These 10 guest bedroom ideas will help turn your guest room into a cozy, welcoming retreat!
Having family and friends from across the country means that our guest bedroom gets a LOT of use! Over the years I’ve added little things here and there to turn our guest bedroom into a cozy, welcoming retreat that’s super functional too. Today I’m sharing my ten favorite guest room ideas for creating a special retreat for guests staying in your home. Let’s get to it… (post includes affiliate links – full disclosure statement available {here})
Some of my guest bedroom ideas come from the guest room in our previous home that had neutral home decor:
Sources: Mirror | Upholstered Wingback Bed (Zuma White fabric) | Quilt | White and beige check duvet (similar) | 24″ Embroidered pillow covers | 20″ White tassel end pillow cover (similar) | White lamp (similar) | Round Wood Beaded Tray | Clock | Dresser pulls
and others come from the guest bedroom in our current home:
Sources: Ceiling fan |Queen beadboard bed (weathered white) | 12″ Memory foam queen mattress | Blue & white quilted shams (similar) | Blue plaid pillow covers – no longer available | Navy embroidered lumbar pillow cover ( with {this} pillow insert) | Navy border duvet cover | White quilt | Backless bench | Nightstands | White lamps (similar) | Mirror (32″)
1. Luggage Racks
A lot of guests prefer to live out of their suitcases while visiting rather than putting their clothes away in drawers (myself included). It’s helpful to have a luggage rack or two either set up in the room or folded in a spot your guests will see them. Your guest won’t have to keep their suitcase on the floor where they’re constantly crouching down to get things or on the bed (where I’d prefer not to have dirty luggage!).
Another option is to keep a pair of decorative stools at the foot of the bed to do double duty as luggage racks. We have a pair of {these teak camp stools} in our bedroom where I keep our throw pillows at night and they also come in handy for holding our suitcases when we’re packing for travel:
Using a long end of bed bench that can also do double duty is another option.
2. Plenty of Hangers
Guests always appreciate having a bit of hanging space in a closet or armoire so leaving them some empty hangers is key! If you’re short on hanging space, I love {these slim velvet hangers}:
The combination of these hangers with installing an Elfa closet system maximized every bit of space that we have in our own closet.
Another of my favorite guest bedroom ideas is to buy or create your own personalized hangers for a special touch. These are hangers I created years ago using wood hangers from IKEA, rub-on letters, and thin black velvet ribbon:
3. Your Wifi Network & Password
A super simple guest room idea is to put the wifi code in an easy to find spot for your guests! In our guest room in CT, I kept it on a little tag in bowl with an extra USB cord:
And in our current guest room, I have the wifi network and password in {this wood frame} on the nightstand:
(and no, that isn’t our real wifi code for those of you who may wonder – I swapped it out for this pic 😊)
4. Phone Cord & Charger
It’s not uncommon for guests to forget their phone cord & charger at home so it’s nice to leave out extras. I put ours in a bowl behind our framed wifi info:
I’ve actually since replaced it with {this 3 in 1 charger} that charges a wider variety of phones.
Another of my favorite guest bedroom ideas is having USB lamps on our guest bedroom nightstands so guests don’t have to scout out outlets behind the bed. They can simply plug their USB cord into the base of the lamp. My guest bedroom USB lamps are no longer available but {these lamps} that come in a pair are a nice looking option.
Want other organizing tips for you guest bedroom and other bedrooms in your home? Check out my post on bedroom organization ideas!
5. Books & Magazines
I like to keep a few magazines and favorite books in our guest room because it never fails that when I’m someone else’s guest, I forget my book (which I hate because I read every night). You can keep a few favorite books in the drawer of your nightstands (along with an extra pair of readers for old people like me 😂) or put them in a welcome basket with some other guest essentials. I recently bought {this woven basket} for mine:
6. Extra Blankets & Throws
Everyone has different temperature comfort zones so when it comes to how to make a bed, multiple layers is key! Guests can then use the layers they want and fold back the ones they don’t. It’s also nice to leave a few extra blankets and throws. I store some extra blankets in our guest bedroom closet and you might have also spotted that I rolled a cozy throw blanket up in my guest bedroom welcome basket along with the magazines and books:
7. Extra Toiletries & New Soap
Another of my favorite guest bedroom ideas is to keep a few extra toiletries in your guest bedroom or bathroom in case your visitors forget to pack something. I placed extra toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, makeup remover cloths, cotton swabs, shampoo, conditioner, and Aleve in {this glass jar}:
And this might be my own little personal oddity but I also think there should be either liquid soap or fresh bars of soap in the shower. Am I the only one who gets kinda grossed out by showering with a used bar of soap when you don’t know who was using it before you?? 🙈 Be sure to leave a hair dryer somewhere that guests can find it too.
8. Tissues & Extra Rolls of TP
Now we’re getting to the really important stuff… tissues and toilet paper – it doesn’t get more essential than that! Seriously, you don’t want your guests to run out of either and not know where to find more so make sure your guest bedroom or bathroom is stocked up. I keep a box of tissues with a linen cover similar to {this one} on one of the bedroom nightstands:
And one of my favorite small bathroom storage ideas is to keep extra toilet paper in {this woven tank basket} on top of the toilet (ignore the dated yet-to-be-removed wallpaper!):
FYI, this basket fits the Charmin mega rolls of toilet paper which is what I buy but wouldn’t fit the super mega rolls.
9. A Mini Fridge
I’ve seen recommendations to leave a pitcher with water and glasses in guest rooms before but that water’s going to get warm fast. Instead consider adding {this retro mini fridge} to your guest room:
Not only is it the cutest thing ever, but it’s super reasonably priced too. You wouldn’t think it but it actually holds 6 soda-sized cans inside (or you can remove the shelf and store 4 taller cans/bottles):
It would be a nice touch to add a few small snacks next to it too (I get too nervous doing this with Cricket in the house!). And in my dream guest room I’d also have the space for a coffee maker and supplies so early risers could make themselves some coffee without worrying about disturbing and sleepers in the house.
I have our mini fridge on top of our guest room dresser, but it’s such a nice, compact size that it could fit almost anywhere, even if you have narrow nightstands:
Someone pointed out to me that it would work well for refrigerated medications too which is so true – Cricket has refrigerated eyedrops that she needs daily for life so when she travels with us, her eyedrops do too!
10. Hamper For Dirty Linens
A hamper for dirty linens (or for your guest to use for their dirty clothes during their stay) is the last of my guest bedroom ideas. I’m a huge fan of using a laundry hamper with lid such as {this lidded basket} in the medium size that’s perfect as a bedroom hamper:
but a lot of guest rooms (including ours) are on the smaller side so might not have space for it (and the size small of this basket is REALLY small). A similar option in a size that works better in our guest bedroom is {this woven basket} that comes in a pair:
They’re fabric lined which is nice since you don’t have to worry about the inside of the basket snagging clothes like you do with some:
I have the larger basket of the pair in our guest bedroom as a hamper and the smaller basket in our laundry room as a shoe basket:
A few other things I could have included on my list are a clock (that doesn’t have a ticking noise!), slippers & robes, flowers, and drinking cups in the bathroom. I also think it’s always nice to have info in your guest bedroom about things to do in your area (especially if you live in a touristy city). When we lived near NYC I kept a clipboard with info on plays, restaurants, and other area recommendations and need to do that here in Wilmington too! Do you have any other guest bedroom ideas to add to the list?