Preparing Your Guest Bedroom For an Incoming Visit

As stay-at-home orders are being lifted and shifted across several states, many of us are dreaming of a time when family and friends can safely visit our homes again.  Preparing a cozy guest bedroom is one of the most enjoyable parts of home design, and now is the perfect time to ready the room for your future visitors. Looking for ideas? Try incorporating some of these ideas into your own guest bedroom design:

Choose the Right Color

Neutral colors work best for guest bedrooms, but your choices don’t have to be plain. Pair neutral walls with a pop of color from the bedroom furniture or bedding for a more dramatic statement. You can also try out trendy wallpaper for a vintage guest room feel. Other solid choices for bedrooms? Calming blues, soothing purples, and sunny yellows. For a particularly bold effect, you can even paint your guest space in shades of black. Pair dark walls with a white bed comforter and white furniture elements for an elegant contrast that doesn’t feel too moody. 

Plan and Declutter

Since guest rooms are used sporadically, you’re probably using the room’s closet as extra storage for the house. Before guests arrive, empty the closet in the guest bedroom to give your visitors a clean, spacious place to hang their clothes. You could also offer a dresser for your guests to use during their stay. A coat hook, full length mirror, and clock are also helpful items to include in the room. 

If you want to have space for more guests in one room, consider switching out a larger bed in favor of a couple of twin beds. If you expect to have kids staying in the room, bunk beds are always a favorite. Make your guests feel special with indulgent bedding, like a rich quilt, fluffy pillows, and high thread-count bed sheets. 

Create an Oasis 

Thoroughly cleaning the bedroom and making the bed with a fresh set of linens is a given, but you might also want to provide a basket of extra sheets and towels for your guests. Part of the fun of setting up a guest bedroom is turning a room in your house into a mini hotel. As such, feel free to include helpful surprises, like a suitcase rack or a bedside reading light. A bench at the foot of the bed or near the door is another option for suitcases, as well as an appreciated spot for guests to put on shoes.

If your guest room regularly has visitors, an in-room coffee or tea maker is an increasingly trendy option for guest bedrooms. Make a little beverage station in the corner of the room and include a teapot and mugs, as well as tea and coffee varieties. Your guest room will quickly feel less like an extra room in your house and more like a fancy bed and breakfast. 

Add Fun Details

A bedside bouquet of flowers, trial size toiletries, a basket of snacks and bottled water, a diffuser, and other luxuries are fun additions to any guest room. You can also play up the guest theme of the room by adding playful decorations, like a be my guest sign or framed wi-fi password. Write the names of your guests on a chalkboard sign and hang the sign on the door for a sweet welcome. 

If you live near a lake or the ocean, you could use your location to your room’s advantage by incorporating a beach theme. Add beachy decorations and choose palm tree patterned bedding, for instance. You might also provide outdoor essentials, like a small bottle of sunscreen or bug spray.  

Consider a Seating Area

A deskspace is ideal for guests who are bringing along a laptop. Add to the hotel effect by including pen and paper. You could also incorporate a vanity area with a mirror to give your guests a convenient place to apply make-up and get ready for the day. Space too small? Even just a cozy chair by the window can help tie the room together and give your guest a place to read and relax. Toss a throw blanket across the chair for even more comfort and color. 

Don’t Forget About Entertainment

A nice television set with easy remote access will keep your guests entertained. Magazines, favorite books, puzzles, and even board games for families are other ideas for in-room entertainment. Add a personal touch to it all by displaying a few of your own favorite movies and books for your guests to enjoy. If you’re going to be showing your guests around town, you could even keep brochures of area attractions on the bedside table to maximize excitement. 

Brighten Up the Windows 

Freshly polished windows let your guests fully take in the view. Instead of blinds, opt for plantation shutters in your guest bedroom. Plantation shutters elevate the look and feel of a room. Plus, your guests will love the ability to filter sunlight in and out of the room during their stay. You don’t have to sacrifice a love of curtains for elegant shutters, either. In fact, pairing drapes and curtains with plantation shutters is a popular design choice. 

Plantation Shutters by Shenandoah Shutters

Shenandoah Shutters handcrafts custom made, hardwood plantation shutters that are elegant additions to any room. We’re local to Richmond, Virginia, within a day’s drive of all of our service areas in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. 

At Shenandoah Shutters, you’ll choose from traditional and contemporary plantation shutter styles that suit each room of your home. Choose from rich wood stains, vibrant whites, and custom colors for your shutters. Because all of our plantation shutters are custom built for your windows, we can cut plantation shutters to fit windows of any size or shape. 

Your plantation shutters can go far beyond guest rooms and living spaces. Install plantation shutters on your French doors, arches, sunbursts, and even sliding glass doors. 

Contact Shenandoah Shutters today to schedule an appointment for your plantation shutters.