When you invite family members and friends to stay at your home, you want to make sure they are comfortable and satisfied with their accommodations for the duration of their stay. It’s all part of being a good host. This means setting up a guest room that’s nice enough that you’d want to stay there. And whether you decorate it like a swank hotel room or you make it a bit more personal and homey, you should take some care with the decor to ensure that the space is warm and inviting. Here are a few ideas that will take a bland bedroom from cold to cozy.
- Take care with color. White washing the walls is certainly easy. And in some cases it’s even appropriate (say if you have a beach house). But if you want your guests to feel at home in the room you provide them with, a bit of color could definitely contribute to the equation. If you’re worried about picking colors that are too bold, you can start with a warm neutral like a sandy color for walls or carpeting and then add pops of color with the bedding and decor. But if you want to put some color on the walls, consider a blue hue, which is considered to be calming and relaxing by feng shui standards.
- Privacy concerns. Rooms that are too dark can feel claustrophobic, so you might not be keen on black-out window coverings in your guest room. On the other hand, you want to make sure your guests have the privacy they need to feel comfortable in your home. There are a few good solutions. Blinds that feature sheer fabric are ideal because they can be closed to block out light so guests can sleep in, drawn up during the day for guests to take in the view, or left down but with the blinds open to allow diffuse light in while maintaining privacy. Double drapes (with sheers as the under layer) can create the same effect.
- Don’t skimp on linens. Even people who are willing to splurge on pricy Egyptian cotton sheets for themselves might not want to shell out major money for the linens in the guest room. But if you think about it, the main thing you’re providing your guests with is a place to sleep. So if nothing else, you need to make sure the linens are top notch. Go for a pretty comforter set, spend a little extra on quality sheets (with limited use a single good set could last you for years), and get a variety of pillows (down, foam, etc.) to suit different guests.
- Add lighting options. An overhead dome light is handy, especially if it has a ceiling fan attached to allow guests to make a hot room more comfortable. But your guests want to relax. So make sure to add fans, sconces, or other dim lighting options to set the mood.
- Special touches. You can find all kinds of resources to help with your home decor, from ideas on Pinterest, to photo galleries on high-end hotel websites, to quality furniture stores like Stash Home. But to finish off your chic and sophisticated guest room design you need to add some personal touches. Framed family photos, artwork, favorite books, and kitschy extras (like vases, curios, or collector pieces) can all help to add personality to a room and make it feel like a home away from home for your guests.