Guest Room Ideas: Make Your Guests Feel Welcome and Comfortable

We have house-guests regularly, but until we began major renovations in our home we never really considered all the things we could do to make our guest feel more comfortable. The guest room is often an afterthought - sometimes made into multi-purpose rooms for storage or office work, or it could be a child's room that doubles as a guest room when necessary.

We are lucky enough to have enough space to dedicate an entire room for this purpose, so we have been putting together plans for a perfectly accommodating space.

Regardless of the alternate personality of your intended guest room - there are a few things you should keep on hand deemed for guest use only.

Trial Size Toiletries - put together a guest-basket of goodies. Include mini versions of shampoo, conditioner, soap bars, toothpaste, floss, an unopened toothbrush, hand lotion, etc. Keep it stored away until a guest arrives so things don't go missing. If you'll be staying in a hotel soon, don't open the toiletries provided in the room (I usually bring my own) and hold on to those for your basket!

Towels and Bed Linens - keep a set of towels and linens tucked away for guest use only. Freshly launder them prior to guest arrival so they smell nice and fresh.

Reading Material - light reading material is best - magazines, a current newspaper, a coffee table or activitybook, etc. A couple of classics on the bedside table wouldn't hurt either. Make sure there is ample light for night-time reading with either a bedside lamp or a book-light.

Water Carafe or Bottled Water - we fell in love with this Scandinavian style carafe, but depending on where you live (the water here isn't so great so we have a dispenser) you might consider just placing a few bottles of water bedside.

Stationary - do it up hotel-style! Grab a boxed stationary set and keep some stamps handy.

Extra Special Touches - if you have plenty of time, space, and funds to devote to your guest room project, pick up a couple of spare bath robes and slippers (after Christmas sales are great for this) to hang in the room. Tie the stack of towels neatly with a ribbon. Have an old laptop laying around? Clean it up and put it on a desk in the guest room. Consider picking up a luggage rack. Keep a TV and various DVDs in there too!

If your guest room doubles as storage space, don't just pile your stored items in the room. You might not plan to have a guest anytime soon - but when you do, it will be a mad-dash to tidy up. Either that or you will have to suffer through the embarrassment - apologetically explaining that no one ever uses that room. The less items that are visible, the better. Consider an inexpensive modular storage system with canvas bins to keep things tidy. IKEA has some amazing and inexpensive storage solutions.

Always keep a few drawers empty for guest use!

The idea here is the same - more storage space! Plenty of storage space ensures that you can quickly tuck your kid's toys out of the way.

Don't make your guest share closet space with your kids - a lightweight garment rack (like the IKEA one pictured for a mere $10) will provide room for your guest's clothing and will come in handy in your laundry room when not in use by a guest.

Keep a spare set of bed linens around so your guest isn't stuck sleeping with buzz-light year.

Hospitality is making your guests feel at home, even if you wish they were. ~Author Unknown

With a guest this comfortable, you have have trouble getting them to go away!