Mumsnet Talk

Do you keep the bed made up all the time? Or strip it down and leave it like that until the day guests are arriving?

I like having it made up in case me or DH would unexpectedly need to sleep in there, and it just looks nicer. The mattress has a big tea stain on it, so leaving it uncovered looks awful.

But if I keep it made up, DS (2.5) gets in there while I'm sorting laundry and jumps on the bed or drools on it or something, so if there were clean sheets on it, I'd have to change them again before people use it. And folding laundry on it, you get bits of lint and stuff...and leaving the sheets on for ages I'd think they'd get a bit musty?

So what do you do with your spare bed?

Ours is made up all the time - looks nicer, and there have been times when I've had to go and sleep there to get away from DH and his snoring!

If people are coming, just shake the duvet and plump up the pillows. If they're staying for more than one night, you could always wash the bedding?

Made up but wash the sheets again before guests arrive.

Mine is always made up, it has really fancy bedding - mountains of pillows - DP and DD know on pain of death not to touch it! When I have guests, I take it off and put fresh 'normal' bedding on! No I don't have a life.

However, we are now getting rid of guest bedroom so DP can have a den . So my it won't be a problem for long!

But what's the limit on how long sheets can be on a bed when it isn't being slept in, for them still to seem 'fresh'?

I hate washing bedding in the winter, no tumble dryer, no good place to hang it, so trying to avoid as best I can.

In less than a year it will be a moot point anyway as DC2 will be here and there will be a big bedroom reshuffling!

Made up - but ds is old enough (11) to know not to mess with it..........

Ours is always made up. The bedding stays on until someone uses it and then it gets changed. It just gets tidied and fluffed up before guests arrived.

If the room isn't used for anything else (mine isn't) then they won't get dusty or stale. I put a couple of bounce sheets under the duvet so there is a fabric conditioner smell trapped in the sheets!

Ours is made up at all times but covered in a bedspread and loads of junk that can be whipped off when it is needed. When it is needed I fold it down to air it for a day.

oooh, that's a good idea oreo....I remember adverts in the US where they had people sticking bounce sheets in all sorts of places to make sure they stayed smelling nice (gym bags, drawers, etc). I might try that.

If I have nobody coming soon I make it but leave the old sheets on then change them before the next guests arrive. Keeps it looking nice (let's face it, even 'used' sheets aren't dirty on top!) but stops the clean bedding getting dusty.

If the problem is DS making a mess or laundry etc, what about a nice throw-over that just gets removed when there are guests.

I would have it made up at all times but if I have guests just change the bottom sheet (in case of "crumbs" - urgh) and - dare I say it,a a spritz of fabreeze on the top sheets.

Depends how clean / smelly I think my last guest was and how fussy / posh my next guest is going to be!

We quite often have random colleagues etc of DH's staying one night here, I'd probably not worry too much about having a pristine bed for them as most other places they'd be on a stinky sofa.

If my mum / MIL / girlfriends are staying over they always get clean sheets (but I then might leave them on for the next sofa surfer!)

I always make sure the bedding & room is aired and not at all smelly, make bed freshly and give guests a hot water bottle, clean towels etc so I don't think I'm too much of a slovenly hostess.

Bed made up- DP sometimes sleeps there if the baby is ill and he needs a good night. Always changed before guests

Bed made up with clean sheets.

our guest bedroom is used mainly by my mum and she changes the bed linen at the end of each visit! (if longer than overnight)

It is the room when I hang the wet laundry to dry so the bed is normally littered with piles waiting to be ironed!

I was also going to suggest a cheap throw to catch the toddler/dog drool.

Febreze? On guest's sheets? <shudder>

ours is made up all the time too

we have guest quite regulalry... probably 10+ visits a year so the clean sheets dont have a chance to get musty

I both love and am terrified by this thread. How do sheets go stale?!

Ours is made up all the time, and I might squirt a spray of fabric freshener before someone stays but there's no effing WAY I'd re-wash clean sheets! If you washed a sheet and put it in your airing cupboard, and it was there for a while- would you re-wash it before putting it on a bed?!

I clearly need less hobbies and more time to spend re-washing things.

Our spare room is left made up. It looks so much nicer. Occasionally my kids sneak in to watch the tv as we don't have one in the lounge.

I'm allergic to something in Febreze, so will not be visiting...

Ewww, unless I have misunderstood, are some posters saying that their guests get to sleep in sheets someone else has already slept in? That's gross.... I always give guests clean sheets, even if the last guest only stayed one night. I really, really hope I don't know, and stay overnight with, any such posters IRL. Please tell me they at least get a clean towel of their own.... I usually leave used sheets on the bed when a guest departs, which I make and then put a bedspread over, so it all looks nice and tidy, and then when next guest is due, I just remake with clean sheets.

Strip it down... So bedding is fresh on when they arrive. I have a throw over it so it look presentable to any nosey people. But it's a stripped bed underneath.