Design Blog

By Sarah Coe

It’s the holiday season and house guests are coming, so how do you create the perfect guest room?

#1. First start with a nice mattress, often the worst mattress in the house gets allocated to the guestroom. Sources say mattresses should be replaced every 10 years, how old is your guest mattress? These days with the ease of being able to buy mattresses online and delivered to your door there is no excuse for replacing your guest mattress if you need to. After you have a lovely new mattress you must have bedding to go on it.

#2. Bedding and sheets are important and personal, some like bedding to be heavy, others like it light. Having layered bedding also allows guests to manage their sleeping temperature, for the perfect night’s sleep. When I design a bedroom for a client, I use a year-round down-comforter inserted into a duvet cover and a coverlet to be used either folded on the end of the bed or as the main covering. My favorite sheets are a microfiber sheet set designed specifically for high-end day spas. The spa sheets feel deliciously soft and cool year-a-round (for more info on the sheets and bedding we use stop by The Design Studio to feel samples for yourself).

#3. Next consider sleeping pillows, it is nice to offer your guests more than one type of pillow for each guest. A firm pillow with a poly-fill insert and a softer down as an alternative is what I suggest. You don’t need to get carried away with pillows, but if you don’t have an upholstered headboard using several Euro pillows allows your guest to sit up in bed comfortably and read a book. After they read a book they need a proper place to put it?

#4. A night stand near both sides of the bed allows your guest to set down a book, a phone and or a glass of water. Make sure the top of the night stand is close in height to the height of the top of the mattress.

#5. Lamp light is also nice to have in a guest space. Having an appropriately tall lamp around 20-30” high with a three-way bulb setting (found on the inside of the lamp neck) is perfect to create layers of light in your guest room.

BONUS- Finally, finishing touches for a perfect guest room include fresh towels!!! It’s nice to place these in the bedroom so there is no question where your towels are and which ones can or should be used. Place a fresh body towel, hand towel, and wash cloth per guest folded nicely at the end of the bed. I have a different color set of towels that I use only for guests that way they are easily found after being washed and stay nice longer with less use. I also place new glass VOS water bottles in my guest rooms that can be re-filled after use and allow the guests to get a drink without disturbing anyone in the middle of the night. Lastly, a hand-written note and a vase with fresh flowers are the perfect finishing touch. Whether it is a family member or friend staying over it’s always nice to create a welcoming space for them to stay.