Making Your Spare Room Guest Worthy

With its beautiful (winter) weather and sunny days, Arizona attracts a lot of visitors! Many of us have out of state friends and family who want to visit us in our beautiful state. OK, so summer may not be the BEST time to do that, but whatever time of year you have company visiting, it’s a great idea to be prepared. We have out of state visitors from time to time; none of our family lives here in Phoenix. And over the years I have stayed in my fair share of guest rooms as well. With that in mind, I have tried to make our guest room as comfortable and inviting as possible for our guests.

So here is our guest room. This is where you will stay if you visit us. The state might change, the house will change, but the room stays basically the same. I try to keep it relatively free of clutter. We do use the closet for some storage purposes, but our main purpose for this room is to serve as a guest room. It’s nothing fancy but I hope it’s at least comfortable!

One thing I like to do for our guests is give them plenty of room to unpack and store their things. The drawers in the dresser are all empty except the bottom one which has some extra blankets. The night stand is also empty. In the closet, I have extra hangers hung so our company can hang  up their clothes. There are also tupperware containers in the closet where we keep some extra toiletries (disposable razors, travel sized items, etc) for our guests to use. I keep an extra robe and pair of slippers on hand in the closet too.

Some extra special touches to consider: reading material for your guests. I always have plenty of magazines on hand as well as some novels I have already read and enjoyed. Also, include a few local tour guides for your guests to peruse. One of my friends keeps brochures for local activities in her guest room which I think is a great idea; that way, guests can decide which local attractions to visit. And you might get to visit a new place or two too! I like to give my guests a carafe to keep water in so they don’t have to find themselves wandering into the kitchen in the middle of the night looking for a refill. Fresh flowers are a nice touch as well.

It all comes down to anticipating your guests’ needs. Leave a flashlight for them in the (empty) dresser. Give them a card with your WiFi password and/or alarm security code on it. Provide them with an extra key to your house for their use during their stay. Make sure they have an available outlet or two to plug in their iThings. Have an extra blanket on hand in case they get cold at night.

In the bathroom, leave out plenty of towels and wash clothes. Hang a hook on the door to give them a spot for their bathrobe.Have extra toilet paper in an obvious place. Also, stick a plunger in there (no one wants to have to ask for that!)

It’s often suggested that you spend a night in your guest room, to experience how things go in there and see what else is needed to keep your company comfortable.

If you have any visitors coming in the near future, I do hope you enjoy them and they enjoy their stay!

Do you have a guest room in your home?  What little touches do you add to make it comfortable and inviting for guests? Let us know in the comments! We love hearing your ideas!