Create a hotel-style retreat for friends and family
(Be ready for that surprise Visitor. No, Not santa)
Friends and family descending for Christmas? Panic not with our guide to creating a hotel-style retreat – or at least ensuring guests don’t wind up kipping on the floor
Whoever called Christmas a ‘holiday’ has never hosted a house full of guests. Yes, it’s lots of fun, especially when the wine starts flowing.
But unless you have staff, the extra housework involved can leave you feeling pretty bah humbug at the prospect. Do yourself a massive favour by starting early and tackling the preparation in small, manageable stages.
Guest bedrooms often fall off the weekly (ahem, fortnightly) cleaning schedule. Shut the door and all is forgotten. Then there is the ‘dumping ground’ factor.
Piles of ironing (to do, obvs), off-season clothes and bags of who-knows-what waiting to go in the loft – yup, it’s all in there. Brace yourself and muck everything out, ideally in November. Once you’ve recovered, and can see the floor again, open the windows and go in for a deep clean.
Redecorating throughout is a bit extreme (unless it’s already on the cards, of course) but giving one feature wall a lick of paint can make the whole space feel fresher and more welcoming. Use Tesa Low Tack masking tape to achieve a neat paint line between old and new. Make the room as cosy as possible with low-level lighting, lots of cushions and soft, freshly-laundered towels. If you really want to impress, go full ‘Martha Stewart’ and prepare a welcome box loaded with spare toiletries, glossy magazines and your Wifi password.
House already brimming with full-time occupants?
There are plenty of ways to squeeze in extra bodies. A sofa bed in the living room is ideal. A decent air bed – buy the best you can afford – can prove surprisingly comfortable, too. Stock up on earplugs and eye masks for guests bedding down in rooms that are not designed for sleeping, particularly if they are likely to be disturbed by small children in the early hours. Being upfront about the sleeping conditions beforehand will help manage guest’s expectations, or give them the opportunity to politely make their excuses…
For hosting more regularly, a cabin in the garden (with easy access to your downstairs loo) will let visitors come and go under their own steam. As long as it’s not intended for permanent residence or letting, and your home isn’t listed, a single-storey garden room can usually be built without planning permission. Wherever you accommodate guests this so-called ‘holiday’ season, keep your stress levels down and avoid any awkward moments by establishing a clear exit date in advance. Let’s be honest, it is great to see guests come, but it’s also pretty nice to see them go...
If you’re short on spare bedrooms, it could be worth upgrading to a sofa bed for the living room or study. Look for one with a good quality, deep mattress that will support your body weight without dipping in the middle. It’s worth doing a bounce test to check how smoothly the bed pulls out before you buy. And assess comfort levels when in sofa mode in case they veer towards the firm/ lumpy side.
Nothing says ‘Welcome to our home’ more than a festively decorated bedroom and, happily, it only takes a few strings of stylish paper pom-poms (try Etsy for some) to get guests in the Christmas spirit. A cinnamon-spiced candle will help set the mood, or try oil infusers if you worry about people forgetting to put them out before bedtime.
Wow guests with the sheer multi-tasking magic of a bedin-a-box. Designed to look like a regular unassuming ottoman, these space-saving shape shifters pull out into a single bed. Perhaps a little snug for a fully-grown adult, but they’re perfect for a teen or child’s sleepover. And in closed mode, you’ll have a handy extra seat.
Acres of closet space may not be a priority for guests staying one or two days, but don’t underestimate your spare bedroom’s storage potential for full-time residents. A wall of fitted wardrobes can house off-season coats and jackets, formal clothes at risk of getting crushed in an everyday wardrobe, and spare bedlinen. Keep cashmere safe from moths and silverfish by enclosing in an airtight container with a few moth balls – Lakeland has a variety of moth-murdering options.
Guest bedrooms are often the last room in the house to make the new carpet list, but it’s worth taking a look under that 1970s swirly number to see if any improvements can be made on a budget. If you’re lucky enough to uncover nice wooden floorboards, consider hiring a professional sander and then oiling to bring out the timber’s natural beauty. otherwise a lick of floorboard paint – try Valspar – can be enough to give tired planks a new lease of life. Add an inexpensive rug by the bed for softness underfoot before they slide on the spare slippers you’ve thoughtfully provided.
since you’re not going to be waking up in the room every day, your guest bedroom is a risk-free place to test out the more daring colour schemes and wallpapers you’ve been lusting after. obviously you don’t want to give your guests a headache, so stick to tones that gel. Dark paint palettes can be given a festive lift with twinkly fairy lights.
The most hardworking guest bedrooms boast a split personality and can easily double as a study or office when not hosting your nearest and dearest. Try to choose a desk with storage so that office paraphernalia can be swept away, and go for office furniture that would look equally good in a bedroom setting to help blur the boundaries. A desk that could pass as a dressing table is spot on.
Work with the compactness of a box room and create a cosy sleep space that’s perfect for snuggling down after a busy day of socialising. Use cushions, throws and rugs to ramp up the cocoon-factor. Blankets are great for allowing guests to control their sleeping temperature by adding or removing layers. A couple of blankets artfully strewn across the end of the bed can also inject colour and pattern that can be switched-up with the seasons (or your mood) without blowing the budget.
Trundle beds are single beds with a spare underneath, so they don’t take up extra floor space when not in use. It’s easiest to buy a trundle with mattresses included to guarantee a perfect fit. In most cases, the spare bed has extending legs that brings it up to full height. simply add a double mattress topper to join the two together.
Guests tend to be allocated the smallest room in the house, but with a carefully planned layout, your box room can be made to feel much more spacious. First, whittle down the furniture to the bare essentials. short-term occupants don’t really need to unpack – somewhere to pop a suitcase will do. Add a couple of hooks on a wall to hang coats and any crumple-prone clothing. switching bedside tables for slender stools will provide somewhere to place a book or glasses, without taking up excessive space. Wall lights instead of lamps can take some of the clutter off bedside storage.