Bedtime Stories: Dress Your Guest Room to Impress

This story originally appeared on Houzz.com.

With the holidays just around the corner, it’s time to consider the best ways to host your houseguests. The following checklist has 12 ways to make overnight visitors as comfortable as possible. We follow a guest’s journey from arrival to awakening, pausing to reflect on the elements that will transform a simple guest room into a true retreat for harried travelers.

1. Personalize the space. Let’s begin with first impressions. A stylish and uncluttered space is a given, but including a surface upon which to write welcome messages to new arrivals will personalize the room and set a tone of gracious hospitality. One way to do this is by painting a feature wall with chalk paint. Here, empty frames draw attention to brief quotes, but you could also fill in guests’ names or draw walking maps to favorite coffee shops or landmarks.

Photo by My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia – Look for shabby-chic style bedroom design inspiration

2. Add a bedroom bouquet. Fresh flowers are always appreciated as a gesture of hospitality. For a few dollars — or for free, if you happen to have a cutting garden — you can show guests that they’re important enough to you that you took time to beautify and freshen up their space in anticipation of their arrival.

3. Make unpacking easy. Luggage racks in a guest room take a cue from the hotel tradition of giving guests a designated place to set down suitcases for ease of unpacking. This way visitors won’t have to stoop down uncomfortably to unpack their suitcases on the floor, and they also won’t be tempted to lift their not-so-clean wheeled luggage onto the bed.

Photo by Actual Size Projects – More contemporary hallway photos

Photo by – Search contemporary bedroom pictures

4. Stock up on storage. A storage chest might be the most versatile addition you could make to a guest bedroom. Leave it empty for guests to stow their things, or fill it with extra blankets and pillows. This bedroom takes storage a step further with underbed drawers that slide out, and the bookshelf behind the bed can be filled with reading material or other curiosities to entertain guests.

Related: Hang a New Headboard

Photo by ilumus photography and marketing – Look for contemporary bedroom design inspiration

5. Provide a place to hang things. If you’re tight on space and are carving a guest suite out of a small, closetless room, here’s a hack you might offer your guests as an alternative to an armoire or a closet. A wall-mounted clothing rack like this will give them a stylish place to hang the items they’d rather not leave to wrinkle in their suitcase.

Photo by Kate Jackson Design – More beach style bedroom photos

6. Wrap them in luxury. After a lively day exploring the best your city or town has to offer, your guests will feel pampered in thick bathrobes as they get ready to wind down for the evening. Especially if the guest bathroom is not attached to the bedroom, one-size-fits-all robes will allow guests to traverse the hallway comfortably and modestly.

Photo by The Yellow Cape Cod – Discover traditional bathroom design inspiration

7. Make their towels easy to find. Having to rummage around for clean towels after a shower is uncomfortable or awkward for guests. Whether you stock them in a basket inside the guest bedroom or on a shelf in the bathroom, make sure your guest towels are in plain view and easily accessible. Speaking of towels, offer the full range of sizes: washcloths, hand towels and larger bath towels or bath sheets.