By Franki Hanke

With the holidays approaching, it’s time to polish up our hosting spaces. 

When people stay over, it’s a point of pride to take care of them by showing them the best places to eat (or preparing your best recipes) and offering a relaxing space for them to rest at the end of the day. 

With these tips on how to prepare a guest bedroom, you’ll transform your extra bedroom into a hotel-style escape. 

Tips on How to Prepare a Guest Bedroom

Invest in Linens

No matter how beautiful your interior design is if the bed is uncomfortable or the bedding is scratchy your guests won’t have a good night. Invest in your guest room like it’s your own master bedroom with high-quality, soft linens. 

Bedding

We love Pure Down’s Goose Feather Pillows for soft, supportive pillows. It’s best to provide at least two pillows per person. For a real luxury hotel touch, provide a variety of types of pillows like goose-down and gel for people to use what they like best. 

We love Brooklinen’s sheets for soft, yet cool bed linens. The Luxe set comes with a duvet cover, fitted sheet, flat sheet, and four pillowcases to set up a whole bedset in one go. Don’t forget to purchase a comforter too (to go inside the duvet cover). 

For a simple home decor style, opt for white linens that can be bleached between guests and accent with your color palette throughout the room with a throw pillow, throw blanket, and another accent like wall art or curtains. 

Bath Linens

Don’t forget to supply guests with freshly cleaned bathroom linens too. Rather than normal bath towels, provide bath sheets for spa-like, oversized towels. 

Keep Clutter at a Minimum

While it’s tempting to over-style your guest bedroom to show off the best bedroom decorating ideas you have, too much going on in a guest room can feel off-putting. Remember, the goal should be to create a space for your guest to move into rather than a showroom. 

Keep clutter at a minimum. This has multiple benefits. 

→ Dust is a big no-no! More clutter means more dusting! 

→ Less clutter leaves more space for guests’ items.

→ It’s easier to create a cohesive style with fewer items. 

Instead of overfilling a surface with decor, opt for a bouquet of fresh flowers for a bright touch that adds a nice aroma and shows each guest that you picked those just for them. Nice touch, right? 

Provide Surfaces

When we’re traveling, we have a lot of stuff! The best guest rooms will have surfaces for people to set things down onto during their stay. 

In particular, ensure to provide a bedside table on each side of the bed. Following the last tip, avoid covering the entire bedside table in decor. Instead, leave space for your guest to temporarily move in. 

If you’re working with very small side tables, rather than standing lamps, install wall or hanging pendants lined up with the bedside table. Don’t worry about wiring, use battery-powered, remote-activated light bulbs instead for a wire-free look. 

For a real hotel touch, provide luggage racks. For multiple-use surfaces, add poufs at the end of the bed or in the corner of the room for a seat and table at once. 

Make Outlets Accessible

We all charge our devices overnight, and there’s nothing worse than arriving to a hotel or guest room and hunting for an outlet! Position furniture to leave outlets clear. If that’s not possible, add an outlet strip to move those plugs to an accessible spot. 

To hide outlets in a more stylish way, opt for bedside table lamps or a bedside table with built-in outlets. 

Offer Easy Access to What They’ll Need

Store Extras in the Same Room

Depending on your space, it might be hard to put everything for guests in a space they can reach, but if you have a closet or dresser in your guest room, store bed linens, extra towels, and any toiletries you save for house guests in a space they can access. 

This allows people to grab extra towels or pillows as needed without interrupting you (which some folks will avoid doing). 

If there’s no closet, add a hook to the back of the door with a few hangers in case anyone has clothes to hang up. 

Keep Extra Blankets Out

Rather than offering extra blankets that are “down the hall” where few would actually venture out in the night (especially if they are shy). Keep an extra blanket at the end of the bed where it’s easily pulled up over cold toes in the night. 

Write Down or Display House Details

Every house has its details that you know because you live there! Most obviously, the WiFi password! Rather than prattling everything off multiple times for each house guest as they ask, have everything they’ll need to know recorded in their room. 

→ WiFi password

→ Alarm codes (if they need to come and go) 

→ Simple instructions to technology (like motorized blinds or smart lighting) 

→ Where the thermostat is (if you’d like them to be able to adjust it) 

→ Where any extra linens are

If you want to add a personal touch, you can write a note for each guest addressed to them. Otherwise, DIY or buy a sign or board that stays in the room for everyone. 

Include a Mirror

If there’s space, include a full-length mirror for when guests are dressing, but at least include a mirror for hair or makeup checks so multiple guests can get ready at once without piling into the guest bathroom. 

Provide Robes

Especially if guests are sharing a bathroom (or need to walk through a shared space to reach the bathroom), robes give them an easy way to cover up and free up the bathroom. 

Plus, if you have some family members who might be a little too comfortable walking around in a state of undress, robes are a subtle reminder to cover up. 

For Late-Arrival Guests

If your guests are arriving from a travel day and heading right to bed, take time to give them some extras they might not get a chance to ask for before you also go to bed. 

Especially if they are coming off of a long flight or drive, consider this a recovery kit. 

→ A carafe of cold water and glasses 

→ A small snack (like a baked treat, trail mix, or granola bar) 

→ An extra charger (or two)

→ Eyemasks (if there’s light pollution in the room) 

Consider Allergies

Before each unique guest, consider if they have any allergies. Some people have allergic or asthmatic reactions to popular scents like lavender or goose-down feathers (used in many pillows). 

For cooking too, it’s best to send a quick text checking in about any allergies and their severity. It shows an extra level of consideration and protects your loved ones. 

Opt for Blackout Curtains

Sleeping with light pollution is a big no, which you’d know if you’ve already read our guide on sleep. Optimize your guest room for sleep with blackout curtains. We like the Graywind motorized shades for light-blocking and convenience. Well-rested guests are usually better company too!

What if I have a small bedroom?

If you’re reading this list and wondering how you’ll fit all these luxuries into a home office / guest bedroom space with a daybed rather than a luxurious king mattress, don’t worry, you can still have this guest room feel in a smaller space.

Focus on comfort and convenience in the space you do have. No matter the size of the bed, provide fine linens and good pillows. The smaller the space, the more simple it should be to keep an airy, move-in ready feel. 

Add that extra storage space with a fold-down luggage rack rather than a dresser that likely won’t be used by short-term guests anyways. 

For a Home Office Gone Guest Room

If you’re converting a home office into a guest room, minimize light pollution from all the extra devices by powering them off and unplugging ahead of time or adding light-blocking stickers. 

How to Prepare a Guest Room Day-Of

Once you have a bedroom design you love, you still have the day-of set-up! 

Refresh Bedding

If you’ve had the bed made-up ahead of time, refresh it with a linen spray so it smells fresh. Fluff up pillows so they stand up nice. Rather than setting them all flat, stand them in front of the headboard in rows outward for a dense, luxurious appearance. 

Clean Up

Ensure the room is clean before a guest arrives. Dust surfaces, wash floors, and wipe down mirrors for that shiny finish. 

Diffuse a Scent

Use an oil or reed infuser to add a fresh scent to the room. Opt for something subtle, since some people are more sensitive to fragrance. Binca Vidou reed diffusers have two scent options that are both lovely, crowd-pleasing blends. 

Ultimately, a guest room is just one part of hosting, but it’s gratifying to be everyone’s favorite place to stay over. If you follow these tips, you’re sure to be a popular stay. 

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