Summer … it is a time when we hit the road or take the plane for a vacation … but sometimes that means that guests could be coming to visit your home!  Living in the Midwest, hundreds of miles from our family out west, we have frequent visitors.  We absolutely love when our family comes to visit whether it is grandparents, parents, aunts, or cousins, but I especially love when my son comes to visit!!

Right now, the room that we use for our out-of-town guests is actually my daughter’s old bedroom.  When we moved to the Midwest, we suddenly had a five bedroom house and there were only three of us and we had lots of space!  We gave our daughter two rooms, one was the “bedroom” where she sleeps at night and across the hall was her “playroom”.  Eventually as she got older, she thought her bedroom was too girly and she wanted more bold colors and something a little trendier.  She moved permanently into the playroom and we redecorated the room as her “new bedroom” and it was now more appropriate for a teenager – she loved it!

Her “old bedroom” now became the guest room.  There was no really no need to redecorate the room, the beautiful sleigh bed with a matching dress/mirror and side table were perfect.  The lovely pale green paisley bedspread, the storage bench at the foot of the bed and the chair in the corner also stayed.  Just a basic cleaning and the room was ready and waiting for our guests!

Let’s breakdown what is considered a comfortable room for guests:

1. The perfect combination for a guest bedroom is a room with an adjoining bathroom; this will give guests the most privacy.  But don’t despair if your house cannot accommodate this type of arrangement.
2. Don’t overwhelm guests with an overly feminine room, try to keep the decorating style to simple and traditional but the most important element is comfort.
3. Be sure the bed has a clean and beautiful bedspread and sheets.  Provide several comfortable pillows for sleeping, also have extra blankets available.
4. A comfortable chair is a great idea for guests to use for reading or sitting in to put on their shoes.  Be sure to provide good lighting and a lovely soft throw for chilly nights.  A thoughtful thing to do is place some interesting books nearby, local history or the latest best seller, and a couple of magazines.
5. Speaking of lighting, if there is a side table with a lamp; make sure the guests can reach it easily from the bed.  Overhead lighting is also a good idea and if the budget allows a ceiling fan is great for the summer months.  (or a table fan can be a good alternative choice)
6. Make sure to provide guests with a table or luggage rack to keep their suitcases off the floor.  Provide some drawers and closet space for their clothing; add some extra hangers and a nice touch is to have a full-length mirror for the guests to use when dressing.  A small iron and ironing board are also great idea to store in the closet for the guests to use if needed and a small sewing kit would also be helpful.
7. Make sure that the bathroom the guests will be using is clean.  Provide several clean towels – bath towels, hand towels and washcloths.  Stock up on a couple of new toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, shampoo and conditioner just in case the guests forgot to bring something. (Check out the pocket towel idea shown below for storing those bathroom basics)

Pocket Towel

This clever idea is used to not only make your guests feel welcome, but also to provide them with those convenient bathroom essentials.  You will need: 1 bath towel, 1 hand towel, 1 washcloth, a toothbrush and tube of toothpaste.  Follow the steps to create a pocket towel.

1. Lay out a hand towel, front side facing down.
2. Fold up the bottom about a quarter of the way.
3. Turn the towel over and fold in the sides so they overlap completely.
4. Turn the towel over again and lay it over a bath towel already hanging on a towel rod.
5. Fill the pocket with a washcloth and tuck in a toothbrush and toothpaste.

More special touches to add to a guest room:

• Tourist information – local maps, brochures of nearby attractions, a list of favorite restaurants or shopping areas.
• A beautiful notepad and pens or pencils for jotting down information, etc.
• An alarm clock or portable music system.
• Plug in nightlights for bedroom and bathroom
• A small flashlight

The idea is to make your guests feel comfortable during their visit to your home and the main thing to remember is to enjoy this special time with them.