How you spruce up the guest room will determine whether your guest will want to stay longer, come back for more or simply leave in a huff. Custom dictates that you make your guest feel at home away from home. It is not too hard. You just have to bend your back a little to give them a happy stay.
A week or so before the arrival of your guest, spend some time in the guest room. Spend at least a night in there. That will give you a real feeling of what the guest will experience. You can then add the things that you feel will make a person comfortable.
Here is a comprehensive guest room checklist with important things to make one’s stay unforgettable:
Indoor plants
If you truly do not know what to do with your guest room’s interior décor, just bring nature indoors. You can never go wrong with nature. Most people think they cannot use indoor plants in the bedroom, but that is not right.
In fact, research shows that we are happier when we are outdoors in the midst of nature. With that knowledge, you can imagine what an indoor plant, fresh and evergreen can do in your guest’s room. It will enhance the mood of your guest. Nature is something that a guest needs for comfort since they are way out of their turf.
If you have indoor plants in your bedroom, just take one to the guest room. If you need to water it, wait until they step out to water it.
Work desk
Get into the small details. Think what would make you feel at home in this room. The devil is in the details, so they say.
Therefore, bring in a small desk and chair. This gives your guest the convenience of using their laptop while they are visiting you, without having to place it on their lap.
The workstation should be close to the power source for charging the laptop. Write the WiFi passwords down; leave a phone charger and writing material. If they have to answer emails or catch up on some work while they are at your place, a desk and a chair makes it easy. As Luther Vandross sings, it is such little things that matter the most in life.
Small Coffeemaker
Your taste for a nightcap could be a juice, or a chai latte. However, you cannot say the same for your guest. Instead of making them something on a trial and error basis, give them a means to make their own nightcap instead.
Do not overdo it though. Just get them a small coffeemaker such as the 4-cup Cuisinart DCC-450BK coffeemaker and place it on a small table. Provide them with the things they would need to make their own coffee.
Place water, coffee, sugar, milk and cream in convenient places. This makes the guest feel right at home. They can wake up in the middle of the night and make themselves something hot to drink. Remember to buy different items such as cocoa, teabags, coffee and sugar. Toss in some healthy snacks.
No guest wants to wake up at night, or early morning before the host to find their way around a strange kitchen. Setting up a small coffee or tea station will go along way to show how much you really want them to be comfortable.
Suggested Reading: 10 Best Temporary Beds for Guests – Space Saving Collections
Television
Entertainment definitely helps a guest feel more welcome and at home. One of the ways to include an entertainment station is to bring in a TV.
Having their own TV allows the guests to watch what they like. If you have a spare TV at home, take it to their room. If you do not have one especially if you live in a small apartment, do not worry, Just let them have the remote for the time they will be in your home so that they can watch what they like. You might also indicate what different remotes are used for to make it easy for your guest.
Keep a small side table by the bed to hold the remote and a few other necessities. That way, your guest does not need to rise up from their bed to change stations.
Better Curtains
Get opaque curtains for the windows. While you may be comfortable sleeping in a home whose windows have transparent curtains, your guest may not. They want to control their privacy, closing and opening windows at will.
Privacy does not mean darkness. Therefore, choose curtains that can allow the guest to control the amount of light that comes into the room. Blinds are very good for controlling light and for giving privacy. Many guests wish they could get more privacy when they are hosted in a friend’s house.
Another reason why you need opaque curtains is that most people sleep better in the dark. The sleep hormone melatonin is released in the night, when it is dark.
Storage space
If only guests could speak, they would say how much storage space they would have liked for their items. No one likes to have to ruffle their way through their duffel bag just to get a shirt to wear. Thus, it is time to clear the closet to create some space for your guest. In addition, you can also designate some drawers for their use only. You can even mark them with labels.
Storage stretches beyond the closet and the bedroom. Even in the bathroom, you should offer a cabinet for their knickknacks. On the door of the bathroom, you can add a few hooks to hang wet towels and personal stuff.
If you do not have a closet for your guest, add a strong chair in their bedroom. This acts as a rack for their luggage. Give your guests several hangers to help them with their coats, shirts and other clothes that they would like to keep wrinkle-free.
Small rubbish can
This is a very important addition to any guest room. However, most of us forget to put it in there when we have guests coming over. Human beings are made in such a way that they generate trash wherever they go.
It could be a serviette, a piece of candy wrapper, leftover muffin and so on… your guest needs a place to throw their trash. Moving from the guest bedroom in the middle of the night to find the trashcan in the house seems like punishment.
Proper Bedding
This is the highlight feature of the space where your guest will sleep. Get a proper bed too. You do not want to let your guest sleep on a thin sleeping pad. Get a bed frame and a good mattress. A bed frame is such a good investment and it can support even the heaviest of guests.
Besides, there are foldable bed frames that you can put away in storage when they are not in use. A good bed frame to consider would be the Zinus Abel Meta Platform that has 14 inches of height. This provides enough ground clearance and you can even stash some of your boxes under the bed.
Provide books and a reading light
Share some of the books that you have at home with your guests. Provide a reading light too so that he/she does not have to fumble with the main switch after reading. When selecting books, it does not matter what types of books you put in the guest room.
Just get a few titles from selected authors or from popular topics such as philosophy, travel, current affairs, lifestyle and others. You can also toss in a few popular magazines or whatever you have available.
People who love to read will read anything and anyway, reading oneself to sleep is a nice way to end a long day. You do not need a bookshelf for the few titles you will provide. Just place then on the bedside table.
A hairdryer and extra toiletries
In many resources, a hair dryer does not make it to the list of what to put in a guest room. Keep one on standby for your guest especially if it is a woman. Many people do not remember to pack a hair dryer in their suitcase. Keep one in the room for them. You may also toss in an extra bag of toiletries just in case they forgot to bring theirs.
Conclusion
Despite your best efforts, your guest room checklist can never be fully complete. Therefore, do not sweat it if you cannot provide everything that we have in this list. Get the most important ones first such as beddings, TV, desk and chair and others. If you have to buy something, make sure it is something you can continue using after the guest is gone.
You may also love to read our tips to make your guest bedroom comfortable