I live in a one bedroom apartment with no pull-out couch, so whenever guests come to stay, either they or I usually end up sleeping on my inflatable air mattress. Due to these adventures, I have collected a list of tips and tricks to make the night more bearable (and perhaps even comfortable) if you're sleeping on an inflatable.
See below for my list, and of course add your own.
1. If you haven't yet purchased an inflatable mattress and are planning to, splurge and get the double. I'm a small person with a five pound chihuahua, and somehow one of us is always falling off the edge of the twin.
2. Skip the bells and whistles. Air mattresses don't last forever, and a basic inflatable can be just as comfortable as a more expensive, air-chambered version. I have the Guest Choice from Aero Bed, which is as basic as they come, and have had it for nearly ten years with no problems. Make sure to find one that has a pump which can adjust air. This one has a release button for perfect inflation. Also, find a mattress that is at least 20 gauge vinyl or higher to prevent tiny holes from developing.
3. Utilize your sleeping bags: the original air mattresses. Create a pillow top over an inflated air bed with open sleeping bags, blankets or memory foam. The air inside of the mattress will gradually cool overnight, and likely make you colder than a regular bed. Pad it for comfort and warmth.
4. Make it like a real bed. After creating the pillow top, make up the air mattress like you would any other bed: with a sheet set, blanket and comforter. It's tempting when you're tired to just drop down and use a blanket to cover you, but making it up like your regular bed will provide a better night's sleep.
5. Make sure to place the bed on a soft surface. Most air mattresses have vinyl or plastic underneath to prevent movement and sliding. That will squeak all night on a hardwood floor. Opt to place it on carpet, a rug, or drop a blanket under it.
6. Create a headboard. If your air mattress doesn't already have one built in, create a faux-headboard by placing the mattress in front of a wall. Beds have headboards for lots of reasons, but one of them is to keep your pillows from falling backwards off the bed.
7. Keep pets away from the unmade mattress! Especially cats. Air mattresses are fun and exciting to curious pets, and claws can damage them with one quick pop. Plus, if you have future guests that happen to be allergic, it will be hard to remove all traces of their dander.
8. When in doubt, have a glass of wine. That always puts me right to sleep!
Goodnight and good luck!
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Make sure you inflate it fully. Don't go most of the way there and think "it'll be fine, I don't want to sleep on a rock." No, inflate it to its capacity because the airbed will leak tiny amounts of air during the night.
Check it before your guests arrive - little holes/cracks can develop, even if it was fine last time you used it! My sister borrowed an Aero Bed from her neighbor for my visit a few years ago, and it seemed fine but I woke up at 4 a.m. in pain and sleeping directly on the hardwood floor - the entire thing had completely deflated from a slow leak. She replaced it with a cheap air mattress from Target that to be honest wasn't much better...thank goodness they now have a guest bed!
Best tip: get a hotel room.
It's also important to have plenty of blankets for the air mattress user to have, especially in the winter. Since you're sleeping on air, you lose a lot of body heat, which is nice in the summer but not so nice when it's cold. I've found putting a fleece blanket on top of the mattress under the sheets to help. One time I was so cold on an air mattress that I couldn't even sleep--I had to get my friend's electric blanket and sleep on top of it while it was set on low.
I love Tip #8!
also, offer to sleep on the air mattress yourself and give the guest your bed! In most cases a guest wont take u up on the offer, but u look like a damn better host that way! :)
Guests like fish smell after 3 days.
Living in NYC so may friends want to visit and they don't understand that a small open-plan apartment is not ideal for guests. After having a few come for 4 days and then extend their stay extend for 10 days I now don't want to make it too comfortable!
Put down a couple of yoga mats under the air mattress if it's on the floor (so it doesn't slide around when your guests get into bed!). FOR SURE add some padding to the mattress so it doesn't get cold in the middle of the night (pillow top idea). I use an old comforter, then put the fitted sheet right over it. :)
we've gone thru 2 rarely used aerobeds in 5 yrs. I was not looking forward to buying another one, and then i found this foldable cot at llbean. - cheap, sturdy, and folds down to be really slim to stow away under the bed. The not-bad mattress is foam,so i bought an inexpensive pillow top on amazon, which makes all the diff. The best part is its elevated, so your guest is not literally on the floor. I highly recommend.
http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/33300?feat=cot-SR0&attrValue_0=Blue/White
Similar to the sleeping bag tip, a spare mattress pad is a godsend. Even if it's not a pillow top, you eliminate that cold feeling of sleeping with sheets on plastic, which makes it really feel like you're sleeping on the floor. Depending on the size of the air mattress it probably won't take up much more space than the mattress itself. I usually stick a blanket laid flat underneath the mattress pad also, to give a little more coziness.
We also have an Aerobed (queen size) and LOVE it for occasional guests who typically stay 2-3 nights max. However, I can vouch for the tip of keeping pets off it. Our pittie LOVES the air mattress and LOVES waking up our slumbering guests to snuggle up with them on what I'm sure he views as a giant playpen. Our previous Aerobed developed a hole and a fully blame our pitt bull. :)
Ditto to PI. Everyone I know under-inflates them. I think they have a latent fear of them popping like a balloon.
I have a pretty basic Aerobed model and it has an automatic shutoff or something that lets out some air if it's over-inflated.
Add a mattress pad to keep the person warm...otherwise they waste all their body heat trying to warm up the air in the mattress.
Our cat destroyed on of ours. Attacked it while it was deflated. Not sure if that's a cat thing our just an our cat thing.
I had a friend who had purchased a really nice mattress cover for an air mattress. In their case, they were short on space, but were able to splash out on a really comfortable cover from something like Tempurpedic, as well as great linens. I honestly slept like a dream!
Most uncomfortable nights sleep of my life have been on airbeds.
Last time my back seized, and I'm an active 27 year old with no joint problems. Since then I've decided that sleeping on the floor is better than an air mattress.
I move relatively frequently, and while I have a nice IKEA bed frame that can collapse, I've never purchased a mattress. I bought the most simple $20 queen air mattress from Target and have been sleeping on it nightly without issue for close to 9 months. It was intended to be a temporary arrangement, but once it was broken in, it has been fine. The mattress came with instructions that the plastic would expand over the first few uses due to body heat- after reinflating it to account for that, I only have to top it off with air every month or so. I have a thick blanket between the air mattress and the bed frame to avoid squeaks and a simple (cheap) foam topper to pad it a bit. Granted I have a comfortable couch so I mostly just sleep in the bed, but I think it has been a great alternative to buying and moving a queen mattress around.
I have a ton of these, but would not put adults on them. Even young children who visit complain that they squeak, deflate during the night, and that they slide off them. Sometimes it's unavoidable, especially if guests extend their stay and overlap with other guests, or the kids invite friends unannounced. Where possible, I try to keep guest numbers down so everyone can sleep on a proper bed, or at least the sofa bed.
I have to agree except going for the cheapest. I'd say go with one that is at double height instead of so close to the floor - makes getting into and out easier for guests not all that physically inclined.
We got a raised inflatable queen size bed from somewhere cheap (not the Aero brand). It's not smooth and plastic-y (some sort of cloth-like surface) so it doesn't slide around or squeak. Everyone tells me it's really comfortable to sleep on, and this weekend we're giving our guests and their kids our bedroom and sleeping on the inflatable in the living room. I always use a complete set of sheets and have it pushed up against our sofa. Plus being queen size and having a small ridge around the edge helps prevent the constant feeling that you're falling off. It's also much better than our old lumpy futon. Unfortunately, there's a lot of trial and error finding a bed that's good!
I gave up on air mattresses a long time ago. I have two Hide-A-Mats from Costco that have worked really well for our guests (my sister, her husband, and four year old son slept on them for over a month). They were $45 each. I've even taken them on camping and cabin trips. Best investment ever!
The most important way to make sleeping on an air mattress bearable is to sleep ALONE. That way, when one person rolls over, it doesn't send the other person rolling off the edge, and you don't roll toward each other in the middle. Important!
AeroBed air mattresses make overnight traveling simple with compact and easy-to-carry design, providing a comfortable and restful night's sleep.
http://www.aerobed.com/CategoryAll.aspx