This year we are all looking forward to a Christmas with friends and family - we hope! A time to enjoy spending time with people we maybe don't see often. If you have guests travelling from afar then you will want to make them feel warmly welcomed and at home in your home. Of course, you can get the living room ready for extra guests - maybe move the furniture around a little, bring in an extra small armchair or even buy a new wooden side table for your living room - but you might also want to consider giving other areas of your home some attention to get it guest ready, including the guest bedroom. We have put some ideas together of easy ways to give your guest bedroom a homely and Christmassy feel for your special guests.
Declutter
A change of bedding, quick dust and vacuum will give a room an instant refresh, but to make guests feel extra welcome, you may need to give it a good declutter. If you don't use the guest room that much chances are that there are things in there that aren't supposed to be. Now is the time to have a sort out and find permanent homes for these items. Maybe you need some extra storage in there like a solid wood chest of drawers or a wooden blanket box to place at the foot of the bed to help things stay tidy and organised. When you have decluttered it will be much easier to give the room a good clean, including the windows and under the bed. If you have time take the curtains down and wash them - the room will have a lovely fresh laundry smell for your guests.
Double up
If the guest room is small or is sometimes used as a home office then consider multifunctional furniture. You can put a reclaimed wood desk in your spare room for guests to use as a dressing table with storage with a dressing table chair that can double as a study chair. If you don't have space for a bedside table move a chest of drawers or wooden chest closer to the bed. You could even take a wood small table from the living room to use as a temporary nightstand for your guests to put their drink on as well as a bedside lamp.
Make room for their belongings
No one likes living out of a suitcase, so you want to make sure you provide space where your guests can unpack and not feel like they're in the way. Clear out a drawer or portion of your wooden wardrobe to allow plenty of room for their belongings.
Create some comfort
Just because it is the spare room and your guests won't be spending much time in it, it does not mean it needs to be purely functional. Make it a cosy and homely place for your guests to be. A warm solid wood bed frame is the perfect centrepiece for the spare bedroom, dress this up with sumptuous throws and plump cushions to recline into. Even if the floor is carpeted you can add a rug for an extra warm feeling as your guests get out of bed.
Provide essentials and special extras
You will want to leave out the obvious items guests need throughout their stay on the bed, such as towels, face cloth and maybe an extra pillow or blanket, but to make them feel extra welcome, add some other special items to pamper to their needs. Lay out a few toiletries in a basket in case guests have forgotten anything - go through your travel toiletry bag and see if you have any nice hotel toiletries from your last trip that you can use - as well as a couple of bottles of water at their bedside.
Festive finishing touches
Why not? Give the room a festive feel by adding a Christmas display on the top of a wooden chest of drawers or add a Christmas themed cushion on the bed. Another idea is to stand some small decorations on the bedroom side tables or a Christmas wreath on the back of the door to give the room a wonderful festive feel for your guests.
