How to Get Your Guest Room Ready for the Holidays

While hosting family members and friends is one of the best parts of celebrating the holidays, making your guest room comfortable and ready for visitors can add a little stress to the planning process. Fortunately, you shouldn’t have to worry about a major renovation or overhaul of your guest room when you’re already getting ready for the holidays. These simple steps can be taken up to the last few days before guests arrive to make your guest room ready for the holidays.

Guest rooms often double as home offices, playrooms, or storage areas for those forgotten knickknacks and out-of-season clothes. Do a quick run through the room and remove anything that isn’t guest-related before visitors arrive. If you don’t have space elsewhere, at least relocate items to the room’s closet or under the bed to get them out of sight. This also helps you do any necessary vacuuming or cleaning without so many obstacles in your way.

Wait to replace the bedding on your guest bed until the last day or two before they arrive. Putting on a freshly laundered set of linens gives the room a fresh scent that feels like home. If you don’t have time or doing laundry requires a trip out of the house, at least spray down the bedding with a lightly scented linen spray a few days ahead of time. For more cleaning tips read Deep Cleaning Your House Checklist.

When guests plan to stay a week or longer, make sure to launder and keep some extra bed linens on hand in the room. This allows them to refresh their bedding as needed without feeling like they’re asking you for room service. Replacement towels are also a good idea for anyone staying longer than a few days, especially if they have their own on-suite bathroom in the guest room. Directing guests to the linen closet isn’t the same as providing replacement linens in the room; they may feel uncomfortable trying to find matching sheets or the right towel. Try adding an inexpensive freestanding towel and sheet cabinet to keep everything organized and accessible in the room.

In addition to offering a comfortable bed, consider expanding the opportunities for private relaxation in your guest room. Even if you only host close family members and expect them to hang out with you in the living room, they may want some quiet time before bed to read or message friends. A comfortable chair or a desk can add ways to enjoy the space. Even if a visitor only uses the extra seating for a few minutes on their trip, it may make a big difference in their overall level of comfort. Relocating a chair or side table from elsewhere in the home is a perfectly fine way to create more sitting space. You can also use this as an excuse to pick up something new.

As with seating, guests may end up wanting to spend some alone time in their room when everyone else is busy or asleep. It’s surprising how many people assume that guests will bring their own entertainment on smartphones or laptops and consequently provide nothing to read or watch in the guest room. Older guests may not be familiar with these kinds of tools, leaving them stuck in the living room or buying their own magazines. If you can’t add a small television because you don’t have any cable or streaming services, at least add some books that appeal to different age ranges and some relatively recent magazines. Guests that never glance through the pages will still appreciate the homey touch that comes from small details like books.

One of the biggest challenges of staying in someone’s guest room is finding the light switches when it’s dark and you need to visit the restroom. Make the switches easier to notice by putting on brightly colored, LED-lit, or even novelty switchplates from your local Do it Best hardware store. While you may not want to decorate with these kinds of switchplates in the rest of the home, they’re immensely helpful in the guest room. Most of the switchplates require only a screwdriver to install and can be done in minutes by any homeowner.

With these tips, you can turn your guest room into a restful oasis without having to buy much or do a lot of renovation work in a hurry. Even if your visitors arrive tomorrow, you can apply most of these tips tonight and still provide a better experience.