9 Comfortable Alternatives to Mattresses

Bedroom • Karen • 0 Comments

Need a place to sleep, but don’t want to splurge on a mattress? We’ve got you covered with our mattress alternatives!

Sure, we all love a good night’s sleep. But sometimes a regular bed just doesn’t cut it. Whether for reasons of space, time, or finance, we might want or need to let go of our preconceived notions of what our place to sleep should look like and turn to alternatives that are just as satisfying and comfortable.

So what are your options?

Hammock

The hammock is, by far, the best mattress alternative when it comes to saving money and space without giving up on comfort.

Depending on your available space it is entirely possible to detach your hammock from its hooks every morning, making the space underneath available for other pursuits. Or if your situation allows for it, you can just as easily leave it strung up and have both a comfortable seating option as well as a great design/decoration piece in your home.

Just make sure your chosen hammock is comfortable and that it is wide enough to full cradle your body in order to prevent undignified falls when you’re turning over during the night.

Pull Out Sofa Bed

The pull out sofa bed, or sleeper sofa, probably is the most obvious idea when it comes to finding an alternative to a bed.

Basically, this sofa has a mattress included which can be pulled out from under the seat. Usually, this will give you at least a queen size sleeping area, but depending on sofa size, it may just be king size.

Why do we consider it a mattress alternative? Simply because you do not need to invest in a separate mattress, and because it is a great space-saver when you live in a small apartment or loft.

Futon Sofa

The idea behind the futon sofa is the same as with the sofa bed. Essentially, it functions as a sofa during the day and can be pulled out to serve as a comfortable bed at night.

The distinction between a sofa bed and a futon is that you flip down the backrest to create a level sleeping surface, and that the seat itself folds out to be the mattress (contrary to the sofa bed where the mattress is hidden beneath the seat).

Day Bed

This mattress alternative is only suitable for singles, since day beds generally are too small to comfortably sleep two adults.

The day bed is a great space saver insofar that even in its daytime use it typically is noticeably smaller than your average sofa.

The Floor

For those of you who do not shy away from it, the floor is the perfect bed alternative, and therefore also a great mattress alternative.

For most of us, the idea of lying directly on the floor is connected with feeling and (it) being uncomfortable, unhealthy, or a temporary solution at best.

This, however, is not true!

Lying directly on the floor is actually rather good for your back (if, and only if, there is some sort of padding between your body and the floor), and has been the preferred mode of sleeping for a big portion of the world’s population for hundreds and thousands of years.

The four mattress alternatives below are ideas of which type of padding to use when you’re ready to give the floor a try:

Futon Mat

The futon mat is the classical Japanese way of sleeping.

Basically, the set-up is a shikibuton mat rolled out, which is often covered by a thin matress-like layer, and topped by your bedding.

The good thing about those mats is that they can easily be combined to sleep two (or more) people next to each other, and that they are specifically designed to be rolled up and stored away during the daytime hours.

Air Mattress

Air mattresses are oftentimes considered as an emergency solution for those times you need to house (unexpected) guests for a night or three.

But what works for your friends and family just as well works for you!

Air mattresses can be an incredibly comfortable alternative to your regular mattress, and they do have the advantage that they are highly transportable.

Camping Mat

Now if you do not want to invest in an air mattress, or if you simply do not have the place for a full blown (see what we did there?!) air mattress, a camping mat might just be your thing.

A camping mat is definitely more comfortable than lying directly on the floor, and it also provides good insulation so you do not get uncomfortably cold during the night.

The main advantage of the camping mat as mattress alternative is that it can be simply rolled up and stored away.

Sleeping Bag

For those true minimalists, a sleeping bag is the perfect alternative. Not only does it abolish with the need to buy a mattress, it also makes a duvet superfluous. (Though you might still want to invest in a pillow!)

Sleeping bags may seem like a very temporary measure, but they in fact are a valid mattress alternative, though you probably will want to have at least some sort of yoga mat between you and the floor for extra padding.

What do you think is the best mattress alternative? Which one do you use? Have we missed something? Let us know below!