The best spare bed – go Aerobed. No, really.

Posted By Laura in Featured, For Teens, For the Family, In the Home | 0 comments

A couple of years ago we took a risk, and instead of pulling the various parts of the old pine bed out of the loft (and the old double mattress out of the garage), we asked my disabled Father In Law to sleep on an airbed for Christmas. Not as harsh as it sounds – we’re not talking an old rubber pump-up on the floor. We were talking a properly good big-and-solid Platinum Aerobed.
Being a polite sort, he agreed to give it a go – and was amazed at how comfortable he was, and how well he slept all week.
To be honest, we were amazed too!

In the past, the routine has been that our youngest son moves out of his room and into his brothers, sleeping on the floor under his cabin bed. This worked perfectly when they were younger and keen for the fun involved in bedroom sharing, but last year the then-15yr old declared he really didn’t *want* to share his admittedly pretty small room with his brother any more. Our daughter offered the space beneath her own cabin bed – but as her room is unofficially the smallest bedroom in the world, having two of them in there just isn’t feasible.

On top of the where-to-put-him conundrum, Jolly himself was busy declaring in the nicest, most polite way possible, that actually, he really is a bit old for sleeping on the floor, and wasn’t there anything we could do to find him some sleeping space that didn’t involve throwing a  couple of duvets onto a laminate floor.

Teenage Boy sleeping – image courtesy of Shutterstock

All exactly the extra stress you need in the run up to Christmas, obviously. Don’t get me wrong, no one was being a stroppy teen about it – but we did understand. Sometimes you just want your own space, and already-small rooms don’t easily accommodate an extra body plus all their Christmas paraphernalia and clothing for a week. And 15yr old boys really do NOT want to sleep on their parents bedroom floor for a week, either.

So we reassessed, did a little measuring, and decided that with a bit of clever jiggery pokery with bits of furniture, there was enough space running under our desks in the office to fit a manchild of teen proportions. Taking note of his lack of floor-sleeping love, I spoke to Aerobed to see if they could solve the problem with a smaller mattress.

Which of course they could.I had actually always been baffled as to why anyone would want to by the single depth floor mattress when the full-height one is frequently on offer; who wouldn’t want the comfort of a ‘proper’ bed? But I suddenly had my answer. A full height raised Aerobed would simply not be practical when slipped between the desks. But with a low-to-the-ground version, he could tuck his feet under one desk, his head wasn’t in danger of smashing itself under the other, and he could sleep comfortably in his own space while his grandparents stayed.

He was happy, his older brother was happy  – and I’m pretty sure the In-Laws were grateful for the use of his room, and not to be tucking themselves under a desk instead.

We also realised that the low down version was the perfect solution (which we should have come up with years ago, to be fair) for using under a cabin bed. As you’d expect, he slept perfectly all week, with not a single complaint (a Christmas first). We had also shifted his PC out of his room to make way for the grandparents, and set it up in our office on the desk he was sleeping under. Once the main Christmas festivities were over, he realised he could release the air from his bed, fold it away under the second desk, pull in a chair, and be playing CS GO in under five minutes. I rolled my eyes and told him he could make the bed up again himself – which he duly did. In under 2 minutes, thanks to the super-speedy pump inflating the bed in under a minute.

Best of all, for most of the year the bed rolls up into a really small stuff sack (no bigger than a sleeping bag) and is easily tucked away. Sleepovers are now way more comfortable for all our guests – this really isn’t a pump-up bed suitable only for the youngest of sleepers, it’s a really decent, properly comfortable mattress for anyone. For years I’ve been telling friends and relatives (and anyone who’ll listen, to be fair) that they should keep an Aerobed in the cupboard for emergency guests – and every guest of ours who has slept on it has immediately gone and bought one for themselves.

The Standard Single Aerobed is currently priced at £120 – but do watch the site as there are often offers. For example, right now the Platinum Raised version is reduced to the exact same £120 – if you’re not looking to squoosh a sleeper into a tiny space like us, you should definitely get that one!