Home-Made Simple

Sharing our homes with family and friends is one of life's great pleasures. A thoughtful and tastefully designed guest bedroom lets those who are dear to you know that your welcome mat is always out for them.

Spoil your guests with these ideas for making your guest bedroom an inviting oasis they will want to visit time and again.

Use Your Best

When designing your guest bedroom, resist the temptation to use all your extra or unwanted furnishings. Using your best sheets, bedspreads and mattress, for example, will show your guests how much you care. Challenge yourself to make the room look and feel like a top-notch hotel or B&B guest room. Make it a room that you'd want to visit.

Choose a Theme

Your guest bedroom's design theme doesn't have to be elaborate or expensive, just tasteful and thoughtful. Choose a theme (nautical is popular right now) and start with a subtle approach and color scheme-throw pillows on the bed, some appropriate artwork and maybe a piece of furniture or two that adds to the theme. Remember that you can always add items later as you find them when traveling or shopping around town.

Store It Elsewhere

Make sure the room's closets (or armoire) have ample room to hang all their clothes, and include a chest of drawers and at least one nightstand for other personal effects. Also, even if you use the room as an exercise area at other times, make sure your treadmill, weights and other equipment are stored elsewhere when hosting guests so they know the room is reserved exclusively for them.

Little Touches, Big Impact

Little Touches, Big Impact It's always the little touches that transform an ordinary room into something extraordinary. Take a mental journey back to your favorite hotel and B&B rooms you've stayed in over the years. What did you like about them? What little touches did the proprietors include that added a touch of class?

Let your guests know you have their comfort in mind by including these items in your guest bedroom during their stay:

* Extra blankets in the closet or a drawer in case they get cold.
* Ceiling fan (or small oscillating tabletop fan) in case they get hot.
* Terrycloth robes for each guest hanging in the closet.
* A night light or small flashlight stored in a drawer if they need to get up during the night.
* Bottled water and glasses in case they get thirsty during the night.
* Dish with mints or hard candy.
* A good reading lamp.
* A few magazines or books in case they want to read a little before drifting off to sleep.
* Box of facial tissues.
* Small basket of fresh potpourri.
* Welcome basket with extra toothbrushes, toothpaste, mouthwash, body lotion and other small items they may have forgotten to bring with them.

Final Test

After you've put all of those personal touches into designing and furnishing your guest room, do one last thing before hosting guests-stay overnight in the room yourself. Chances are you'll find a couple of little things you'd like to add or change about it. Perhaps you forgot to include a waste basket or the room flows better with the furniture re-arranged. Make those little adjustments and then rest assured that your guests are going to love staying with you.