Hosting Christmas in a Small House: Where Will Everyone Sleep?
By Alex at SOFGO ·
A small house can host a big Christmas. It just needs a plan. When the family arrives for a few nights, the question isn't really whether there's enough room. It's whether every space is pulling its weight.
This guide walks through working out where everyone sleeps, turning the living room into a guest room, keeping bedding out of sight, protecting everyone's privacy, and a simple timeline so the last few days aren't a scramble.
Map your sleeping spaces
Start with paper rather than furniture. Write down every person staying and every night they're with you, then list every space in the house that could hold a bed.
Who's coming, and for how long. Note couples, children, older relatives and anyone with a bad back or an early start. The guest staying the most nights, or the one who needs the most rest, should get the best spot.
Every possible space. Go beyond the spare room:
- the spare room or box room, even if it doubles as an office;
- the living room, if it has a door you can close;
- a dining room or snug you won't need after dinner;
- a child's room, if the children can bunk in with each other or with you.
Match people to spaces. Give the spaces with a door and a nearby bathroom to the adults staying longest. Children usually cope happily with a shared room or a camp-out, and teenagers often like the living room because they get it to themselves once everyone goes up.
Count the beds you actually have. A double bed, a sofa bed and a single can feel like plenty until you match them to names. If there's a gap, that's usually where a sofa bed earns its place, because it's a sofa for the rest of the year.
When you compare sofa beds, look at the sleeping area as well as the overall size. For reference, a standard UK double mattress is 135 × 190 cm and a small double is 120 × 190 cm. Our guide to sofa beds for Christmas guests explains how to read the sizes on our product pages.
Living room as guest room
In most small houses, the living room becomes the main guest room. It works well, as long as you set it up for sleeping rather than just pulling the bed out at midnight.
Measure with the bed open. Clear the coffee table and check there's room for the open bed plus a walkway to the door. If you're short of space, our guide to small living room layouts with a corner sofa shows how to arrange things.
Plan where the furniture goes. Decide in advance where the coffee table, footstools and any side tables will go each night. A hallway or the dining room usually works.
Give guests a corner of their own. A chair or a basket for clothes, a lamp they can reach from bed, and a socket for phone chargers make a real difference.
Think about light and draughts. Living rooms often have thinner curtains than bedrooms. A blackout blind or a clip-on lining helps, and a draught excluder at the door keeps the room warmer overnight.
A corner sofa bed like the Foxglove gives the family plenty of seating during the day and a bed at night, in the footprint the sofa already takes up. If the sofa will be used every day as well as for guests, our guide to making a sofa bed more comfortable covers toppers, pillows and bedding.
If you need a sofa bed in place quickly, a few are shown as in stock on their product pages today. The Verity Corner Sofa Bed With Storage M84 (£779) is listed at 222 × 133 × 72 cm, a compact size for a smaller room. The Fairhaven Corner Sofa Bed with Storage M84 (£1,199) lists a sleeping area 123 cm wide and 193 cm long. For a bigger family, the U Shape Goldcrest corner sofa bed with storage (£999) is listed at 352 × 152 × 76 cm, and its page says it "Extends into a generous double bed". All three take card, Klarna or Clearpay (subject to eligibility and status), or pay on delivery, as shown on their pages.
Storage for extra bedding
Guests bring more than themselves. Duvets, pillows, towels and suitcases fill a small house quickly, so plan where everything lives before it arrives.
Keep a complete set together. For each bed, store a fitted sheet, a duvet and cover, two pillows and pillowcases, and a towel as one bundle. Then making up a bed takes minutes.
Use the space under the seat. A sofa bed with storage keeps that bundle in the same room as the bed. Every sofa in this article lists a storage compartment under the seat, and the U Shape Goldcrest lists two. Our guide to what fits in a sofa bed storage chaise shows what to expect.
Store bedding properly. Make sure everything is clean and completely dry, use breathable cotton bags rather than sealed plastic, and air it for a day before guests arrive. Don't overfill the compartment, so the lid closes easily.
Find a home for the luggage. Suitcases left in the living room are the first thing to make a small house feel crowded. Unpack into a drawer or a basket if you can, and put the empty cases under a bed or in the loft.
Privacy and routines
Sharing a small house for a few days is easier when everyone knows how it works.
Agree the living room's hours. If someone sleeps there, settle a time it becomes their bedroom at night and a time it goes back to being the living room in the morning. Late-night TV and early risers are the usual flashpoints.
Stagger the bathroom. A rough rota for showers in the morning saves a queue on the landing. Put spare towels and a basic kit (toothpaste, shampoo, a phone charger) where guests can find them without asking.
Give everyone somewhere to retreat. Even an hour alone helps. A bedroom free in the afternoon, a walk, or a quiet corner with a book stops a full house from feeling cramped.
Keep the kitchen moving. Set out breakfast things the night before, so early risers can help themselves without waking the person on the sofa bed.
Mind the light and noise. Guests in the living room hear the kettle, the front door and the stairs. A soft lamp instead of the big light goes a long way.
In an open-plan room like this, a folding screen or a curtain on a tension rod can give a sleeping guest some privacy from the kitchen.
A short prep timeline
You don't need to do everything at once. Spread it out:
Six weeks or more before:
- Confirm who's coming and for how many nights, and draw up your sleeping plan.
- Measure any room where a new sofa bed would go, with the bed open, and check doors, hallways and stairs. If it needs to go upstairs, our guide to getting a sofa up narrow stairs helps.
- If you're buying, check the delivery window shown on the product page against your dates before you order. Made-to-order and in-stock items show different windows. If timing matters, message our team before you order.
Four weeks before:
- Count bedding sets, pillows and towels, and buy what's missing.
- Wash and dry everything, then store it as a set for each bed.
- Declutter the hallway, the spare room and the bathroom shelves.
One week before:
- Open every sofa bed and make it up once, so you know how it works.
- Check curtains, lamps, sockets and chargers in each sleeping space.
- Plan a few simple meals and breakfasts, and stock up on basics.
The day before:
- Air the bedding and make up the beds, or leave a set folded on each one.
- Clear a shelf or a basket for each guest.
- Put out spare towels, and leave the heating on a little longer in the rooms where people will sleep.
On delivery: it's free to most of mainland UK, either to your door or with free assembly in the room you choose and the packaging taken away. We text you a delivery date and a two-hour window. Upper floors without a lift cost £49 per order for the 1st to 4th floor, including upstairs rooms in a house. Some postcode areas also carry a charge, and our delivery page lists them all.
FAQs
Where should guests sleep in a small house?
Give the rooms with a door and a nearby bathroom to the adults staying longest. Use the living room, with a sofa bed, for guests who don't mind being in the middle of things, and let children share or camp out.
Is a sofa bed comfortable enough for Christmas guests?
For a few nights, a good sofa bed made up with a topper, proper pillows and a warm duvet is comfortable for most guests. Check the sleeping area on the product page against your tallest guest, and test-open it before they arrive.
How do I prepare for overnight guests with little space?
Plan who sleeps where on paper first, keep a complete bedding set for each bed, clear the hallway and bathroom shelves, and give each guest a basket or shelf for their things. Small touches like a lamp and a phone charger matter more than space.
Where do I store extra bedding in a small house?
Under the seat of a sofa bed with storage, under beds, or in breathable cotton bags on a high shelf. Keep each bed's set together, so making up a bed takes minutes.
How much space does an open sofa bed need?
Measure the open size plus a walkway to the door. Each product page lists the sizes, and where a page lists only part of the picture, message our team and we'll help you check.
Planning where everyone will sleep this Christmas? Message our team with your room sizes and the sofa bed you're looking at, or email support@sofgo.co.uk. We reply between 8am and 10pm, every day. You can browse our in-stock range, corner sofa beds with storage and U shape corner sofa beds any time. For a spare room, see how to choose a sofa bed for a guest room and our spare room ideas with a sofa bed.
Alex at SOFGO