If you love to host family and friends, then you’ll know that feeling of pride when your guest declares how soundly they slept last night. Preferably, as they tuck into the elaborate, buffet style breakfast that you’ve laid on for them…
How reassuring is it to know that if your friends or family stay over, you’re able to accommodate them in a beautiful guest bedroom? But to truly be the hostess with the mostest, and to give the impression you’ve gone that extra mile (but in the most effortless way possible), there are a few things you can do to ensure your guest has a truly congenial stay.
It’s not just about providing a bed for the night. Security and comfort are as key as the ready assembled chest of drawers that you buy for the room, and clean, bright linen plays as much of a part in the guest experience as your choice of diffuser does. What we’re trying to say is that the finer details count. Leave nothing to chance with these 4 IDEAL steps to making your guest room as inviting as possible.
THE HOME & HOTEL EXPERIENCE
Making your guest feel ‘at home’ is part and parcel of being a good host. But to be a great host, you have to go that extra mile. By making your guest feel at home whilst simultaneously providing them with a hotel room experience, you’ll tick all the boxes.
Keep a stack of towels, spare pillows and blankets in the wardrobe so that they can pick and choose whether they want extra layers. Roll towels up hotel-style and add the towels to a basket by the door; you could even get a proper trunk for the room to store the linen, too.
Go further, with tongue firmly in cheek, and provide a stack of magazines and perhaps the day’s newspapers for your guest to enjoy. We might stop short at providing guests with a Nespresso machine, though; that would be a little too clinical.
In terms of the finer details of the bed itself, we’ll save ourselves both some time and point you in the direction of these tips for achieving that 5 star hotel bed at home. Because it was five stars you were after, right?
MAXIMISE SPACE & CUT DOWN ON CLUTTER
This is a guest room, not a dumping ground for the accrued clutter and chaos of the home. As such, the room itself should be streamlined and minimalist, making the room look bigger and offering a feeling of luxury to your guests.
That said, you shouldn’t cut back on storage altogether; your guest is still going to need somewhere to unpack. A simple, slimline wardrobe, elegant armchair and reading lamp should suffice, along with side tables on either side of the bed. A bedside notepad and direct line to the kitchen are, of course, optional.
Where possible, get rid of all the surplus items that needlessly take up floor space; we’re focusing on minimalism here, after all. Wall mounted shelves rather than a bookcase, and mounted, horizontal radiators further up the wall, too, both help you make the most of all available floor space.
MATTRESS MATTERS
Of course, all this frippery is irrelevant if your guest doesn’t have a wonderful night’s rest. And all of this rests on the quality of your mattress. This is one area of the guest room where you shouldn’t cut corners or cost.
If room allows it, you should go for the biggest size possible; there’s nothing better than stretching out in a bed that’s not your own and really getting comfortable. Or is that just us? Do make sure you can accommodate a larger mattress without the room feeling cluttered, however. As a rule, a Super King Size clocks in at 180cm x 200cm, King Size at 150cm x 200cm and Double at 135cm x 190cm. Any smaller, and you might as well donate your bedroom to your guest for the night.
Every guest will have a different preference for how soft and sinkable the mattress is, but it’s wise to err on the cautious side here, as some may suffer from back issues. A semi-firm to firm mattress is best; memory foam is great for a single occupant but tends to not offer enough support at the core, and if your roll call of guests is regularly changing, it may not be ideal. Instead, hybrid mattresses are versatile and offer excellent, adaptive support.
PROVIDE BASIC TOILETRIES
Place next to the basket of rolled-up towels, it’s a cute, playful and ultimately, accomodating move to add a small basket of toiletry products to the room. At its most basic, this is a neat little gesture which will remind your guest that they are just that, a guest. And if your guest has forgotten any items (let’s face it; this always happens) it’s a generous and greatly appreciated thing to do, too. A baseline inventory of toiletries to provide should include shampoo, conditioner and soap along with a small toothbrush and toothpaste.
Now that you’ve got your guest room feeling properly inviting, care to invite us round to stay?