How to Outfit a Guest Room

You can pattern a great guest bedroom after a first-class hotel room. Here is a checklist of ideas.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Alarm Clocks
• Televisions
• Bed Linens
• Blankets
• Desk Lamps
• Pillows
• Drinking Glasses
• Pitchers
• Recent Magazines
• Television Schedules
• Flashlights

1. Make the bed with attractive linens.
2. Provide spare pillows and a bedside lamp in case your guest likes to read in bed. Remember that people often have difficulty falling asleep in a less-than-familiar environment.
3. Provide a television and a program schedule.
4. Set out reading material that will suit your guest. Examples include recent news or fashion magazines (not two-year-old magazines) or a paperback novel that you can spare in case your guest becomes hooked and asks to keep it.
5. Prevent pets from entering the room.
6. Make sure the room is quiet - oil squeaky hinges, remove or disable ticking or chiming clocks, fix a drippy faucet in a nearby bathroom, and so on.
7. Provide an alarm clock. Check to make sure the alarm isn't set to go off too early for your guest.
8. Clear out a drawer for your guest's things.
9. Leave some empty hangers and open space in the closet.
10. Clear some floor space in the closet for your guest to stow luggage, or provide a luggage stand at the foot of the bed.
11. Provide a flashlight on the bedside table so the guest can navigate to the bathroom easily in the dark. Stow some extra batteries nearby and tell the guest where they are.
12. Offer one-size-fits-most slippers and robe.
13. Set a pitcher of water and a glass on the bedside table (with coasters).
14. Anticipate any special wants of a particular guest. This might be a hand lotion dispenser on a bedside table, a bowl of sugar-free mints, an electric blanket, etc.

Tips & Warnings

• Prepare the room a few days ahead of a guest's arrival and then sleep there one night yourself as a test. You may learn, for example, that the mattress is uncomfortable (an egg-crate mattress pad may fix that) or the lighting is too dim (swap the lamp or the bulb).
• Remove area rugs that pose a tripping or slipping hazard and any other floor obstacles (footstools, planters, etc.) to assure your guests a safe visit.