Many of us are preparing for out-of-town guests during the holidays…and if we’re honest, this can be very stressful. We understand! Whether you are having guests stay for one night or for an entire week, we have made a great checklist to help you prepare the guest room for company. Don’t wait until the last minute to prep for visitors! Being a prepared host allows you to enjoy your guests more because you are not worried about the things you have already taken care of. Here is a checklist to help guide you in preparing the guest room:
☑️ Room Essentials
The following items make for a cozy guest room: comfortable mattress, nice chair, side table or two, lamp for reading, dresser or closet to hold clothes, bench, basket, desk, or dresser to hold belongings and extra blankets and pillows, a tray or basket to hold snacks, and some nice books.
☑️ Tidy Up
Don’t put it off for another day! You should definitely start preparing the guest room a week ahead of the day your guests will arrive. Tidying up can become quite stressful if you wait until the last second. Are you using your guest room as a home office? Here is a great blog post that has a section about “Organizing Your Workspace and Hiding Clutter”. Definitely a good read if you need to make some changes to your home office to accommodate your guests. It may be time to invest in a portable file carrier or some baskets to corral and contain your office supplies and work documents.
☑️ Make Space
Always a great idea to make space for a suitcase and other belongings. Whether this be supplying your guests with a bench to hold a suitcase, a closet with space, or an empty dresser drawer, making space will be most appreciated. If you decide to tackle the guest room closet, here is a blog post to help guide you as you go.
☑️ Clean, Clean, Clean
Time to dust and vacuum! Don’t forget to clean the windows, blinds, and any light fixtures and fans as well. Always do this before making the bed so that dust does not get on your fresh linens. Cleaning is best done a couple days in advance so that you feel prepared and have time to add the finishing cozy touches.
☑️ Don’t Forget the Guest Bathroom
The bathroom your guests will be using needs to be ready, too. It’s always a nice gesture to have a little basket with any supplies that may have been forgotten such as toothpaste, lotion, a hair dryer, and such forth. Also, remember to put out extra toilet paper and to leave the plunger in plain sight. If you want to go a little deeper in preparing your guest bathroom, here is a great blog post with tips on organizing the bathroom.
☑️ Fresh Linens
Check to see what linens you will need. Do you have clean towels, sheets, pillow cases, blankets, and so forth, or do you need to do laundry? If you need to do any laundry, be sure to do it a couple days in advance so that you have all the linens ready when you go to make the guest bed.
☑️ Make the Bed
This is definitely the place to splurge when preparing for your guests. There is nothing like good pillows and sheets! It is always nice to add a basket as well with additional blankets and pillows for extra comfort. Making the bed a day ahead of time is always a good idea. This timetable allows you to feel prepared but also allows the bed to be fresh and crisp for your guests.
☑️ Have Those Midnight Snacks
It is a nice gesture to supply your guests with water and some snacks in their room. Always a good idea to point out food to them in the kitchen, as well, in case they get hungry in the middle of the night. However, having items in their room on a tray or in a basket ensures that they will have something to drink or nibble on at any time they may want it.
☑️ Reading Material Ready
Add some magazines or books to that tray with snacks or on a bedside table. Make the reading material easily accessible to allow for your guests to have something entertaining to read.
☑️ Wi-Fi Accessible
Make sure you have the Wi-Fi network and password easily available for your guests. It is really cute when you have it framed somewhere and it shows that you just went the extra mile to welcome them into your home.
☑️ Add Those Small Touches
Fresh flowers the day of are always such a nice touch! They brighten any space and add a touch of cozy comfort. It’s also a nice touch to display a photo of you and your guests as well. If you are the candle sort, put one in there as well. All these little touches add so much to make your guests as cozy as possible.
☑️ Prepare the Menu
Do you have the meals planned? Groceries purchased? It’s always nice to prepare a coffee cake or casserole a day or two ahead of time so that you have something you can easily put out for breakfast. Doing as much food planning and prep ahead of when your guests arrive will allow you to enjoy more time with them.
Share photos of your cozy guest rooms in our Abundance Declutter Group on Facebook. What are some of your must-dos when you are preparing the guest room? Let us know!