By Jude 
The guest bedroom is one you seem to put the most effort into—the house proud of you will hold your hands up. Even if nobody really ever stays in it, it’s nice to have a guest bedroom ready for when the kids come over or friends come round for dinner and have too many glasses of wine.
If it’s coming up to that time of year again and you’re upgrading your guest room, read on for a few tips on what you might want to consider.
How Comfy Actually Is It?
Even if you think you’ve thoughtfully decorated your guest bedroom and it looks good, how good actually is it? For us, the defining feature is the bed and how comfy it is—and the guest bedroom almost always gets downgraded to a simple, cheap mattress. Nobody likes sleeping on a cheap mattress.
If you do have people stay often, we’d recommend investing in a premium twin mattress. Yes, a twin mattress isn’t necessarily the biggest, but likely neither is your guest room, and you can still get incredibly comfy twin mattresses.
Layer the bed with high-quality 100% cotton or linen bedding, comfy pillows that aren’t too soft or firm, and a decorative faux-fur throw for them to wrap themselves inside.
Do They Have Enough Storage and Space?
Often neglected but so essential—you don’t want your guests to stay and live out of their suitcase or bag, and you don’t want the room to be so cluttered with accessories that there’s not enough space.
Always consider whether they’ve got enough storage space. A bedside table with drawers and a small wardrobe is ample enough. And if you step inside the room and think there’s not enough space to move around, consider whether there’s too much going on in the room or if you can rearrange it to add more space.
What’s the Lighting Like?
There are two things to consider—but for us, the first is how bright it is in the morning. The answer should be not at all, but for some reason, the guest bedroom always seems to lack the essential blackout blinds and maybe backup slatted blinds behind them to keep the room nice and dark in the morning.
To introduce light in the morning, you can either get one of the sunrise alarm clocks that naturally lightens the room based on either the actual sunrise time or the adjusted time. Or, you can go for a classic bedside lamp with a dim bulb—not everyone wants to wake up at the crack of dawn to light.
Thoughtful Extras
The thoughtful added extras are what make a guest bedroom so inviting. You can put towels in the room so your guests don’t need to awkwardly ask for one, and maybe a little sleepover care package.
You can include:
- A toothbrush
- Toothpaste
- A hairbrush
- Bobbles
- Deodorant
- Skin care
- Slippers
You can realistically add anything in there you want that might give it that personal touch of comfort for your guests.
Your guest bedroom might not be in use as often, but there’s plenty you can do to make it a room people always want to come back to. You don’t need to spend a lot of money; it’s the little touches that matter.