...to ask you about guestrooms?

[Littlewhitedove]

Our two adult children have recently flown the nest so we have two double en suite rooms that are now spare rooms.
What makes a spare room into a lovely guest room? What added extras would make you, as a guest, feel welcomed and wanted?
I have ordered new towels and added some pretty decorative items but I'd really appreciate some other ideas so I can make the rooms feel extra special.
Thanks x

One of my friends is the most amazing hostess and she presented us with a breakfast menu in the evening to choose for the next day. Then she got up early to cook it! She loves doing that sort of thing. We were thoroughly grateful.

A little tin with nice biscuits?

Nope. Keep the biscuits in the kitchen.

@Wisteriaroundthedoor I am going away this weekend and will not be spending time in my room. But there are different types of guests and visits where this makes sense.

If someone is flying in from overseas, they might like a bit of rest, for example.

A family member is typically here for 5 days, often while I am working. She's in her 80s. At various times of the day hangs out, takes a nap, drinks coffee, talks on the phone, reads and plays games online.

Recent guests were in their 70s and one would hang out in the room while the other showered, etc. One slept in while the other read in the room, etc.

We also have a friend in a wheelchair. Last time she and her husband were here was here was for a party, with lots of people. It was a late night, but they had the option of taking a break in their room if needed and also had plenty of privacy.

We've also had teenagers/young adults stay with us during the past two years. They had to do school work and also just wanted to sit around and stare at their phones. They were only only here to see us, one was here because her family had covid.

That's so sweet and I would love it.

😂

It's been mentioned before, but the most important thing is a really good mattress. I've just come back from a weekend at friends, the room was lovely but they'd obviously got a cheapo mattress on the assumption the room doesn't get used every week.

I do a version of this. 😂

It goes like this :

Here is the cupboard with the bowls.
Here is the cupboard with the cereal, there is the toaster. Help yourself to whatever you like.

So they have a choice too. Cornflakes, oats, weetabix, toast.

But usually my friends or family would take me as for breakfast as thanks for having them.

Did she print out the breakfast menu on special card and printed in gold font.

Did it not make you feel extremely awkward? Because it would make me feel very awkward.

We have just bought a new house and, as our children are grown up, we will now have a spare room for the first time in decades so l have been following this thread with interest. What we have done is to buy two new single beds rather than a double as this gives more flexibility (it is also much easier to change single beds rather than a double). There will be a bedside table next to each bed and a reading lamp on each table. I like the idea of a small bookshelf in the room but will pass on the ideas of kettles, biscuits and chocolates on the pillow!

When we have guests DH uses it as an excuse to make bacon sandwiches for breakfast for everyone - I rarely buy it as it so unhealthy.

So the choice is bacon sarnie or granola & yoghurt.

It was laminated 😂

No it didn’t make me feel awkward at all. I thought it was lovely. She adores hosting people and arriving at her house is like being enveloped in a massive hug.

I go for the help yourself approach too but usually put on a second breakfast of pancakes/waffles because we do that anyway at the weekend.

A bell to ring for the maid.

I stayed with family recently and in two different houses, I had my own cat every night. That's my kind of guest room.

We have switches that activate the appropriate lights in the maids quarters and the kitchen. Perhaps your maids are not as attentive and need the bell, though.
It's nice because people can call for them without bothering the guests in the other 12 rooms. Also, they'd never hear the bell from some wings of the house.

I provide a toddler for guests to play with at 6am while I go back to bed. Does that count?

Lo what is this “spare room” you speak of? At our house guests sleep on the pull out double in dds room….they can play with the barbie dollhouse or read her extensive collection of Pamela Bucharts if they want though 😄

Honesty things like slippers, sewing sets etc feel a bit OTT to me. Guests don't expect or want that when they're staying in your house.

I think the money would be better put towards a really comfy bed, good duvet and pillows and a beautiful extra blanket so they get a great night's sleep.

I have put some books of poetry, short stories and a couple of magazines in ours as they're easy to read for a few minutes, unlike a full novel. A good reading light by the bed and an obvious place to plug in a phone charger are helpful.

I think a bowl of pot pourri is nicer than a reed diffuser, which can be overwhelming in a small space, or a scented candle which most guests would be too polite to light.

If i am feeling fancy I also put a glass decanter with matching glass of water next to the bed and a bud vase with one or two flowers from the garden.

Perfect

Oh - and I always really appreciate having the wifi password somewhere visible so that I don't have to go back down and ask for it at bedtime!

Has someone actually mentioned a sewing set in seriousness?

Oops no, perhaps I imagined that one!

Pre-kids we lived close to a very popular tourist area in the West Coast USA. Working in tech, had very good salaries, and had a nice spare room in our appt. Our the years we had a lot of guests come over and stay. It was mostly nice, but could get a bit tiresome too :)

We kept our guest room very very sparse, but a few things of note:

• Local transport timetable & route for bus/BART
• Book on local attractions, including parks, running/walking routes
• Sunscreen
• Blackout blinds on windows (a big issue with jet lag visitors)
• Universal power adapter
• Drawers/storage that is totally empty

We'd didn't do anything special with respect to decoration/stuff, because we found that visitors often accidentally took or left stuff. If it is sparse, then it's fairly empty when they enter and they can quickly check they've missed nothing when they leave. It took a while to arrive at that, at the start when we had more stuff we were forever ending up with extra or missing stuff in drawers such as cables, power chargers, towels, vibrators and so on.

I think it’s a little more chic to hang a mending basket from the door handle for guests to add their wares to, to be returned, darned, in the morning when you bring them their pastries on a tray.

Assuming your DC aren’t going to be boomeranging back…

New bedding, lamps on bedside tables, books, maybe pot pourri, good heating, new towels, coasters for water glasses, spare pillows and blanket in the wardrobe, decent heating, good curtains, good quality mattress and/or mattress topper. Toiletries and litter bin in the en suite.

Assuming your DC aren’t going to be boomeranging back…

You can't live your life keeping a space for them 'just in case'. And even so, there is still a space for them it just might not be decorated exactly the way they want.