Give Your Guest Bedroom and Bathroom a Festive Glow
When overnight guests arrive for the holidays, in addition to the usual cleaning, straightening, and emptying wastebaskets, you can add design touches to enhance your guests’ sense of cosiness and celebration and make it easier for both of you. (This is useful if you don’t want your mother-in-law to ask you for a towel-only hair dryer.) Aside from a fresh set of clean sheets, here’s what you can do to spruce up your guest bedroom and bathroom. for peak holiday warmth and flair.
Get rid of the clutter
First, remove objects from the room that clutter up surfaces and take up precious space. Your guests will need desk space to put their personal belongings, at least one empty sock and deli drawer, and enough closet space for clothes and luggage. Put away paperwork, toys, or small disused devices in anticipation of the next electronics recycling day in your city. Make sure your closet has extra hangers, blankets, and pillows (so each guest has two if needed). For a pleasant surprise, add some holiday flavor by adding cedar hangers.
Tidy up your bedding
Of course, you can put regular beige sheets on the guest bed… or you can opt for holiday linens to warm up the space. One elegant combination in white with a neutral duvet and plush fluffy pillows. Other winning colors and textures include red, green, check, stripe, winterberry, braid, velvet or flannel. Sherpa blankets or brown faux fur bedspreads will add comfort and warmth. (If you stick with beige sheets because they go with everything, a similar effect can only be achieved with holiday-themed throw pillows and duvets.)
Assemble the welcome basket
You know when you’re traveling for a wedding and there’s a small bag at check-in for each guest, and even though all it’s got is water, chips and a granola bar, you still feel a little more cared for? Do the same for your party guests by creating a small basket of essentials. You can fill it with a spare phone charger and toiletries (use this opportunity to unload hotel samples you’ve been keeping), fluffy holiday socks or snacks so your guests don’t feel bad coming downstairs at midnight. Don’t forget to include the most important element – your home Wi-Fi password. (Add the code for the alarm or garage door as well, print it out and place it in a decorative frame.)
Scatter holiday decor around the perimeter
Fortify those pleasant olfactory holiday memories with scented candles (you can’t go wrong with balsam, cedar, pine, cinnamon, or cloves); add small artificial pine trees (or real pine trees 2 to 4 feet tall if you have the space). Incorporate festive vibrant colors with throw pillows or accent chairs, and hang a string of white lights across your headboard or around your windowsill. Replace year-round art with a decorative wreath and add a party hat or snow globe to your bedside table. Fresh flowers such as poinsettias, amaryllis, lilies, mistletoe, orchids or Christmas cactus will enchant even the most inveterate guests.
Give your guest bathroom a festive glow
Make sure you have a body towel, hand towel and washcloth for each guest. (Bonus points if you offer larger, more absorbent and luxurious bath towels instead of regular-sized towels.) Paint the holiday colors red, green, gold, and white—that includes bath towels, bath rugs, soap dispensers. , even the trash can. Include a small basket with a hair dryer, disposable razors, cotton swabs, headache medicine, scented soap, and a new pair of guest slippers. If you are truly the host with the highest amount, provide a plush bathrobe for guests as well.
For decor, consider draping a garland flush with the wall behind a sink, hang a wreath on the wall, or place white lights around a mirror. Add air fresheners, candles, diffusers, or hand soap to your festive scents, and don’t forget a night light—it’ll come in handy when you’re half asleep and creaking into an unfamiliar bathroom.