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When furnishing a home, most of the time there will be a room that you have no idea what to do with. You’ve decided where the main living areas will be as well as your family bedrooms, but what about that last spot in your house that’s untouched…
If you do have an extra room that you have no clue what you can do with, nine times out of ten, it’ll become your guest room.
Mary Lee Smyth, the interior designer at La-Z-Boy Kingston, has experienced this concern from clients before. “Whenever I suggest a guest bedroom they go ‘why didn’t I think of that!’”
Guest rooms, while not always an essential part of the house, can be a great resource if you do expect guests to sleep over frequently.
Throughout her years as an interior designer, Mary Lee has designed dozens of guest bedrooms and knows what furniture pieces work well in this space. Because a guest bedroom is considered a more passive space for some, it might be harder to come up with an idea of how to decorate or furnish this area of your house.
So, what are some tips and tricks that you can use to design your guest bedroom? To take the guesswork out of creating your guest bedroom, here are some ideas you can use to create a cohesive space for friends and family to stay in.
In This Article…
- Make Your Guests Feel Welcomed
- Stick to Essential Furniture Pieces
- Use Soft and Neutral Colours
- Maximize Your Space with Proper Lighting
- Add Some Personal Touches
- Use Your Guest Room as a Multipurpose Space
1. Make Your Guests Feel Welcomed
Before getting into the more specific tips for furnishing and designing a guest room, one of the main things to remember is to create a welcoming environment for your guests to live in.
If you’re the hosting type, a guest room is the place to make your guests feel like they have a safe and personal space for their temporary visit. “This space is kind of like the main impression of how you accommodate your guests–how they will view you as a host and how you operate in your own home,” says Mary Lee.
This might also mean not just getting the right furniture to suit your guests’ needs, but also providing them with a calming environment where they don’t have to worry about anything.
Small gestures like providing freshly laundered bed sheets, extra toiletries for longer stays, or additional storage space for personal items can make a big difference in creating a welcoming guest room.
Knowing the length of your guests' stay is essential in determining how to prepare for their arrival and ensure they feel welcomed. A tidy and well-set-up room will help your visitors feel at ease and relaxed during their stay. According to Mary Lee, a good rule of thumb is to prepare your guest room for a stay of about three days.
“3 days is normally how long people tend to stay, since it’s the length of the weekend. They may come over on the Friday night and stay until mid-afternoon on Sunday,” she says.
2. Stick to Essential Furniture Pieces
Depending on how much space you have in your guest bedroom you’ll need to fill up the space with the proper furniture pieces that they can use during their stay.
According to Mary Lee, opinions on what constitutes essential furniture can vary, but most people can agree that a comfortable space for guests to relax and rest is a must-have in a guest room."“Remember, this place is basically an extra bedroom, so furnishing it with bedroom furniture can be a safe bet.”
However, what if you were using this space as a multipurpose room and wanted to clear the area for other activities? This is where a sofa bed or a murphy bed can come in real handy. Depending on which one you choose there will be some pros and cons to each of them.
To learn more about the difference between a Sofa Bed vs. a Murphy Bed, take a look at this article.
At La-Z-Boy, there are many different sofa beds available. Customers can choose between twin, full or queen sleepers, which can be beneficial for any guest bedroom. You can learn more about our Best-Selling Sofa Beds with this article.
As for additional furniture items, Mary Lee recommends getting a dresser in case your guests plan on staying for longer than a weekend, as well as smaller bedside tables. “You could even add a small TV stand if you have space in the corner and a small sitting chair, in case your guests want to relax in their room without needing to go to their bed.”
3. Use Soft and Neutral Colours
Adding the right colour to a room is everything, especially when you’re trying to create a calm and inviting space for your guests.
When finding a good colour for your guest bedroom, Mary Lee says that “light and fluffy” colours are better to use than bold and expressive colours. After all, you wouldn’t want to make your guests feel too out of place.
Familiarity in an unknown environment is key to creating a successful and inviting guest room. But how do you create such a space when everyone’s familiarity is different? Well, Mary Lee suggests using neutral colours that are psychologically relaxing to the brain.
“This can include any light blues, greens or creamy colours that you may find in nature,” she says.
You can also use darker colours like greys, browns and blacks to create a woodland environment. These kinds of colours can also go great with leather furniture, should you decide to add that to your guest room.
To find out more about the psychology of colour, check out our article How to Choose the Right Sofa Colour.
4. Maximize Your Space with Proper Lighting
As always, the proper lighting in a room is essential. Mary Lee says, “You know you’re most comfortable in a room when you know how to walk from point A to point B without needing any lighting.”
This is definitely not the case for anyone staying in a guest bedroom. Well, maybe it is if they're frequent guests, but that’s not the point–all rooms need proper lighting regardless!
Since guest rooms are mostly the smallest bedroom in a household, there isn’t much you need to do in order to receive proper lighting. This can be as easy as setting up a ceiling light or adding a floor lamp that will cover the whole space.
Mary Lee also suggests adding two lamps on opposite sides of the bed if you plan to furnish your guest room with two bedside tables on each side. This will give anyone the proper amount of task lighting if they are alone or are travelling as a couple.
If you’re looking for natural lighting, and your room doesn’t have a window, a more extensive approach would be to install a window. Natural lighting is also known to help calm individuals if they’re feeling stressed or anxious.
You can even set up a mirror on the opposite side of your window, which can also help balance the light within your guest bedroom.
If you’re interested in learning more about La-Z-Boy’s Home Decor, take a look at this article.
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5. Add Some Personal Touches
Adding personal touches to a guest room is a great way to show that the space belongs to someone and that it is livable. As much as providing furniture is important to a space, giving the room some character is also important to make your guests feel welcome.
This includes adding decor items in the room such as generalized wall art or adding an area rug for extra coziness.
“Perhaps you even have decorative tchotchkes from when you went traveling and decide to decorate your room with those,” Mary Lee suggests. As long as your room has a bit of character, your guests will feel comfortable.
To learn more about La-Z-Boy’s Home Decor or How to Choose the Right Wall Art, check out these articles.
6. Use Your Guest Room as a Multipurpose Space
Lastly, while a guest room can be used for when guests are over, there’s nothing stopping you from using this room for other purposes.
What if you haven’t had a guest in a while and this room is collecting dust and becoming nothing but a space that’s sad and lonely and calling out for your attention every second it gets?
This might sound a little bit dramatic, but there can be other uses for your guest room other than just guests using it. Perhaps it could be a place where you store your library of books. Or maybe it could be a space where your kids can watch TV or play video games… or even just regular games!
Mary Lee says that it can even be a place you can use for additional hobbies “I had a client once who absolutely loved knitting and needlepoint and anything related to the sort. She needed extra space in her living room because her hobby was starting to make the space a little too cramped. So I suggested she use her upstairs guest room to store her unfinished projects and she absolutely loved the idea!”
Multipurpose rooms have become an increasingly popular demand for people, which is a big step in the traditional sense of a guest room where everything is left untouched until the next guest uses it.
Mary Lee says that multipurpose rooms can be a great way to save space in either a large or small living space.
A great furniture item for a multipurpose room is our line of High-Leg Recliners, which are secret recliners that appear as stationary pieces. You can learn more about them with our in-depth review article.
What's Next?
With these 6 tips, you can now confidently put together an inviting and soothing space for your guests to stay when they visit your home.
Now that you have some resources for bringing a guest room to life, why not try your luck with furniture from La-Z-Boy.
Not only does La-Z-Boy sell living room furniture, but we also have bedroom furniture available, thanks to our subsidiary brands, Hammary, American Drew and Kincaid. You might also enjoy reading up on our best-selling furniture pieces that could end up in your guest room…
You can start shopping at any of our local Ottawa and Kingston Locations, or you can book an appointment online before coming in.
Our design consultants are always eager to lend a helping hand, so do not hesitate to ask them any questions when in-store. You may also take advantage of our complimentary interior design services, to help you put together your guest room with ease. If you visit the Kingston store, you might even get a chance to meet Mary Lee as well!
To learn more about the Cost to Furnish a Bedroom, take a look at this article.
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