and the sheets that fit the air mattresses.
A plastic bin of extra quilts, blankets, and pillows.
Oh – and if you don’t use these items a whole lot, it doesn’t hurt to put a cedar block or a bar of soap in the bin with linens to keep them smelling nice and fresh. You can always pull out the soap for the guest bathroom when you are getting the room ready for guests.